Universal Design for Learning and Tech Tools

Blogging this as I am attending a workshop lead by Susan Manning and Kevin Johnson. 

Our definitions:
Communication that can be understood by anyone.
Accommodate learning styles
Accommodating special needs (blind, motor control)

Susan's:
Making learning accessible to any learner - so they have the ability to understand - based on what needs to be achieved.

Give examples in real life:
Getting at the same topic from different directions.

ADA / 508 access and assistive needs for disabilities (which are not geared towards learning) should be viewed on only a subset of UDL.


UDL benefits everyone!
Closed captioning decoder chips used by couples in bed, sports bars - #10 is deaf or hard of hearing).
Regular door (intended for disabled) next to a revolving door.

UDL framework
-For instruction
-Refers to curriculum
(Goals - Objectives, Methods - Pedagogy, Materials - Content, Assessments - Assessments)

3 Principles
Multiple means to
1. information
2. Expression
3. Engagement (what draws us into a learning task)

Could we put this together?

	Goals	Methods	Materials	Assessment
Information		Case studies Websites, videos	In text and graphic
Expression	Write the reasons or express the reasons?	Discussion in text and voice		Presentation (webconferencing)
Engagement			Social Media	Paper or project

(green = the class members came up with these).

Scenario = Alicia needs to give learners an end of chapter test.  What should be some considerations regarding UDL?

	Goals/what	Methods/why	Materials	Assessment
Information (instructor to student)	Read the chapters	Study Guide Text/video/audio	In text or graphic
Expression (student to instructor, sometimes student to student)				Demonstrate
Engagement (student to content and to student)		Summarize content and record audio version (5min)	Social Media

You can also plug in tools - but only use tools if it serves a purpose - do not use it because you think it is really cool.   What are the technical requirements?  How easy is it to use and how reliable?

Then we tried it ourselves (we did not have time to fill out every box).

How do we get students to use a biology website and how do we assess learning.

	Goals/What	Methods/How	Materials	Assessment
Information	Objective is for student to use NCBI	Demonstrate what they did – video or audio file	Access to web.
Expression	Student should be proof that they went to website	Do this as a group.  Enter blog entries.	Website access	Write a journal entry or do a blog
Engagement

Organize	Communicate	Deliver Content	Assess	Identify
Calendar Social Bookmarking	Discussion forums, Blogs, wiki, voip synchronous	Audio Video Screen cast	Online quizzing Rubrics Portfolio	Social media Avatars

Useful links:

http://cast.org/index.html

3 principles:

http://cast.org/udl/index.html

Lots of examples and tools:

http://www.udlcenter.org/implementation/examples

Additional ADA/508 concerns

• Accommodations (usually faculty works with units)
• Content Creations (faculty)
• Access to Content Considerations (
• Who's Responsible? (student has to disclose it - and work with the institute to make the plan)

When you write the rubric stay pretty general (what you want them to accomplish) - so if a student who chooses to do it in text gets the same rubric as a student who makes a video.   In the end you are giving the student more ownership.


Disability Resources and Educational Services at University of Illinois