Universal Design for Learning:A Workshop in Three Parts
Kathy L. HoweryUniversity of Alberta
Calgary AT Presentation
The Series
Day 1 - Introduction to Universal Design for Learning
Day 2 - The UDL Guidelines & Tools
Day 3 - Building a UDL Implementation Plan for my district/school/classroom.
Today’s Session
Setting the Context
Introducing Universal Design for Learning
Exploring some key concepts and ideas.
Why does this Matter?
Diversity Ableism Accommodation vs. Accessibility Making Differences Ordinary 21st Century Learners
Diversity
Today’s classrooms are comprised of wide diversity of students who are coming to school not proficient in the language of instruction, who are identified with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, or other disabilities and growing numbers of children who are identified as “at-risk” due to other factors such as socio-economic, cultural and environmental backgrounds.
Inclusive Education
“The new challenge of inclusion is to create schools in which our day-to-day efforts no longer assume that a particular text, activity, or teaching mode will “work” to support any particular students’ learning”
Ferguson, 1995
Setting the Direction
This new framework aims to recognize and respond to disability and diversity within our education system by ensuring that educators, schools, and school authorities have the support they need to develop and deliver an inclusive education system.
The desired end point of this work is that the needs of all students will be met within an inclusive education system
Ableism
An ableist society is said to be one that treats non-disabled individuals as the standard of ‘normal living’, which results in public and private places and services, education, and social work that are built to serve 'standard' people, thereby inherently excluding those with various disabilities.
Wikipedia
Ableism in Education (Hehir, 2008)
Applied to schooling and child development… the devaluation of disability results in societal attitudes that uncritically assert that:
It is better for a child to walk than roll Read print than read braille Spell independently than use a spell checker Hang out with with non-disabled children rather than
only with other disable children.
What makes someone Handicapped?
While for the individual, the impairment has a permanent aspect, disability would depend from the activity the individual wishes to uptake. The handicap aspect is the disadvantage he encounters in relations with other individuals, so called 'able' people.
http://www.drnbc.org/child.cfm?DPAR_PARENT_ID=2&DCHD_CHILD_ID=248
Handicap = a Mismatch between learner needs and education offered
Handicap is artifact of lack of appropriate relationship between the learner and the learning environment or education delivery.
Jutta Treviranus
What about in the Educational Environment?
The bias toward “Naked Independence”
Education places a premium on knowledge that is contained in one’s head
The AT world termed this form of bias ‘naked independence’, as it exults the performance of able- bodied individuals and devalues the performance of others who must rely on external devices or tools.
Assistive Technology
Assistive Technology for Learning (ATL) is defined as the devices, media and services used in learning environments to overcome barriers for students with physical, sensory, cognitive, speech, learning or behavioural special needs to actively engage in learning and to achieve their individual learning goals.
Moving to Accessibility – A3 Model
ADVOCACY (Barriers to learning
exist)
ACCOMMODATION (Assistive Technology for Learning)
ACCESSIBILITY (Universal Design for
Learning)
APPROACH
APPROACH CHANGES OVER TIME
Accommodation vs. Accessibility
Accommodation is grounded in the medical model of disability… a professional typically identifies the individual’s functional limitations or “deficits” and prescribes adjustments that allow the person to participate to some degree in the “normal” environment”
Sheryl Burgstahler
Accommodation vs. Accessibility
Whereas accommodation is a reactive approach to provide access to an individual, accessible, usable, and UD processes are proactive approaches to ensure access for groups of potential participants.
Sheryl Burgstahler
Accommodation vs. UDL
Access is a problem for the individual and should be addressed by that person and disability services
Access issues stem from an inaccessible or poorly designed environments and should be addressed by the designer
Access is achieved through accommodations and/or retrofitting existing requirements
The system/environment is designed, to the greatest extent possible, to be usable by all
Access is retroactive Access is proactive
Access is often provided in a separate location or through special treatment
Access is inclusive
Access must be reconsidered each time a new individual uses the system
Access, as part of the environmental design, is sustainable
Source: AHEAD Universal Design Initiative Team
Achievement Gap
Current schooling practices are not effective for some groups of students
Continuing to do what we have always done will perpetuate rather than eliminate the gap
Repeated failure over time creates an achievement gap that is exceedingly difficult to erase
Technology enables Access
Technology can play a crucial role in providing access to the curriculum for students who wouldn’t, under typical conditions, be able to participate fully in the classroom.
As a regular part of the classroom environment, assistive technologies have potential to improve learning for all students.
Making Differences Ordinary!!
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Making Differences Ordinary
How do we make differences ordinary?
Keep classroom supports natural and unobtrusive Fit into the details of the day-to-day classroom
instruction Be perceived by teachers as effective for typical
students as well as for students with disabilities (differences)
Enhance the teacher’s current repertoire of instructional methods.
What is UDL?
UDL is a much-touted approach to providing appropriate and accessible education to all students, including those with disabilities, in the context of the demands of the 21st Century educational environment
Universal Design Extension of architectural concept of Universal Design
Designing for the divergent needs of special populations increases usability for everyone.
Universal Design for Learning
Extends this idea to the classroom: Access to the building Access to the learning
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The Promise of UDL…
When new technologies move beyond their initial stage of development, innovations in curriculum design, teaching strategies and policies will be driven by the needs of students “at the margins”, those for whom present technologies are least effective- most prominently, students with disabilities.
The beneficiaries of these innovations will be ALL students.
Rose & Meyer, 2000
UDL definition
“ the proactive design of curricula (including learning goals, instructional methods and materials, and
assessments) that are accessible and usable by all students with little or no need for additional
accommodations and are compatible with available assistive technology”
inForum, June 2008
Will UDL replace assistive technology?
No. Assistive technologies will always have a role in the
education of some learners. Children with physical disabilities need properly designed wheelchairs, adaptive switches to control devices, or speech synthesizers.
UDL Principles
Three principles that enable every student to access and participate in all facets of learning:
UDL
Universal Design for Learning calls for ... * Multiple means of representation, to give learners
various ways of acquiring information and knowledge, * Multiple means of action and expression, to provide
learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know,
* Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation.
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Universal Design for Learning
Each student, regardless of disability, difference, or diversity, needs access to the curriculum that is meaningful and that allows the student to use his or her strengths.
Disabled Curriculum
The traditional, one-size-fits-all curriculum is proving to be an entirely inadequate solution for problems that plague our schools in this era of standards-based reform.
Universal Design for Learning
UDL provides a blueprint (framework) for creating flexible goals, methods, materials, and assessments that accommodate learner differences.
CAST, 2002
UDL - What do we mean?
UDL assumes a continuum of learning differences in the classroom
UDL relies on curriculum being presented in a flexible, engaging and challenging manner.
UDL maintains high expectations for all students.
UDL is inclusive by design.
What do we mean by Universal?
To many people the term seems to imply that UDL is a quest for a single, one size-fits-all, solution that will work for everyone.In fact, the very opposite is true.
The essence of UDL is flexibility and the inclusion of alternatives to adapt to the myriad variations in learner needs, styles, and preferences.
Key Concepts in UDL
Leveraging Diversity Clearly understood Goals Teaming Flexibility Proactive Approach Change the Environment not the Learner
Innovation in Teaching & Learning
True innovation occurs at the margins
We are pushed further by: Disruptive notions Perspectives that do not fit in Unpredictable inspirations that burst our neat categories
Dangers of designing for the norm
Stagnation Shrinking of ideas Self perpetuating rut Lack of innovation
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Celebrating Diversity
“We must fundamentally alter our thinking
about diversity as deviant, that diversity is bad and must be accommodated. . .
Rather, we need to be clear that diversity is
an essential part of the human condition and needs to be anticipated and celebrated.”
Dave Edyburn, Associate Professor, UWM
Building Learner Profiles!
Learning Styles
Cultural Background
Readiness
Ability
Learner Experiences….