A Reflection on Reaching and Engaging all Learners through Technology: The Differentiation Station Social Nework to UDL and DI Implementation

As an educational professional, I have always – unknowingly until now – thought that the goal of education was the mastery of knowledge. It was not until I became acquainted with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) through this class, Reaching and Engaging all Learners through Technology – 6713D-2, that I was exposed to and made to understand that the goal of education is two-fold: the mastery of knowledge and the mastery of learning (Center for Applied Special Technology, 2009a). To fulfill this two-fold goal, educational curriculum must be designed to meet the diverse needs of all of its students and not create educational barriers for those who are different in abilities, learning styles, background and/or preferences (Center for Applied Special Technology, 2009b).

How can curriculum be designed initially to meet these diverse needs? This is a question that I asked myself as I read through the class’ discussion boards, studied the class’ resources, and examined the URL’ s of my Ning colleagues. The answer to this question has brought me to my second revelation and needed adjustment, assessment. Prior to this, I saw assessment only in a summative way to simply identify those students who had or had not reached or exceeded important learning targets. This narrow view of assessment gives only half of the purpose of assessment, an assessment of the learning. The other half of the purpose, an assessment for learning, was not a part of my curriculum. The summative assessment needed to be preceded by the informative assessment.

Reading Carol Tomlinson’s Learning to Love Assessment gave me insight into the need of consistent informative assessment to guide and direct my instruction as students successfully acquire the skills necessary to achieve important learning targets (Educational Leadership, December, 2007/January, 2008). Informatively, assessment tools for determining diversity in abilities, learning styles, backgrounds and preferences are now a necessary part of my English 10 curriculum as it guides my instruction and strengthens the bond that exists between my students and me. As a diagnostic assessment, informative assessment will provided needed information for me to know the existing skills, abilities and needs necessary to achieve the desired academic targets. The many resources posted in discussions at http://waldenningforfun.ning.com, a collaborative Ning shared by some of my classmates and me, allow me to take the very first step in engaging students in learning (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). Diagnosing diversities among students in interests, learning styles, intelligence preferences and learning profiles can be accomplished by using technology tools given at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/edres.html, http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxbq11/LSI/LSI.htm, http://surfaquarium.com/MI/inventory.htm and http://www.learning-styles-online.com/inventory consecutively. The data collected from these technology sources will give me the needed information to plan and implement instruction that engages all of my diverse learners and gives each of them necessary opportunities to meet with learning success.

Because my instruction must be designed to include the options and the flexibility necessary to successfully meet the needs of a diversified classroom, it must address UDL principles of representation, expression and engagement (Howard, 2003) that provides teachers with the flexibility to create user-friendly and engaging learning situations; to reduce curriculum barriers; to increase availability of instructional assistance; to provide students with knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for learning; and to validly assess student learning. Computer technology with its versatility as well as its flexibility offers these provisions. Giving its users the ability to write, paint, draw, calculate and compose music as well as the ability to customize text size or color or font, to highlight, to hear text read aloud, and to look up the meaning of unknown words, technology can support students in accessing, managing, analyzing and sharing information. Using the many resources given at http://www.waldenningforfun.ning.com, various technologies can be used to customize instruction based on my learning from this class. Recognizing and reacting responsively to the individual differences of all of my students, I must incorporate the flexibility of technology into my instruction as I maintain a mindset of intellectual growth through change and risk taking. Coupling current effective teaching strategies, newly learned strategies and the technology resources from my Differentiation Station social network, my instructional time will fulfill the requirements of the standards as well as provide motivating, challenging and meaningful experiences for all students as they not only master the knowledge presented to them but also master learning to become self-directed and self-motivated expert learners.

References:

Center for Applied Special Technology. (2009). UDL guidelines, version 1.0. Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.orgaboutudl/udlguidelines.

Howard, J.B. (2003). Universal design for learning: An essential concept for teacher education. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, 19(4), 113-118.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Learner Differences. Baltimore: Author.

Tomlinson, C., (2008). Learning to love assessment. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 8-13. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.