Universal Design for Learning: A framework for addressing learner diversity
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On September 9, 2015, Sam Johnston gave a talk entitled "Universal Design for Learning: A framework for addressing learner diversity". Educators designing online and blended programs are responsible for ensuring the success of all students including those with physical, sensory, and learning disabilities, differing cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and various motivations for learning. Providing accessible learning materials to postsecondary students with disabilities is essential — and required by law. Assistive technology and accessible materials can lower barriers to access. However, access to materials is not the same as access to learning. “The purpose of education is not to make information accessible, but rather to teach learners how to transform accessible information into useable knowledge” (CAST, 2012). 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. This session provides an overview of UDL with examples from open educational resources (OER) development. We will showcase UDLonCampus.cast.org, a collection of resources on UDL for postsecondary stakeholders to help them provide flexibility in instructional materials, teaching methods, and assessments.
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Universal Design for Learning: A framework for addressing learner diversity
- 1. Universal Design for Learning in postsecondary education Harvard ABCD Committee September 9, 2015 Sam Catherine Johnston sjohnston@cast.org
- 2. Objectives 1. 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 2
- 3. CAST and UDL CAST 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.
- 4. 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
- 5. 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
- 7. Accessibility as Foundational 7 Arts Building University of Saskatchewan Daryl Mitchell, February 14, 2014 https://www.flickr.com/photos/daryl_mitchell/ Ramp and Can Sam Craig, June 18, 2009 https://www.flickr.com/photos/pirateyjoe/
- 8. 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/d ocs/investigations/11116002-b.pdf
- 9. 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.
- 10. 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
- 11. 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)
- 12. 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).
- 13. 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
- 14. #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
- 15. http://youtu.be/nFMRaG4p8mM http://youtu.be/S0OOlThhU90 Present introductory story Present contextualized challenges Multiple means of representation
- 16. Multiple means of representation
- 17. Multiple means of action and expression
- 18. Multiple means of engagement
- 19. 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.
- 20. 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.
- 21. #2 Online Reading Environment
- 22. Multiple Means of Engagement: Optimize Choice & Autonomy
- 23. Representation, Action & Expression, and Engagement
- 24. Engagement: Options for interest & self-regulation
- 25. #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).
- 26. 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
- 27. Multiple means of representation • Teachers represent science concepts with stereotype threat in mind. Instruction includes: – mood reappraisal using a mood meter – Self-affirmation activities
- 29. 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
- 30. 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
- 31. 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.
- 32. 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
- 33. UDL on Campus CAST’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
- 34. 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 critical 34 Recognition
- 35. 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 35 Strategic
- 36. 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
Editor's Notes
- CAST has worked with four-year IHEs providing training, faculty support, technical assistance and consultative services. CAST has conducted institutes on UDL all over the country serving about 120 unique postsecondary institutions, including the Harvard University UDL Institute. In 2004, CAST helped develop the FAME project (Faculty and Administrator Modules in Higher Education) at the Ohio State University and developed faculty-oriented online modules detailing UDL practices for supporting students with disabilities used by hundreds of postsecondary institutions. CAST Directs the National Technical Assistance Center on Accessible Instructional Materials (2004) In 2005, CAST helped initiate one of the Department of Education’s Model Demonstration Projects to Ensure Students with Disabilities Receive a Quality Higher Education (Project EnACT in the California State University system). It grew from a single CSU campus to six statewide campus sites, and its multimedia resources on UDL-oriented classroom practices continue to be widely distributed through MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) and form the basis of UDL Universe, a web-based faculty professional development guide. Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 calls for instructional environments -- including materials, teaching methods, and assessments -- based on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) UDL is a requirement for all Department of Labor TAACCCT funded grantees as stipulated in the SGA 2009 The 2010 National Education Technology Plan cites Universal Design for Learning as an important set of principles and instructional approaches to develop students’ higher-level skills, including critical thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration, and multimedia communication. 2011 Gates funds CAST around UDL and accessibility for Project OPEN technical assistance consortium, supported by the Gates Foundation to provide TA to over 800 community and technical colleges funded by the Department of Labor’s TAACCCT program. CAST, in collaboration with the national distribution hub SkillsCommons.org, has established accessibility criteria for material submission to ensure that all grant-funded materials are accessible, has co-developed online and blended courses with three major TAACCCT consortia of community colleges across the country and different technology platform providers, CAST Directs the National Technical Assistance Center on Accessible Educational Materials (2014-2018) with an expanded mandate to include postsecondary and workforce. CAST directed the Congressionally Directed Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities – Postsecondary AIM report Yes, it’s resulted in the promotion of the SMART Act (I’ll send info along) and the recent Postsec TA Center RFP from OPE, as well as a heightened accessibility awareness with the publishing community
- The UDL principles help ensure basic accessibility and, beyond that, help address barriers that can arise for all learners in their variable interactions with environments and that impede making information meaningful and then support independent, self-directed learners. This framework is not a checklist. You want to always think about the goal of your instruction or the learning experience, and then you can strategically use certain checkpoints to refine critical elements that are going to help learners reach that goal.
- UDL applies the same concept of Universal Design and accessibility from the outset to the design of our classrooms and campuses as a whole. AEM Working with scaled vendors and systems on accessibile OERs Open Learning Inititive Desire2Learn Accessibility checklist for SkillsCommons repository Our own products WCAG 2.0. compliant “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
- Postsecondary institutions can find guidelines for web accessibility in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These voluntary international guidelines, the most recent version of which is titled “WCAG 2.0,” consist of 12 broad guidelines categorized under four principles of accessibility: The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone
- Postsecondary institutions can find guidelines for web accessibility in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These voluntary international guidelines, the most recent version of which is titled “WCAG 2.0,” consist of 12 broad guidelines categorized under four principles of accessibility: When text requires reading ability more advanced than the lower secondary education level after removal of proper names and titles, supplemental content, or a version that does not require reading ability more advanced than the lower secondary education level, is available. For all user interface components (including but not limited to: form elements, links and components generated by scripts), the name and role can be programmatically determined; states, properties, and values that can be set by the user can be programmatically set; and notification of changes to these items is available to user agents, including assistive technologies. (Level A) Note: This success criterion is primarily for Web authors who develop or script their own user interface components. For example, standard HTML controls already meet this success criterion when used according to specification
- Many learners who are not identified as having physical, sensory, and learning disabilities may also struggle to learn due to diverse abilities and backgrounds, differing cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and other factors that affect perception, executive function, and engagement. Even learners who are identified as “average” or “gifted” may not have their learning needs met due to poor curricular design.
- “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) Cases are representations of real-world situations. They are “stories with a message.”1 They represent a step before learning-by-doing and are therefore critical when classroom learning is designed to teach knowledge, skills, and practices that will be used in the workplace. Cases take many forms. For example, they can be written out as stories with a set of discussion questions, or they can be multimedia presentations that provide rich visual and auditory representations of people in their work setting. They can present a simple or complex set of problems for learners to resolve . Cases simulate an experience and allow us to experience that with others.2 When a group of learners analyzes a case together, they must tease apart the many factors that generated the situation and consider how they would respond if faced with the dilemma presented. Because cases offer the perspectives of different individuals, they allow learners to see that problems must be framed and resolved by people who often have different interests, values, and emotions around various issues.3 Cases can illustrate general principles and practices, both good and bad. Cases capture our attention because they are a form of storytelling, and much of our learning comes through stories.4 See note @ end pls. Do all cases present one or more problems? If there are non-problem forms of cases, suggest add text to this sentence to indicate/include They are a form of problem-based learning so almost always present a problem for the learner to resolve. Tell a story of the workplace that can be visualized Richly model best practices in the workplace Provide a step before learning-by-doing Help learners problem-solve issues and learn from one another Encourage reflection on work practices and allow learners to provide feedback or discuss work practices Help learners to avoid a narrow view of a problem
- This multi-media case based approach was used for teaching basic math and communication skills. The images above show short video clips about Kelly, a mid career professional learning to work in the air traffic control industry and having to practice her communication skills as a big storm is coming up the coast that will impact multiple air traffic control stations. Minimized threats and distractions by offloading the demands of print and ensuring that the video had both transcripts and captions. Set the skills in a real-life context which was helpful for trade adjusted workers.
- Provide the same quality of information – it’s very UDL because A) it’s central, available, integrated in the design and display from the start just like the visual representation – many people can benefit from the textual description. The GOAL is to be able to identify which graph is a line graph, bar graph, etc.; B) the long desc doesn’t give that way, it just gives a different way of understanding and discerning.
- This case-based approach helped maintain learners’ interest and helped them to comprehend what they were learning because activities were connected to the story of Kelly and were problem-based. This can help students use less of their working memory on the transfer and generalization of new knowledge. Heightens salience of goals – speaking and listening skills are directly tied to solving what is happening with the big storm and maintaining operations The scenario and the following instructional activities (reading passages, LBD, DIGT) help maintaining learners’ interest as they are tied to the scenario and show concrete examples from various contexts.
- Balances demands and resources – demands of reading are lowered for those who have not been successful in traditional approaches to school. Resources of knowing learning in a workplace are accessed and this is important for non-traditional students. Learners can self-assess and reflect by comparing their understanding of the situation with Kelly’s and with other classmates’ as case approach is focused on social learning. They can see Kelly model self-regulation in the context of a challenging high stakes situation. Self-regulation develops socially so Kelly is presumably learning how to manage stress from others that have been through this type of big storm before and the case approach allows for modeling of that.
- male students participated at far higher rates than did female students, a significant problem given that case participation could represent 50% of one’s grade.
- Alternatives for visual information + ways of customizing the display Clarify vocabulary and symbols (dictionary) + illustrate through multiple media (images, text) __ Varied methods for response + navigation (keyboardable Optimized tools + AT (text to speech bar) __ Discussion fosters collaboration and community; optimize relevance, value and authenticity
- Student dashboard. Used to be a data visualization bar graph – student research showed this was not effective, students didn’t understand it. Now we have clear information about student activity that helps them make choices and be autonomous, goal-directed learners; This provides students with information for making goals, challenging themselves, and provides feedback about what they’ve been doing; And finally this supports expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation (look at what I’ve done!) – as well as self-assessment and reflection (hm, I could do more in this area…)
- This awareness causes anxiety, reduces expectations, and for many people it can magnify existing gaps in performance levels. Anyone, depending on the situation or group identification, is vulnerable to stereotype threat. This threat can affect students from different socioeconomic backgrounds, races, and genders, depending on the specific skill, activity, or ability being evaluated. For example, research has demonstrated women underperforming on math tests due to stereotype threat regarding women’s math skills, and similarly white athletes have been shown to underperform when primed about their race; in both cases (and, many others), participants are negatively affected by concern about fulfilling expectations that they will not do as well as their male or African American peers (respectively). How does stereotype threat work? Why does it have these negative effects? The reason that performance suffers under stereotype threat is still a matter of some debate. Research has shown that factors such as anxiety (e.g., Marx & Stapel, 2006), physiological arousal (e.g., Blascovich et al., 2001), and reduced cognitive capacity (e.g., Schmader & Johns, 2003) can all occur under stereotype threat, and each factor might contribute to lowered performance. This paper raised the possibility that culturally-shared stereotypes suggesting poor performance of certain groups can, when made salient in a context involving the stereotype, disrupt performance of an individual who identifies with that group. The goal of this 3-year exploratory project is to support teachers who use inquiry-based instructional pedagogies to broaden participation of all students and mitigate the effects of stereotype threat in science classes. We pursue this goal in an effort to broaden participation, persistence, and success in science. The project has three objectives: 1. To investigate through an experimental study stereotype threat in the context of science classrooms. 2. To translate results from the experimental study and results from previously established mitigating interventions and create, in collaboration with teachers, strategies that can be applied in the context of science classrooms and inquiry-based pedagogy. 3. To create and evaluate an online professional learning course and community of practice that supports understanding of stereotype threat and strategies for broadening participation within the inquiry science classroom for all students.
- This difference was statistically significant for all three measures (t(255)=3.01, p<.01; t(Satterthwaite)(73.18)=-2.16, p<.05; t(Satterthwaite)(37.68)=2.56, p<.05). Additional analyses using multiple regression and testing for interactions demonstrate that ratings do not differ by race or gender; overall findings are not driven by particularly negative experiences of specifically stigmatized groups. Professional development accounts for the interplay between emotion and learning, rather than ignoring it.
- Reappraisal is a strategy that helps students recognize and reinterpret emotions in order to reduce the effects of stereotype threat Self-Affirmation is a strategy that supports students to recognize their strengths, interests, and abilities. Using self-affirmation has been shown to make a significant positive impact on student achievement.
- Reappraisal is a strategy that helps students recognize and reinterpret emotions in order to reduce the effects of stereotype threat Self-Affirmation is a strategy that supports students to recognize their strengths, interests, and abilities. Using self-affirmation has been shown to make a significant positive impact on student achievement.
- personal or intrinsic praise inhibits effort. Avoid phrases like "You're so smart!" "You're a natural at this." Solution: process praise encourages effort and resilience. Use phrases like "These strategies are really working for you." "Your hard work is paying off."
- personal or intrinsic praise inhibits effort. Avoid phrases like "You're so smart!" "You're a natural at this." Solution: process praise encourages effort and resilience. Use phrases like "These strategies are really working for you." "Your hard work is paying off."
- personal or intrinsic praise inhibits effort. Avoid phrases like "You're so smart!" "You're a natural at this." Solution: process praise encourages effort and resilience. Use phrases like "These strategies are really working for you." "Your hard work is paying off."
- Social learning leadership “The idea behind this practice is to identify distinct leadership tasks that are key to social learning in a given context - and to form groups to take on these tasks on behalf of the community.” –Wenger-Traynor (2013) p. 3
- Discuss UX
- Multimodal Options for perception Prior knowledge Meaning making
- Assistive technologies Vary methods of response Support executive functions
- Self-assess and reflect on learning Options for recruiting interest Contextualize Motivated, self-directed learners