Universal Design: It’s for EVERYONE

1. Universal Design: It’s for EVERYONE A presentation by Ann Keefer, PhD Temple University Institute on Disabilities

2. Brainstorm: Barriers to Leanring • In small groups, let’s brainstorm some barriers to learning faced by students at Millersville University • Appoint a note taker to record your findings • Appoint a different person to report your findings • We will discuss the barriers you’ve identified as a large group

3. What is Universal Design for Learning? • Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a research-based framework for designing curricula that enable all individuals to gain knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for learning. • This is accomplished by simultaneously providing rich supports for learning and reducing barriers to the curriculum, while maintaining high achievement standards for all students. (www.cast.org)

4. Offer Multiple Means Of:

5. UDL from ACCESS Colorado • The following video comes from the ACCESS Project at Colorado State University. As you watch, notice the particular kinds of diverse learners featured in this video, and the multiple means of representation, expression and engagement which the professors and students discuss. Colorado State ACCESS Project Video: Open Captioned

6. What are Your Goals? As you design your syllabus and class activities, ask: • What do my students need to learn? • What barriers to learning might students have? • Are there ways I can adapt activities, classroom discussion or assignments while still fulfilling the goals of the course?

7. Provide Supports • Provide supports and scaffolding for your lessons in the form of lecture notes, research notes, and other materials to augment the course texts • Make digital copies of course texts available whenever possible • Use online discussion boards and blogs to encourage engagement and expression

8. Specific Techniques • The next few slides will list three specific techniques which have been researched for effectiveness by faculty at the University of Hawai’i: • Graphic Organizers • The Pause Procedure • Guided Notes

9. Graphic Organizers • Graphic organizers can help you or your students represent relationships between elements in a text or in a concept • A graphic organizer can be a mind map, a pie chart, a Gantt chart, or even a family tree • Graphic organizers will have a strong appeal to visual learners

10. One Graphic Organizer

11. The Pause Procedure • Every fifteen minutes, pause your lecture and ask students to discuss the most recent content between themselves to determine their level of understanding. • This technique is very low-tech and will focus and refresh your students’ attention • Take time during the pauses for student questions or feedback. • Let’s pause here to discuss what we’ve learned.

12. Guided Notes • Guided notes are an outline of a lecture or presentation which includes most of the lecture but edits out key vocabulary or concepts. • Students can follow the lecture, and fill in the missing terms or content as you come to them in your lecture. • Guided notes make it easier to focus on the lecture, and decrease the need for writing down all of the details of a presentation.

13. Which Works Best? • At the 2011 AUCD annual conference, Professor Kelley Roberts of the University of Hawai’i reported initial results of a study of the three strategies • She reported that of the three strategies, guided notes had the greatest sustained impact on student retention of course materials

14. Other Techniques and Ideas • Record your board by taking periodic digital images of notes before you erase the board. Post these photos to a shared online space. • Allow students to give oral reports during office hours to demonstrate mastery of new material. • Ask students to submit YouTube videos, websites, or their own videos which build on a class concept or discussion • Enable closed captions when you show a film or web video to your students

15. Modeling Knowledge • Can a concept be modeled in a physical way? • If appropriate, ask students to complete a timeline of important concepts – you could provide a few key dates to start the timeline. • Talk about your own information-gathering techniques – make your process transparent so students learn from your expertise.

16. Attitudinal Techniques • Encourage students to contact you in a variety of ways: office hours on campus, e-mail, a discussion board • Express interest in and awareness of diversity in your classroom • Include a statement on disability accommodation on your syllabus

17. Case Studies: Student with a Disability • Disabled Student A student with a fine motor impairment is required to draw an accurate diagram for an astronomy class, from which she will take measurements and make calculations. If the diagram is inaccurate, the calculations will be incorrect and the student will receive a low grade for the assignment. What could we do to improve this student’s chances for success?

18. Case Study: Faculty with a Disability • A faculty member has a significant physical disability with increasing impairment due to age. Her voice is weak and her speech is difficult to understand. She knows a great deal about her subject matter, but she cannot type, cannot move independently around the classroom, and she is occasionally unable to get to campus due to bad weather or illness. How can we help her continue to be an effective teacher?

19. How to Contact Me • Ann Keefer, PhD • Project Coordinator and Adjunct Professor, Temple University Institute on Disability • 215 204 3861 • arkeefer@temple.edu