As teachers our job entails more than
delivering the lessons, that is the easy part. The hard part and the part the separates the good from the
bad, is the ability to plan lessons that cater to the needs to the
students. Determining the area of
need, the learning styles, the strengths and the weaknesses of each student is
the key to engaging students in lessons that challenge them and help them move
towards their true potential as learners.
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is
a set of principles developed to help ensure that all students have equal
opportunities to learn. Similar in
many ways to Differentiated Instruction (DI), UDL focuses on the three primary
brain networks to consider when planning and constructing lessons; the “What”,
the “How” and the “Why”.
The “What” of learning focuses on the
information and knowledge that hopes to be acquired. As educators, it is our job to present information in
different ways and to teach learners how to effectively acquire this
information. The “How” of learning
focuses on how students are going to organize their ideas and express their
understanding. Finally, the “Why”
focuses on engaging the students and keeping them motivated to continue the learning process.
One of the main keys to successfully
implementing the UDL framework into the classroom is becoming more flexible and
using the resources that have been created effectively. Many of those resources now come in the
way of technology. Each day new technology
is developed that will help individual learners break down their learning
barriers, communicate their understanding in a more effective manner and keep
the learner more motivate to learn.
Below are five different teaching
strategies that can be used in the UDL framework. Each strategy is put into practical application and
involves the use of a technological aid.
Strategy #1: Offering Alternatives to Collecting Information
Students with special needs often struggle
when the information is given to them in a manner that is not suited to their
learning style. All students for
that matter have particular strengths and weakness when it comes to decoding,
understanding and retaining information.
Audio books are a great way to learn for
many learners. There is a huge
selection of online audio books that can be downloaded for free and used in
schools. Two of the more
interesting that I found were Storyline
Online and LibriVox.
Storyline Online has a variety of online
picture books that are read by famous celebrities. For instance, Elijah Woods reads the book ‘Me and My Cat’. This is an innovative way to
have students read stories and immerse themselves in reading. LibriVox is very unique because all of the
stories are read by volunteers.
Although there are quite a few stories for younger students, this site
seems more catered to older users.
As well, because readings are completed by volunteers, the quality will vary
from story to story.
When discussing the topic of offering
alternatives with regards to collecting information, it is hard not to discuss Kurzweil 3000. This is a comprehensive program that
can help all students in many different ways. For instance, if a student is struggling with reading
non-fiction texts in science, the text can be scanned to read aloud to the
students. On top of this, the
student can use it to help them prepare for tests and to write effectively on
assignments.
Strategy #2: Organize
Ideas Using Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers are a great way to help
students structure their ideas and their ability to communicate their
ideas. As well, they help students
to display and interpret complex topics in a visual way that is more meaningful
to them. There are many
different varieties of graphic organizers that students can benefit from using;
Venn diagrams, flow charts, concept maps and many more. Smart Ideas is just one
of the many examples of this type of software. This program is licensed by OSAPAC and can be installed for
free on educational networks. An
online version similar to Smart Ideas is bubbl.us
and an app version that is similar is SimpleMind. An example of their use could be seen in History. If students
were asked to remember a series of events or how those events impacted a
particular situation, such as Confederation, a graphic organizer could be
created. Visuals could be added,
along with text, to make to clearer and more visual for all students.
Strategy #3: Provide
multiple medias for Communication
Technology has really expanded the way that
students can express their ideas and understanding. There are countless ways for students to create very visual
presentations that they will take pride in. Some of the most common programs are MovieMaker, Prezi, Animoto,
and Glogster. There are many other cool programs, such as Kerpoof, that offer even more
alternatives. For instance, in Kerpoof,
there is an app to create an interactive story. Click here to see how children In the
younger grades could use this feature to write a story about dinosaurs or
whatever they were studying at that time.
Perhaps this is just one of the option of how to express themselves and
they get to choose which one best suits their purpose.
Strategy #4: Provide tools
for Construction and Composition
It is important for students to have tools
that help them when learning.
Students with special needs might need more support at times, but
it is a good idea to offer these
tools to all learners. A couple
examples of these tools for construction are calculators and spell checking
aids.
In math, it is key that students have
proper support in place to ensure success. Calculators can help the learner achieve their
goals and sometimes offer new ways of solving a problem. For instance, in Algebra, students may
have difficulty understanding what a linear equation is, based on the expression
mx + b. However, if they were to
use a graphic calculator that plots is equation on a graph and creates a
t-chart, the learner would get a visual understanding of what this expression looks like. There are many different
online calculators. Click here to see a great
site that has a variety of mathematical and finance calculators. This would be a great tool when
teaching financial literacy.
Spelling and word prediction programs such
as Word Q are a great equalizer when working
online. Students who struggle with
spelling and grammar, can effectively use these tools to support their
goals. These tools can help students be more confident with
the work they are creating and can teach them spelling/grammar concepts along
the way. Grammar Check is another option. It is on online grammar checking tool
that you copy and paste into. Not
only does it fix your grammatical errors, it also identifies why they are
errors. An example of this in the
learning environment is assigning a student to write a reflection on a dance
they attended as a school. The
purpose of this is to demonstrate the knowledge of a dance curriculum
expectation. Students are more
likely to be able to write in a more clear and coherent manner if they use
tools use such as Grammar Check and Word Q
Strategy #5: Make learning
fun, interactive and intriguing using a gaming approach
Today’s 21st Century learners
love technology! They are used to
interact with it all of the time and are drawn to learning from it. By putting technology in the hands of
the learners, educators will enhance learning opportunities for all students. Gaming is a great example of one way the technology can be used to motivate students.
A great example of this is using Mindcraft to motivate
students to learn more about the Mid-Evil time period. By actually allowing student to create a village, they will
learn much more about the architecture and the way of life back then. Another example, is to use Angry Birds
to explain the difference between potential and kinetic energy. Educators might want to incorporate the
use of ‘Badges’ similar to those seen in the gaming word. Each time a student complete a task or
shows mastery in a skill they would receive a digital badge. These badges can be created for free at
classbadges.com.
Overall, gaming is just one angle that an
educator can take to engage students with technology. They key is that the students in these classroom will want
to learn, to push themselves and come to school each day regardless of their special
needs or learning issues
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