Universal Design for Learning

Learning this information supports my achievement of the ISTE Standards Designer and Learner. Educators designing authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability support the ISTE standard of Designer. Then, Learner is satisfied because after designing the presentation, I had continually practiced by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning.

Universal Design for Learning is a great way to reach many different learners in the classroom. UDL does so by hitting three main principles:

• Multiple means of representation
• Multiple means of action and expression
• Multiple means of engagement

The presentation above will cover #2, Multiple means of action and expression. One guideline for this step would be using the strategic part of the brain. Students must be able to use their brains to the best of their ability that will benefit them in the long run. A technology that would help this guideline would be typing essays, texts, or even using a digital calendar to keep thoughts and plan in order. Each of these materials requires strategic thinking in order to make the accurate and organized. Another way would be differentiating ways for students to express their knowledge. All students learn and express themselves differently. By only admitting students to behave one way would be unjust to their ability. For example, multimedia projects would be great for theses students. They can work however they want, whenever they want, and where ever they want. Finally, the physical action approach. Students tend to learn better by interacting with accessible materials and tools such as online story reading and Kahoot. By having a book read aloud to a student they may better grasp the concept of the story. Same goes for Kahoot. Kahoot is a popular interacting game used in the classroom promoting efficient knowledge and competition.

The knowledge obtained the given presentation about Universal Design for Learning supports the achievement of ISTE's Teacher Technology standards. Most specifically, the standard for Designer and Learner. By learning the multiple needs of action and expression, educators will learn to design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability. Educators will then continually improve their practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning. Each of these standards are found in the presentation on slides that show different technologies that improve student's learning as well as information on how to strategically use their brains with school work through different sources.