Assistive Technology, Universal Design, Universal Design for Learning: Improved Learning Opportunities

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuck Hitchcock ◽  
Skip Stahl
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Assistive Technology ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Education Curriculum ◽  
General Education Curriculum ◽  
Learning Assessments ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Improved Learning

This article addresses the benefits that are likely to derive from shifting focus to developing and implementing a universally designed curriculum. It considers the goals for learning, the learning materials, the instructional methods, and the learning assessments. Benefits are expressed in terms of improved access, participation, and progress in the general education curriculum. Some of the forces that support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and possible barriers are addressed, as well as appropriate uses of technology within educational learning environments. Assistive Technology (AT), Universal Design (UD) and UDL are briefly defined and pointers to additional resources are included.

Inclusive Education and Universal Design for Learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 107-125
Author(s):  
Megan E. Cartier
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Education Curriculum ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
General Education Curriculum ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Related Service

Special education is filled with variations of service delivery models, collaboration among multiple service providers, ongoing documentation, frequent testing, and the creation of individualized plans all designed to help a child with a disability access the general education curriculum. Many education and rehabilitation preparation programs across the country are compartmentalized. Although these preparation programs include overviews of other related service providers outside of their fields, often the overviews are cursory at best. Inclusive education and Universal Design for Learning offer a way to help bridge the gap across programs. This chapter will demonstrate why educators and multiple related service providers should work together as a team to provide students with disabilities with thoughtful and intentional supports that strive toward a collaborative goal of increasing access to the general education curriculum.

scholarly journals The Goal of the Universal Design for Learning: Development of All to Expert Learners

2021 ◽  
pp. 23-57
Author(s):  
Julita Navaitienė ◽  
Eglė Stasiūnaitienė
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
General Education Curriculum ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Learning Development

AbstractOver the past 10 years, every learner’s ability to achieve the highest level of learning success has become quite an important topic. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) sets a goal to allow all learners to achieve their optimal learning experience that matches inclusive education. Learners who can assess their own learning needs set their personal learning goals, and monitor their progress are termed the expert learners (McDowell. Developing expert learners: a roadmap for growing confident and competent students. Corwin, 2019). This chapter focuses on theoretical backgrounds for expert learners’ paradigm. It starts from fundamental constructivist theories and moves towards the theory of self-regulation and cognitive neuroscience approach. It concentrates on the theory of self-determination, which, in our opinion, validates in the best way the nature of the expert learners’ development. Implementation of the Universal Design for Learning allows all learners to access, participate in, and progress in the general-education curriculum. This chapter presents the specific profile of the expert learners covering their main characteristics and qualities and revealing the essence of the UDL framework. Educators could use the profile as the educational guidelines conductive to understand how the process of becoming the expert learner proceeds.

scholarly journals Universal Design for Learning to Support Access to the General Education Curriculum for Students with Intellectual Disabilities

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adnan Nasser Al Hazmi ◽  
Aznan Che Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Intellectually Disabled ◽  
Students With Special Needs ◽  
Disabled Students ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
General Education Curriculum ◽  
Design For Learning

The issue concerned with enhancing support to the intellectually disabled students for enabling them to access thegeneral education has gained significant importance in the recent years all over the world. The intellectually disabledstudents suffer from neurodevelopmental disorders that acts as a barrier to the normal functioning of the brain andslow down the learning abilities and proper development of an individual. The presence of intellectual disabilitiesaffects both the mental and physical well-being of the students by causing issues for them to understand, thinklogically, speak, remembering things, and find solutions to the problems. Many research studies are conducted acrossthe world for finding the ways and designing innovative models that can help in increasing the access to generaleducation for these students with special needs. The universal design for learning framework also aims at providingsupport to the intellectually disabled students for gaining access to general education by enhancing their intellectualfunctioning and ability to adapt.

UDL and Intellectual Disability: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go?

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kavita Rao ◽  
Sean J. Smith ◽  
K. Alisa Lowrey
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
General Education ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Education Curriculum ◽  
Educational Settings ◽  
General Education Curriculum ◽  
Instructional Activities ◽  
Design For Learning

Abstract As an instructional design framework that can be used to design curriculum for students with and without disabilities, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has the potential to support meaningful inclusion of students with intellectual disability (ID) in general educational settings. This article presents an overview of the existing set of research studies on UDL application for students with ID in PreK-12 settings. The current body of research illustrates that UDL is being applied to instructional activities for students with ID to examine a variety of interventions (e.g., adapted stories for individual students, inclusive general education curriculum) and outcomes (e.g., interaction, perceptions, knowledge gains) in self-contained and general educational settings. It also identifies important questions for consideration in future research as the field seeks to determine how UDL guidelines can be applied to curriculum, used with evidence-based and effective practices, and used to support schoolwide initiatives inclusive of students with ID.

Civic Engagement

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn M. Kuzma
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
General Education ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Education Curriculum ◽  
Civic Learning ◽  
Communal Life ◽  
General Education Curriculum

There is a body of evidence that suggests that young Americans are disengaged from communal life. Since the late 1980s, college students have been described as materialistic, self-absorbed, and self-interested, acting without regard for community interests. Scholars consider the “me generation” as symptomatic of an eroding democratic civic culture characterized by growing apathy, resentment, even anger. This trend continues today. In order to address this, proponents of higher education have made their attempts to develop civic engagement in young minds. Civic engagement refers to activities within a community, though in the academic setting, the definition becomes much more complex. There is a belief that through participation in a community, students will develop capacities that ultimately lead them to become more active citizens, which in turn benefits not only themselves but also the community. However, higher education’s recommitment to developing students’ civic engagement should be informed by a clear notion of what civic engagement entails. In addition, a certain amount of factual knowledge is a prerequisite for becoming an engaged citizen, as civic learning involves students coming to understand the democratic processes of a community, its history, the problems it faces, and the richness of its diversity. And civic learning opportunities can be taught both in and outside of the classroom, as co-curricular learning opportunities, projects embedded in a class, or as a requirement of a general education curriculum.

Barriers With Implementing a Universal Design for Learning Framework

Inclusion ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 274-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
LaRon A. Scott
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Administrative Support ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Education Teacher ◽  
General Education Teacher ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Service Training

Abstract Inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings is often contingent on teachers' liberties to use inclusive instructional strategies. The current qualitative investigation used focus group, observation, and interviews of 9 special education teachers to understand their attitudes and beliefs concerning challenges with implementing the universal design for learning (UDL) framework to meet the needs of students with and without disabilities. A constant comparative analysis method was used to categorize the data into the following themes that emerged as barriers for implementing the UDL framework: (a) general education teacher support for inclusion, (b) need for administrative support, (c) need for improving general education teacher knowledge of UDL, (d) additional preservice field-based training on UDL, and (e) additional in-service training on UDL. Although the teachers in the study continued to indicate a passion for implementing the UDL framework, the need to address the barriers faced by teachers, and future research and implications significant to moving UDL forward as an inclusive teaching framework are underlined for discussion in the study.

scholarly journals A practice-based intervention to prepare preservice teachers for inclusion using universal design for learning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Mary Elizabeth Decker
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
General Education ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Diverse Learners ◽  
Fundamental Knowledge ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
The Impact

General education pre-service teachers are expected to teach diverse learners, including those with disabilities, in the general education settings. Yet many are not adequately prepared to teach all students. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to increase inclusive practices, however, it is unknown how to best teach this to pre-service teachers. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of using a practice-based approach to teach UDL as compared to a lecture-based approach to teach UDL to better prepare general education pre-service teachers. Constructs of interest include pre-service teachers' fundamental knowledge including UDL, self-efficacy and UDL application. A mixed methods triangulation design was employed. While pre-service teachers from both groups had significant gains in their foundational knowledge, reported self-efficacy, reported UDL knowledge and ability to apply UDL ideas, participants in the practice-based group did have some advantages, specifically in the area of UDL application.

Practicing What We Preach

2019 ◽  
pp. 230-260
Author(s):  
Stephen D. Kroeger ◽  
Susan A. Gregson ◽  
Michelle A. Duda ◽  
Anna DeJarnette ◽  
Jonathan M. Breiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
General Education ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Implementation Team ◽  
Midwestern University ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
K 12

Creating inclusive classrooms is a challenge in general education. To prepare new teachers for diverse K-12 classrooms, faculty at one Midwestern university redesigned their education program to prepare preservice teachers for dual licensure in general and special education. The redesign required middle childhood faculty to learn more about complex conceptual frameworks that are prioritized in school districts across the country. One of these, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), became a non-negotiable component of the new program. An essential learning outcome became preparing pre-service teachers to utilize UDL. After the program was approved, content-area faculty questioned whether they were prepared to implement the framework. Having varied expertise in UDL, faculty wondered if they were teaching UDL effectively, and questioned whether they were modeling UDL concepts with fidelity in their own teaching. Thus, the Dual Licensure Implementation Team (DLIT) was born. This case study describes the process and product of the team's effort to implement UDL with fidelity.

Performing Without Sound: Using Sign Language to Teach Expressive Qualities of Music

2021 ◽  
pp. 104837132110344
Author(s):  
Emily Hatch
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Learning Principles ◽  
A Performance

Performing can be taught in more ways than just with singing and instruments; sign language is also a legitimate option for teaching students about the expressive qualities of music through performance. Using sign language as a performance option serves to promote differently abled musicians. It also is a way to use Universal Design for Learning principles to create learning opportunities in a variety of modalities for all students

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