Student Engagement and Supporting Students With Accommodations

2022 ◽  
pp. 99-116
Author(s):  
Zoe Nulty ◽  
Shelley G. West

Student engagement and embracing students with accommodations have long been at the forefront of developing future teachers. Assessing the effects of COVID-19 and the long-term implications shifted the overall perception of how the world is redefining teacher education programs and preparing teachers to move forward. One could presume the impact of COVID-19 will be discussed in history classes forever as the pandemic reconfigured learning styles, structures, and supports. Student engagement and supporting students with accommodations explore multiple modalities for best practices in the classroom and encourage students with disabilities and learning differences to be successful. The authors examine best practices for in-person, hybrid, and remote learning environments: Bloom's taxonomy, universal design for learning, and formative assessment. The chapter provides examples of each resource and delves into classroom engagement and accommodations.

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Yu ◽  
Xin Wei ◽  
Tracey E. Hall ◽  
Agatha Oehlkers ◽  
Kate Ferguson ◽  
...  

This cluster randomized control trial examines the effects of the Science Notebook in a Universal Design for Learning Environment (SNUDLE) on elementary school student science academic achievement and motivation outcomes. Multilevel analyses examined the impact of SNUDLE for all students and important student subgroups. Overall, students who received the SNUDLE intervention had similar motivation and academic achievement in science to their peers who did not receive the SNUDLE intervention. However, relative to students with disabilities in the comparison group, students with disabilities who used SNUDLE scored significantly higher on motivation in science and science academic achievement, with effect sizes (ES) ranging from 0.82 to 1.01. Furthermore, SNUDLE appeared to have a small but statistically significant positive impact on science academic performance among students whose home language is other than English or Spanish with an ES of 0.35. Fidelity of implementation analysis shows sufficient teacher training but fidelity of teacher and student usage of SNUDLE needs to be improved. The qualitative analysis of teacher interviews suggests that teachers perceived benefits of SNUDLE in support language acquisition and science writing skills. Both quantitative and qualitative findings suggest that SNUDLE holds promise for improving academic performance in science and confidence and motivation among some of the most vulnerable student populations.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002205742110319
Author(s):  
Sandra Levey

This review presents the Universal Design Learning (UDL) approach to education. Classrooms have become increasingly diverse, with second language learners, students with disabilities, and students with differences in their perception and understanding information. Some students learn best through listening, while others learn best when presented with visual information. Given the increased number of new language learners across the world, the UDL approach allows successful learning for all students. UDL has allowed students to acquire information more effectively. UDL provides guidance to educators that is especially valuable for the diversity of classrooms and the diversity in modalities in learning,


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Doolittle Wilson

In 1975, Congress enacted a law eventually known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which ensures that children with disabilities receive a free, appropriate, public education. Since then, scholarly and popular debates about the effectiveness of inclusive education have proliferated and typically focus on the ability or inability of students with disabilities to succeed in so-called regular classrooms. These debates reflect widespread assumptions that the regular classroom is rightly the province of nondisabled students and a neutral, value-free space that students with disabilities invade and disrupt via their very presence and their costly needs for adaptation. But as many scholars in the field of Disability Studies in Education (DSE) have argued, these discussions often fail to recognize that the space of the regular classroom, far from neutral, is constructed for a nondisabled, neurotypical, white, male, middle-class "norm" that neither reflects nor accommodates the wide range of diverse learners within it, regardless of whether these learners have been diagnosed with a disability. A DSE perspective sees the educational environment, not students with disabilities, as the "problem" and calls for a Universal Design for Learning approach to education, or the design of instructional materials and activities that allows the learning goals to be achievable by individuals with wide differences in their abilities and backgrounds. Agreeing with this DSE perspective, this article uses an autoethnographic approach to reexamine inclusive education and to consider how university classrooms, pedagogy, and curricular materials can be improved in order to accommodate all students, not just those with disabilities. Ultimately, the article argues that Universal Design for Learning has the potential to radically transform the meaning of inclusive education and the very concept of disability.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Edward Lehner

<p><em>A prominent challenge, at times under-addressed in the science education literature, is considering what types of learning accommodations science teachers should employ for students with disabilities. Outside of science education, researchers have consistently outlined how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is one efficient means by which to engage students with disabilities in the curriculum. This paper presents the results of a research study in which teachers employed co-generative dialogue as a learning space where UDL was used to differentiate and individualize instruction in an inclusive biology class. The data originated from a larger, ongoing, longitudinal ethnography of science learning in several New York City special education classrooms. This ethnographic work presents a case study where teachers and a student used co-generative dialogue to develop learning accommodations which conformed to the principles of UDL. This research demonstrates how co-generative dialogue can provide biology teachers and special education co-teachers with an opportunity to collaborate with students to create learning accommodations that connect to the broader biology curriculum. </em></p>


Author(s):  
Timothy J. Frey ◽  
E. Ann Knackendoffel

Today’s K-12 classrooms are learning environments that present teachers with the challenge of meeting the diverse needs of learners. Utilizing technology and the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can help teachers to meet the exceptional needs of learners in a variety of areas. This chapter presents ideas and strategies to utilize technology to facilitate the implementation of UDL principles (using multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression in the design of instruction) in teacher education and K-12 classrooms. Each principle of UDL is described, and examples of technology that can support implementation of the principle are shared. The chapter concludes with considerations for teacher education programs including providing modeling of UDL instruction and designing instruction with UDL in mind.


Author(s):  
Ruby L. Owiny ◽  
Elizabeth Hartmann

Any course must be goal-focused and consider the needs of all learners. However, online courses require instructors to be proactive in planning for learning. Recruiting and sustaining engagement in an online course must be carefully considered and planned for during all learning modules or units. This chapter addresses how to keep students engaged by considering their affect, the general way students feel toward their learning. Affect impacts motivation, which in turn can impact how a student persists in a course. The Universal Design for Learning principle of engagement addresses the affect through three guidelines. These guidelines are explained in this chapter with potential barriers to student learning and motivation explained as well. Furthermore, possible solutions are provided to give readers examples of ways in which they might reduce or remove barriers to engagement in their online courses.


Author(s):  
Joanne Caniglia ◽  
Michelle Meadows

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss two frameworks that are useful for integrating and differentiating technology within online learning environments for students with disabilities: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition Model (SAMR). Following a review of the literature of each framework, the interactive software program, Desmos®, will be used to demonstrate how to integrate these two models. Finally, the authors make recommendations that will support all students to benefit from an online environment and engage in inclusive learning experiences.


2019 ◽  
pp. 359-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mey A. van Munster ◽  
Laureen J. Lieberman ◽  
Michelle A. Grenier

The aim of this case study was to describe the distinct approaches used by physical education (PE) teachers to accommodate students with disabilities in New York elementary school PE classes. The participants included 1 adapted PE specialist, 5 PE teachers, and 5 elementary school students with various impairments. Through thematic analysis, observations and interviews revealed 3 main approaches: (a) normalized instruction—traditional curriculum with no differentiation in the program; (b) differentiated instruction—adaptations tailored specifically to the needs of each student with disability; and (c) universally designed instruction based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and accessibility to all students. Differentiated instruction, entailing modifications in the program and pedagogical accommodations, was the most prevalent approach at the research site, but lessons based on UDL principles were also observed. In association, the 2 approaches (differentiated instruction and UDL) represented significant resources to accommodate students with disabilities in PE.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Staats ◽  
Lori Laster

Concurrent enrollment refers to partnerships between postsecondary institutions and schools through which secondary school students can complete a university class taught by a qualifying secondary school teacher at their secondary school. We propose that concurrent enrollment programs are an under-recognized tool for extending the impact of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The context of our study is an equity-focused university course in algebraic mathematical modeling that is also offered through concurrent enrollment in over 30 secondary schools to over 800 secondary students annually in our state of Minnesota, U.S.A. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of secondary school teachers’ experiences implementing the inquiry pedagogy and the equity goals of the course. Several results are important for UDL. Teachers (1) describe equity in social terms of race, ethnicity, income, immigration, and language status in addition to measures of academic success; (2) perceive improvements in students’ attitudes towards mathematics, school, and university education; (3) perceive student academic growth through mathematical writing; and (4) report close relationships with students. If higher education faculty design their on-campus classes to incorporate UDL principles, concurrent enrollment offers the potential to improve inclusive pathways from secondary schools to universities.


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