This week I took some time to look at UDL, or Universal Design for Learning. While I have looked at UDL in many of my previous courses, it wasn't until this week that I actually understood the importance of it. With this new realization, though, I had a lot of questions and realizations that I wanted to share.
Let me start by explaining what UDL actually is. According to cast.org, a website outlining all things UDL, it is “a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn” (CAST 2022). Basically, it’s how to be a good teacher. Sounds perfect, right? Teachers just have to understand UDL, implement it, and then all students would be able to learn! Not exactly. See, UDL has different components- representation, action and expression, and engagement. When each of these components is provided in multiple ways to suit learners needs, that is when UDL actually works. The problem here is that teachers must first understand how students learn and then adjust/ cater their lessons to these needs, while keeping in mind what the overall learning goal is. This is where the grunt work comes in. Now that you have a basic understanding of UDL, I want to discuss some realizations that I came to this week. The first being “why does UDL suddenly disappear in post-secondary and even secondary education?”. This was brought to my attention when exploring the website udloncampus.org. This website has this video posted on the homepage. It describes what UDL is in higher education, but what stuck out to me the most was the very first five seconds where a woman states “when students come to postsecondary they are incredibly diverse” (UDL in Higher Education 2015). This got me thinking about everything I have been taught about UDL, where I have been taught to implement it, and how I have seen it implemented. The conclusion that I came to was I have been taught to implement it with little kids, and I have only seen it implemented with little kids. But why? The answer to that question is because it gets increasingly harder to differentiate your teaching when you are dealing with an “incredibly diverse” group of students. It takes practice, hard work, and dedication, but it delivers results. When I think back on my education, I remember having fun in my elementary and even middle school classrooms. I recall learning in a million different ways, acting, creating, reading, exploring, and even taking notes. But at these times of my life I learned so much. Then high school hit and suddenly I was going through the motions of learning every single day. I sat down at my individual desk, took notes for an hour, took an exam or quiz every once in a while, and left the classroom when the bell rang. All day, every day. And how much do I remember learning from high school? Not a lot. And the same held true with my college courses. There was no differentiation, no excitement or engagement. Because it is hard for teachers of higher education to differentiate their teaching, and so much easier to just spit out information and hope students learn it. Not only is it hard for teachers to differentiate when they are faced with such diverse learners, but it is also tremendously less acceptable for older learners to learn through making and creating. This is something else that I explored this week- who is ‘allowed’ to create/ make and who is not? We all know that playing is such an important part of learning… but only for children, right? Once you are in higher education, you’re not allowed to play or create, as society tells us. With these societal expectations, students in higher education will never be exposed to an entire learning experience, and teachers of higher education will never provide this type of learning experience. So why is UDL so much more important in elementary education than higher education? If you ask me, it’s not. References: https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl#.XFBpZi2ZOL9 http://udloncampus.cast.org/home#.XFBobC2ZOL8 Chrissie Butler (June 6, 2013). “UDL graphic frame for quick planning”. [Image]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/36224492@N06/8972765059/in/photolist-eETLrR-pshCp3-2mB3zim-2iusb4E-bS98He-Tha6aE-ewqj88-Pikmw6-2gwnzFc-HZPwd3-C6MTME-eoFQUF-cFgcid-eoFQvB-hRh5g-bTZ4Ex-2jn8M1W-2dUpTU-exyV1J-bDJLqM-Wm8fEf-hRgYz-8JM9vh-8Cu2xB-baZVmk-228h2av-5bXTLj-2kCcy8G-b9jmZ6-qXViC8-cFg9XU-cFgaa5-8JJ6NM-hRgWk-8JJ6Ai-2n85LF1-2n832tX-exvHZn-2n82Be7-8JM9hJ-ij5Etq-hRgTW-2dUrBJ-ij58kV-PJ2omd-2n84idm-2n84idX-2dUkzS-2dPw8t-2dPBrp UDL On Campus (2015, October). “UDL in Higher Education”. [Video]. Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_MCvjkd8Jc
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This week I took a deep look at all of my socials- Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and even Pinterest. What I found was quite interesting. After learning about participatory culture and the “filter bubble” as described by Eli Pariser (2011), I decided it was time to take a good look at what information I am and am not being shown on social media. I have always been aware of the idea of a filter bubble, but never knew that it had a name. One way that I have acknowledged the filter bubble in my socials is through what I see on TikTok. It is very clear that the algorithms of TikTok show me exactly what I want to see and filter out anything that they believe I would not enjoy or agree with. This has been a widely acknowledged phenomenon, as I have heard my friends talk about what “kind” of TikTok they are “on” (for example- I am almost always on ‘dog TikTok’). This was the first week that I took a look at this phenomenon with more knowledge and a critical eye. I ended up following a few more people on TikTok to see if this would impact the algorithm- and it did! I specifically followed “msbunnyteacher” after watching a video of hers where she discusses a different point of view on EdTech than I have. After I followed her, more videos with views like hers started appearing in my feed. This was very shocking to me and makes me think, if making this one small change had that much of an impact on what I now see… what else am I missing??
Resources: Blogtrepeneur. (2016, July 26). Social Media Marketing Mix. [Image]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/143601516@N03/28208489145/in/photolist-JYFT48-gSX5nH-6FkPYG-gSXMFT-8o2UHN-2izMmhY-gSX5fD-SDENZU-rh1USg-gSX4v3-gSX4qd-7arjcX-HRv9gc-aFy3bt-8w6RQm-8FSH1y-K4c1J7-dvUxYM-6wzM1U-8tftq9-wto671-99BVQZ-754QPy-6MgfTM-6wvviD-9Dgi47-deoZtb-6hxAb9-aNzXB8-2mhZFz1-gSX5ZL-4sgaEK-ddApjK-rgUoy3-yJnGVW-y56zPB-gSXPdR-gSX5Zq-S7w8UL-dPQbk9-gSX5TU-e1yRKg-xqYsBK-e1HpQq-6sydbF-5XNfPs-5dqihW-gSX6xi-gSX6Dv-gSX67u. Msbunnyteacher. (2022) [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@msbunnyteacher/video/7095115613613362475?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1. TED. (2011, February). Beware online "filter bubbles" | Eli Pariser. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles/transcript Copyright is a tricky subject, but understanding it is more important now than ever. This week I dove into how to ethically use media sources in my own work and how to be on the lookout for copyright infringement. A source that I learned about this week is creativecommons.org. I dive into what Creative Commons is and how it helps in understanding fair use of others’ work in this video. One stumbling block I had to overcome this week was understanding the difference between the six different types of licenses that are provided by the Creative Commons. Because each license has different restraints, it is important to understand what each of the restraints are and what they allow you to do. One of the most important realizations I came to this week was using my resources (and finding those resources) will be my best friend. In my video I list some websites I have found helpful when trying to filter and search images, videos, and audio by creative commons license. Some of these websites (Flickr), you can see I have used before when finding images for some of my other blog posts. Hobbs (2010) states that “nearly everything online is copyrighted”, which can cause issues in the classroom if students and teachers are not properly educated on where and how to find and cite the right material. Hopefully this video provides come clarity on Creative Commons and introduces you to copyright-friendly sources!
Resources: Abb, M. (2022). Creative Commons [Video]. WeVideo. https://www.wevideo.com/view/2754121768 https://creativecommons.org/ Renee Hobbs. Copyright Clarity : How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning. Corwin; 2010. Accessed July 17, 2022. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=470547&site=eds-live Over the last few years I have learned a lot about failing and learning in my professional and educational lives. I have created an infographic which is pictured below, showcasing an overview of my educational journey since I graduated high school. I have overcome a lot in the last five years, between transferring schools, switching majors, learning through a pandemic, and finally deciding to take a different path and get my masters after graduating. Not all of these decisions/ events have been easy and I have failed through many of them. But I have also learned a lot through my failure. I am now entering my first professional setting, starting a job at a corporate company. With all that I have learned through my failures (and successes) these last five years, I feel very much prepared to enter this world. While failing is scary in a professional context, I know that it is okay and allowed if handled the correct way. I have also come to learn that failing is okay and you can learn much more from failures than you learn from succeeding. I have not dealt much with the aspect of making in a professional context, but where I have witnessed learning through creating and innovating is through my MAET (Masters of Arts in Educational Technology) program. As you can see from my blog posts, I have started to create a lot, both digitally and physically, and looking ahead I will be continuing to learn through creation. One of the most important aspects of learning through creation that I have not found anywhere else is that “making and learning reinforc[e] one another in a never-ending spiral” (Resnick 2017). By receiving, listening to, and implementing feedback from peers/ colleagues/ instructors, we drive the creative cycle further. Feedback leads to the implementation of new ideas, sparks new thinking, and pushes learning even further. This “maker” education was not common when I was in grade school, or even in my undergraduate courses. It has taken me until graduate school to get a taste of this style of learning. My hope is that more and more educators will begin to implement this style because if it can have this much of an impact on a 21 year old learner, I imagine it would have even greater impacts on 10 year old learners. Touching more on the idea of “maker” learning, some of the articles I read this week really made me think about why more educators do not use this style of teaching/ learning more. When I look at the values of our society and look at the values of maker education, they do not necessarily align. In Richard Culatta’s TED Talk, he brings up multiple challenges that we face as a nation related to education. The first one is that all learners are treated the same despite unique needs. While Culatta discusses how technology can solve this, I related this to maker education and saw the ways that learning through physical creation could aid in providing all students with a learning experience created for and tailored to their own needs. The education system today places value on fast paced, uniform learning but it has proven to be ineffective. If the values of the system changed and allowed for more maker education, I believe there would be a large change in the ability of students to learn. Piaget and Papert believed that “knowledge is actively constructed by the child in interaction with her world” (Ackermann, 2011). These two theorists point out not only the importance of maker learning, but also its relation to constructionism and constructivism. In both my educational and professional contexts I have seen the emphasis placed on growth for success. Being involved in the educational technology world, my colleagues all value progression, learning from mistakes, learning through creation, and creating a more progressive and equitable learning environment for students. This week I have been able to reflect on how I can advocate for maker learning in my professional setting, and have seen the ways that my company is already succeeding here. References: Abb, M. (2022). Growing Through Education [Photograph]. Ackermann, E. (2001). Piaget's constructivism, Papert's constructionism: What's the difference. Future of Learning Group Publication, 5(3), 1-11, doi:10.1.1.132.4253 Resnick, M. (2017). Lifelong kindergarten: Cultivating creativity through projects, passion, peers, and play. The MIT Press. http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/papers/CulturesCreativityEssay.pdf TEDxTalk. (2013, January 10). Reimagining learning: Richard Culatta at TEDx Beacon Street [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0uAuonMXrg&feature=emb_logo |
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