College classrooms are increasingly diverse and yet curriculum and instruction are frequently designed and delivered with assumptions that one-size-fits-all. The purpose of this workshop is to introduce faculty to the concept of Universal Design and its implications for enhancing the success of diverse students.
Faculty members will explore the theory of universal design in education and its practical application for their courses. Each participant will conduct an accessibility audit of an existing course and explore how specific resources, strategies, and tools can be integrated into the course to enhance accessibility, engagement, and performance.
A. About the Workshop
B. About the Presenter
C. About the Participants
A. Academic Diversity
American classrooms are increasingly diverse. However, few teachers have been prepared to support the academic needs of students with a wide range of special needs.
It is important to consider how we might proactively plan for academic differences rather than waiting for students to fail. Discuss the need to create a diversity blueprint.
B. Diversity Blueprint
Complete the diversity blueprint activity.
To build your knowledge about academic diversity, three readings are provided for followup reading:
Coyne, M.D., Kameenui, E.J., & Simmons, D.C. (2004). Improving beginning reading instruction and intervention for students with LD: Reconciling “all” with “each.” Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37(3), 231-239. pdf
McLeskey, J., & Waldon, N. (2007) Making differences ordinary in inclusive classrooms. Intervention in School and Clinic, 42(3), 162-168. pdf
Tomlinson, C.A. (2004). The Mobius Effect: Addressing learner variance in schools. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37(6), 516-524. pdf
C. Responding to Differences
Many professionals in special education may think universal design is a specialized form of assistive technology. While the legal relationship between UD and AT has yet to be addressed, there are fundamental differences. AT is an intervention that is explored after a performance problem is identifited. On the other hand, UD is proactive instructional design that seeks to build learning environments and instructional materials with supports (e.g., text that talks, language conversion, cognitive simplification, dictate responses rather than handwrite, alter font size, etc.) that enable all students to achieve the academic standards despite differences.
D. Differentiation
In recent years, general education has been introduced to the concept of differentiated instruction. Essentially, this philosophy reconizes that learner differences must be addressed when designing instruction and that one-size curriculum, instruction, and assessment meets very few students’ needs. Universal design is best known in the field of special education. The basic principles have been discussed above. Differentiated instruction and universal design principles are highly compatible. Both seek to enhance student achievement by proactively designing learning environments and instructional materials in ways that allow all students to be successful. Learn more about the relationship between universal design for learning and differentiated instruction:
Differentiated Instruction and the Implications for UDL http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstructudl.html
E. Engagement, Challenge, and the Development of Expertise
Complete the challenge, learning, and performance activity
To learn more about how engagement will contribue to enhanced academic achievement, download and read the following article:
Suarez, D. (2007). When students choose the challenge. Educational Leadership, 65(3), 60-65. pdf
A. Historical
Universal design is a concept that was originally developed in the field of architecture. Essentially, it involves understanding special needs in order to design built environments that reduces or eliminates the needs for accommodations. Among the most well known example of universal design are curb cuts, zero entry swimming pools, and closed captioning. In each case, designers understood the special needs of individuals with disabilities and created something that improved the environment for everyone.
Universal design for learning was developed by staff associated with CAST. Their work has caused an important paradigm shift as we seek to proactively value differences and modify the instructional environment by embedding supports that can be used by all students. An important principle of UDL is that it is designed to help some students with special needs but results in benefits to many other students; some whom we may not have identified as needing such a support (i.e., unidentified disabilities, struggling students).
Access the online version of the book:
Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
The core principles of universal design for learning are:
• multiple means of representation
• multiple means of expression
• multiple means of engagement
B. Related Constructs
To properly understand the application of universal design, it is necessary to sort through a number of terms that have emerged to describe accessible design. Describe your reaction to the term, Universal Design in Education.
C. Developmental Perspective
A. Syllabus Review
One strategy for implementing UDE is to start at the course level. In this model, faculty development workshops focus on critiquing existing syllabi and applying UD design principles to key aspects of the course:
1. Instructional Methods
How does the instructor operationalize the concept of teaching? How does the instructor operationalize the concept of learning?
Theory into Practice Database (select appropriate theories)
http://tip.psychology.org/Opening Classroom Doors: Teaching Methods
http://newali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000328/2. Instructional Materials
What materials are used in the course? (Textbooks, Journal Articles, Web Sites, Notebooks, Media, Paper and Pencil Materials, Manipulatives)
3. Learning Activities
What types of learning activities are students expected to complete?
4. Assessment Methods
How does the instructor operationalize assessment of student learning?
Useful Syllabus Development Resources:
The Faculty Room
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Faculty/The UD Syllabus Generator
http://www.uwplatt.edu/tec/udgenerator/
Visit each of the following seven sites. As you explore, consider whether or not the web site is an example of assistive technology (something you would provide for one student), instructional technology (something some teachers might choose to use), or universal design for learning (something that could be given to the entire class of diverse learners).
A. Locate a Digital Version of a Text
B. Cognitive Rescaling (Word Autosummary)
Step-by-Step Directions (pdf)
C. Provide Access to Tiered Information
D. Provide Text to Speech
ReadPlease (Windows)
E. CSS
F. Offer Choice
Google Calculator
http://www.google.com/help/features.html#calculatorCoin-u-lator
http://www.pcieducation.com/store/item.aspx?itemid=41482#bottomTabsWebMath
http://www.webmath.comNational Library of Virtual Manipulatives
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.htmlIlluminations
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Aplus.com
http://www.aplusmath.com/Visual Fractions
http://www.visualfractions.com/Math Forum
http://mathforum.org/PurpleMath
http://www.purplemath.com/Figure This! Math Challenges for Families
http://www.figurethis.org/challenges/math_index.htm
Assistive Technologies for Writing
http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/3084
A. Project Management
1. Assignment Calculator
http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator/B. Selecting a Topic
1. 42explore
http://42explore.com2. Hot Topic Papers
http://www.nwmissouri.edu/library/courses/english2/termindex.htmC. Alternatives to Search Engines
1. Google Directories
http://www.google.com/Top/2. Open Directory Project
http://dmoz.org3. Yahoo! Directories
http://dir.yahoo.comD. Notetaking Tools
Zoho Notebook
http://notebook.zoho.com/E. Drafting Tools
1. Inspiration
http://www.inspiration.com2. DraftBuilder
http://www.donjohnston.com/products/draft_builder/index.html3. iDictate
http://www.idictate.comF. Citation Tools
1. Son of Citation Machine
http://citationmachine.net/2. NoodleBib
http://www.noodletools.com3. Easy Bib
http://www.easybib.comG. Revision: Peer/Teacher Feedback
1. Track Changes (Microsoft Word)
H. Revision: Vocabulary
1. WordSmyth
http://www.wordsmyth.net/2. Merriam-Webster Toolbar
http://www.m-w.com/downloads/index.htm3. Visuwords
http://www.visuwords.comI. Plagiarism
1. Plagiarism Learning Center
http://www.plagiarism.org/2. TurnItIn
http://www.turnitin.com3. Glatt
http://www.plagiarism.com/4. CopyCatch
http://www.copycatchgold.com/
A. Provide Students With a Rubric
Rubric for Assessment
http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/rubrics.shtmlRubric Template
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/triton/july/rubrics/Rubric_Template.htmlB. Provide Study Guides and Practice Quizzes
Quia
http://www.quia.com/Hot Potatoes
http://hotpot.uvic.ca/C. Complete a Quiz Under Three Conditions
The final activity for today will involve responding to structured prompts that will serve as a short evaluation of today's workshop. Please enter the information in the form below and then click on the submit button to have the information emailed to Prof. Edyburn. A copy of your evaluation will be forwarded to your email address automatically.
9:00 Welcome
9:15 Academic Diversity
9:45 Intro to UD
10:15 Break
10:30 Related Constructs
10:45 Syllabus Review
Noon Lunch
12:45 Explorations
2:00 Break
2:15 General Strategies
2:45 Debrief
3:00 Adjourn
If you find the topic of Universal Design for Learning interesting, you may be interested in a new course that will be offered this Summer at UWM (EXCED 740 Universal Design for Learning Research and Practice). The course will be taught entirely online by Prof. Edyburn. Contact Prof. Edyburn for more information.