CH4 Word Document

Michael Herdoiza
Chapter 4
The chapter focuses on:
The key to helping all students achieve is identifying and removing barriers from our teaching methods and curriculum materials. Drawing from brain research and using new media, the Universal Design For Learning framework proposes that educators strive for three kinds of flexibility:
1. To present information in multiple formats and media
2. To provide multiple pathways’ for students’ action and expression
3. To provide multiple ways to engage students’ interest and motivation

The three UDL principles, implemented with new media, can help us improve how we set goals, individualize instruction, and assess students’ progress.

3 Principles

1. To support recognition learning, provide multiple, flexible methods of presentation.
2. To support strategic learning, provide multiple methods of expression and apprenticeship.
3. To support affective learning.
I think that my blind students would be able to benefit from UDL because “like universal design in architecture, with its stairs, ramps, and elevators, these alternatives reduce barriers for individuals with disabilities but also enhance opportunities for every student.”

For example, Mr. Costa is teaching a civics unit on national elections and wants to convey the fundamental value of voter participation. He chooses to use a chart as an ideal means of representation for some kinds of information and for some students, but a medium that presents learning barriers for other students. Obviously, a child who is blind cannot learn from a visual chart, nor can students who have difficulty discerning colors, interpreting keys and symbols or deciphering the significance of spatial relationships between elements. For these students, charts actually present a barrier.
In this case, both his teaching goal and the barriers in the medium he has chosen (images) relate to recognition, the learning networks addressed by UDL principle 1. It recommends that the teacher provide multiple representations of the same information. A verbal description of the chart, a tactile graphic representation, or an e-version text read by the computer would all make the key concepts accessible to students who are blind or otherwise visually impaired. The verbal description would have the additional advantage of helping other students in the class by providing complementary information not contained within the chart and offering a different context and emphasis. This option would also help students who have difficulty interpreting graphically displayed data.