Universal Design for Learning PRESENTED BY MICHELLE ECCLES
Universal Design for Learning PRESENTED BY MICHELLE ECCLES
Universal Design for Learning Introduction to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) UDL and Course Design UDL and Active Learning UDL and Accessibility The Goals: ◦ Understanding the basic elements of UDL that help students succeed ◦ Learn how UDL course design helps all students ◦ See how Active Learning engages students and can make them more successful ◦ Learn the important Accessibility practices for course content ◦ Gain insight into steps you can take to implement UDL in your courses
It’s not *just* accessible design… It’s BETTER design. Credit: Sidewalk Sam, Flickr
Universal Design for Learning UDL is the proactive design of our courses to ensure they are educationally accessible regardless of learning style, physical or sensory abilities. Just as physical barriers exist in our physical environment, curricular barriers exist in our instructional environment.
UDL Analogy for Higher Education UD UDL Physical Environment Instructional Environment Physical barriers may exist in our architectural environment Learning barriers may exist in our curricular environment Proactive design of physical space Proactive design of curriculum and instruction Physical retrofitting can be costly and is often inelegant Instructional accommodations can be time consuming and difficult to implement 5
Universal Design for Learning Usability and Accessibility together are Universal Design for Learning ◦ Usability: Can users with different levels of ability, experience, knowledge, language skills, hardware, or concentration level use your course easily? ◦ Accessibility: You want people with disabilities to receive the same level of information, services, and use that people without disabilities receive. Is your course a level playing field?
Universal Design encourages principles that increase overall flexibility… multiple means of representation, multiple means of action and expression, and multiple means of engagement. From Burgstahler, S. (2007). Equal access: Universal design of instruction
In course materials design, those principles lead to these general practices Use open format, borndigital texts Provide captions & descriptions for audio/video Provide descriptions for images & graphs Design for keyboard navigability Build in cognitive supports Derived from Orkwis, R. , & Mc. Lane, K. (1998). A curriculum every student can use.
Think – Pair - Share In this activity we will think about how each of these practices serves many different student scenarios, helping all students have a better experience. As we take each practice in turn, brainstorm with your colleagues to list as many situations you can think of which the practice addresses.
UDL in Course Design Usability and Accessibility together are Universal Design for Learning ◦ Usability: Can users with different levels of ability, experience, knowledge, language skills, hardware, or concentration level use your course easily?
UDL in Course Design C. I. A. Time on Task Action Verbs Content Organization
C. I. A. Content • What content will you use Interaction • How do you want students to interact with the content Assessment • How will you and your students discover what has been learned? Knowing these things helps you in organizing your course
Time on Task Ease of learning: How quickly can a new student navigate through your course while learning the material? Is the layout consistent? How far do students have to dive for content? Time spent on navigating content is time NOT spent on learning the content
Action Verbs Efficiency of use: After students are familiar with your course setup, how quickly can they accomplish tasks? Action Verbs: • Read • Watch • Discuss • Submit Words that immediately let students know what they need to do.
UDL in Course Design Plan how you will organize your course and envision how your course menu will look and function. Three common organizational approaches are ◦ chronological, ◦ content type, ◦ subject area. Let’s look at how some Faculty have used these methods
UDL and Active Learning is a process whereby students engage in activities, such as ◦ reading, ◦ writing, ◦ discussion, or ◦ problem solving that promote analysis, evaluation, and the creation of class content. Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, http: //www. crlt. umich. edu/tstrategies/tsal
UDL and Active Learning What research says about active learning: Amount of information retained by students declines substantially after 10 minutes (Thomas, 1972) Students learn what they care about and remember what they understand. (Ericksen, 1984, p. 51) Students who take courses with a more active approach report the following: ◦ Far more likely to have done the reading ◦ Spent more hours on the work, and ◦ Participated more in class and were more likely to view the class as a community. (Hogan, 2014)
UDL and Active Learning ACTIVE LEARNING IDEAS Individual Students Cooperative One-minute paper Concept Mapping Clarification Pause Board work Q & A Share/Pair Socratic Method Groups Student Summary of classmate’s answer Note share/explanation
UDL and Accessibility Usability and Accessibility together are Universal Design for Learning ◦ Accessibility: You want people with disabilities to receive the same level of information, services, and use that people without disabilities receive. Is your course a level playing field?
YOUTUBE CAPTION TEST
“All of this was made worse by the fact that I have these birthmarks. ”
“Should we get on with it? I’ll grab my stuff. ”
“That’s your special friend butterfly who came to say ‘hello’ to you. ”
Some things to consider for Accessibility ü Do not rely on color alone to convey meaning ü Ensure that font size is set either to allow for resizing by students, or by the browser (this is not normally a problem). ü Ensure that all images have alternative text and/or description ü Do not use scanned documents that are single images such as a document put through a scanner or copier. The document will be a PDF, but will not be readable. ü Caption all videos and/or include full transcripts.
Some things to consider for Accessibility ü Include transcriptions for all audio files ü Ensure tables are accessible by following the suggestions for accessible tables. ü Ensure that all graphs and other statistical data in graphical form have full descriptions of the material and the meanings as this type of content is not read by screen readers. ü Ensure that tables and excel spreadsheets do not use merged cells.
UDL is not… Specialized privileges for a few students ◦ It is not about special accommodations Watering down your academic expectations ◦ It is not about making courses easier – school is supposed to be challenging if learning occurs A “magic bullet” or “fix” for all students ◦ It is not going to solve all your curricular or pedagogical problems A prescriptive formula ◦ No checklist will offer the “UDL solution”
Benefits of UDL Practices Enables you to reach a diverse student population without necessarily modifying your course requirements or academic expectations. Provides you the tools to consider what and how you teach in a structured and systematic manner. Increases student participation, achievement, and satisfaction.
7 Steps for UDL Know your students’ strengths and weaknesses Use digital materials when possible Share content in a variety of ways Offer choices for how students demonstrate their knowledge Take advantage of software supports Low and No Tech options do exist Learn from others Jason Carroll, Texthelp. com blogger 10 May 2017
Resources & Questions HANDOUTS: ACCESSIBILITY QUICK GUIDE CREATING ACCESSIBLE COURSE CONTENT ACTIVE LEARNING TIPS 7 WAYS TO INTRODUCE UDL IN YOUR CLASSROOM
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