EDCI 322

Course Reflection

I appreciate how this course goes beyond ‘talking the talk’ and moves into the realm of ‘walking the walk’. The embedded choice has allowed me to access course content in a variety of ways, and my peers have as well. We have our own preferences, strengths, and weaknesses. Our learner profiles are all endlessly jagged, and none of us are average. We know that single personality inventories, standardized tests, and arbitrary grades aren’t always accurate reflections of ability. Yet, they all rely on the concept of average, and unfortunately, using it “as a yardstick for measuring individuals has been so thoroughly ingrained in our minds that we rarely question it seriously” (T. Rose, p. 10).

In order to effectively use Universal Design for Learning in my teaching, I need to understand that there is no such thing as an average learner. A student may appear average in one metric, low in another, high in another, and then off the charts in another. Every student has a jagged learning profile, including me. My various strengths and weaknesses epitomize the jagged nature of learning, but also the importance of Universal Design. It's not about building accommodations for each student. It's about acknowledging variability and building choice opportunities for all. Katie Novak came to my school a few years ago to speak with us about UDL during our in-service. Her flight got canceled, so she drove through the night to arrive just in time to deliver her keynote on barely any sleep, so I know she’s hardcore about her work. Anyway, she says that “UDL is about taking your skill, your passion, and your craft and designing your lessons with embedded options so they are relevant, accessible, and challenging to all students” (Novak, Kindle Locations 497-498). I glean from this the importance of having options and accessibility.

Fortunately, technology is a major catalyst for increased choice and access. As time goes on, it provides us with more modalities for ingesting information. While I understand the traditionalists who argue that there is no substitute for the feel of holding a paper book with pages you can turn with your fingers, the science of learning tells a different story. Differentiated Instructional Strategies are about providing access to class content. As a social studies teacher, I approve of three students arriving to class having accessed the content in three different ways (audio, screen, and book). In addition, audio and ebooks are mediums students can create themselves in order to explore their learning and express their understanding. My curriculum includes a podcast project that allows students to learn the ins and outs of recording and editing, providing them with more options for expression in the future.

Assistive Technology helps students who might have trouble accessing class content to do so. A woman from one of the videos we watched stated that “a child without assistive technology may just be a passive observer”. Fortunately, new technologies mean new opportunities for these individuals. My experience with Assistive Technology in the classroom is minimal. Recently, I've had students use voice-to-text software, and I have worn a microphone connected to a student's earpiece. I’ve found that most Assistive Technology is conntected to literacy in some way. “Being able to read and write effectively and independently is important to student success (Alberta Education: Using Assistive Technology to Support Learning)” This is certainly true for individuals with vision impairment. In creating my VoiceThread, I was intrigued to learn about the amazing technology that is being created for the visually impaired to help them read, write, and experience things in new ways. We're lucky to live in a time when we can provide access to information for individuals who even a few years ago would have been left in the dark in most settings and contexts.

Looking at each student as a not-so-average, individual, jagged learner is inspiring, but daunting as well. A teacher may recognize this and think that they need to write an individual lesson and curriculum for each of their students. On the contrary, I recognize that my students aren’t just vessels to be filled with information. In truth, they each have a lot to offer, and I can learn a lot from them.