Universal Design for Learning: A framework for addressing learner diversity

Universal Design for Learning in postsecondary education

Harvard ABCD CommitteeSeptember 9, 2015

Sam Catherine Johnstonsjohnston@cast.org

Objectives1. Provide an overview of Universal Design for

Learning

2. Connect accessibility and UDL

3. Show examples from our work in postsecondary and K-12 to illustrate accessibility and UDL

4. Share udloncampus.cast.org

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CAST and UDLCAST is an education research and development

nonprofit that leverages science and technology

to create products, promote practices, and inform policies

that expand learning opportunities.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and

learning for all people based on scientific insights into how

humans learn.

UDL in Postsecondary: Timeline

2004: Project FAME at the Ohio State University; National Technical Assistance

Center on Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM)

2005: Department of Education’s Model Demonstration Projects (EnACT)

2008: Higher Education Opportunity Act calls for instructional

environments based on UDL

2009: UDL is a requirement for all grantees funded by Department of Labor $2B TAACCCT program

2010: National Education Technology Plan cites UDL

2011: Gates Foundation selects CAST to provide TA around UDL to over 800 community and technical colleges as part of the OPEN consortium for TAACCCT

2014 – 2018: CAST Directs the National Technical Assistance Center on Accessible Educational Materials with an expanded mandate to include postsecondary and

workforce

Three Learning Networks

For purposeful, motivated learners, stimulate interest and motivation for learning.

For resourceful, knowledgeable learners, present information and content in different ways

For strategic, goal-directed learners, differentiate the ways that students can express what they know

UDL Guidelines

Accessibility as Foundational

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Arts Building University of SaskatchewanDaryl Mitchell, February 14, 2014https://www.flickr.com/photos/daryl_mitchell/

Ramp and CanSam Craig, June 18, 2009https://www.flickr.com/photos/pirateyjoe/

Definition“Accessible” means a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use.

Office of Civil Rights Compliance Review No.11-11-6002

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/investigations/11116002-b.pdf

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0)

• Perceivable - Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive– Provide text alternatives for any non-text content

– Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.

• Operable - User interface components and navigation must be operable– Make all functionality available via a keyboard.

– Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are within content.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0)

• Understandable - Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable – Make text content readable and understandable.– Make web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.

• Robust - Content is robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies– Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents,

including assistive technologies.

– UDL On Campus Legal Obligations for Accessibility

Accessibility to UDL

“The purpose of education is not to make information accessible, but rather to teach learners how to transform accessible information into useable knowledge.” --Introduction to the UDL Guidelines (CAST, 2012)

Higher Education Opportunity Act

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 sets a higher standard, calling for instructional environments -- including materials, teaching methods, and assessments -- based on Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Examples: CAST Research &

Development• OER Co-Design with Open

Platform Provider and Colleges• Design-based research &

development in schools• Learning sciences research &

professional development for educators

#1 Case method in college OERs

Math, Communication and Problem solving skills through case method

STEM Bridge program will provide an accelerated pathway … that will help students bring their math, reading/writing, computer and critical thinking skills to the level necessary to take full advantage of the technical curriculum in one of the five programs

-- National STEM Consortium, Anne Arundel Community College Guidance Memo 07-2012

http://youtu.be/nFMRaG4p8mM http://youtu.be/S0OOlThhU90

Present introductory story Present contextualized challenges

Multiple means of representation

Multiple means of representation

Multiple means of action and expression

Multiple means of engagement

Reflection: Case method at HBS

• The socratic “cold call” method is typically used in case-based learning.

• 2010 Harvard Business school began to reshape how students could demonstrate understanding and how faculty members monitored progress in case discussions.

• The goal was to address a gender gap in case participation.

Reflection: Case method at HBS

• Business school faculty members began to raise issues of respect and civility in their teaching.

• Added stenographers to case discussions to have a transcript of case discussion.

• Adopted new software that allowed professors to check on who they were calling on and their marking patterns by gender.  

• Introduced alternatives to the case method with a new course where students were grouped into problem solving teams.

• Provided hand-raising coaching for female students.

#2 Online Reading Environment

Multiple Means of Engagement: Optimize

Choice & Autonomy

Representation, Action & Expression, and Engagement

Engagement: Options for interest & self-regulation

#3 Inquiry Primed: An Intervention to Mitigate the Effects of Stereotype Threat in Science

Stereotype threat refers to the feeling that you are likely to confirm a negative stereotype about a group to which you belong (Steele & Aronson 1995).

Students, teachers, and observers all rated the quality of collaborative interactions as lower on days when readings were about threatening topics.

How did today’s class make you feel about yourself?

It made me feel good because I helped out a lot and we got all the answers as a group.

Smart, people listened to my ideas.

It made me feel uncomfortable because I wasn't working with someone I know

Experimental study results

Multiple means of representation

• Teachers represent science concepts with stereotype threat in mind. Instruction includes:– mood reappraisal using a mood

meter– Self-affirmation activities

Multiple means of representation

Multiple means of action and expression

• Teachers and students have new ways of expressing what they know when giving feedback.

– teachers and students are given sentence starters to use mastery-oriented feedback to promote growth mindset

Mastery-oriented Sentence starters:

• I like how you looked at your results and saw how you could use them to redesign your experiment.

• We’ve made improvements in …. What challenge do you want to set for ourselves next?

Multiple means of action and expression

Multiple means of engagement

• Students have new ways of engaging in peer-to-peer learning and self-assessing how they do at learning in a group.

Multiple means of engagement

• Learners critically reflect on how well they are learning socially

Agenda activists: • Responsible for capturing the community’s learning agenda• Keep track of emerging learning needs, key insights and ensure the agenda doesn’t get

far off the rails

Community keepers: • Custodians of the dynamics of the community and their effects on its learning capability • Pay particular attention to voices, levels of participation, and issues of power.

Social reporters: • Generate a history of what happens from the different perspectives of the members • Goes beyond typed notes to include testimonies, opinions, images, videos, and other

uses of social media.

-- Wenger-Traynor, 2013

UDL on CampusCAST’s new website on UDL in higher education is UDLOnCampus.cast.org

Resources on:

• Course Planning & Instruction

• Media, Materials & Technology

• Assessments & Data Analysis

• Policy & Practice

Principle 1: Multiple Means of Representation

✦ Multimodal representation of materials via text, images, symbols, and audio

✦ Options for perception - captioned and transcribed content

✦ Prior knowledge influences interaction with content

✦ Meaning-making is critical34

Recognition

Principle 2: Multiple Means of Action and Expression

✦ Content & activities should be available to assistive technologies that amplify, magnify or navigate curriculum

✦ Vary methods of response - digital tools offer greater flexibility for a wider range of learners

✦ Support learning processes – set goals, plan, organize, strategize, progress monitoring

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Strategic

Principle 3: Multiple Means of Engagement

✦ Learners self-assess and critically reflect on learning

✦ Options for recruiting interest and for sustaining effort

✦ Content is contextualized to their experience & interests

✦ Learners are motivated – increased persistence & retention 36

Affective