Embedded Files
Evidence: Training on Universal Design for Learning
I developed this Google Presentation for EDCI 325. It describes a training that I might give to teachers on the background of, and how to implement Universal Design for Learning into their teaching practice. The main goal for the training is to get teachers who are unfamiliar with UDL more so with simple examples of UDL in everyday life/teaching using presentation below and then time for some group/individual work. The last slide of the presentation gives some direction for this work.
Additionally, I have been exploring the possible assistive technologies that could be useful for this through my teaching and through trainings that I have attended.
Evidence: Reflection on Special Education and the iPad articles for EDU 5515-C58: iPads in the Classroom
- Adapting to the iPad, called education's 'equalizer'
- This video on assistive technology from 60 minutes
The most significant point the article makes about the use of iPads to differentiate is that iPads are customizable to suit the needs of any student. iPads can offer access to a wider world for students with mobility, cognitive, or other impairment (or on the other end of the spectrum, those who are more advanced than their classmates) through its interface and access to millions of downloadable apps. As a woman of science, I wish this article had offered some actual studies or other scientifically based evidence of this rather than just anecdotal evidence. I am also curious to know if the iPad helped facilitate student progress without the need for the device. For example, the article mentions a student who threw chairs when feeling physical discomfort. Will that child always need to rely on an iPad (or other technology) to communicate feelings, or is the iPad being used as a stepping stone to have the student achieve those communication skills independently?
In the video it was really interesting to see how liberated the iPad made Josh, the 26 year old at the beginning of the video. He was able to communicate in a much more sophisticated and streamlined way than ever before. The kindergarten students at the school in Toronto were able to make progress as well with the iPads, although not at the level of Josh, and opened their teacher’s eyes to their potential, their interests, and really, them as a person. Temple Grandin, who has a higher functioning form of autism than some of the students shown, mentioned that she wasn’t able to speak until about age 3 ½ . With that in mind, I wonder how these students will progress in their communication using the iPad as they get older. While the iPad is not a cure-all for the difficulties associated with living with autism, it can certainly be a step in the right direction.
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