What does it mean to “provide equal access to
the digital world?”
To me, this means that teachers need to
provide multiple and various technological experiences in their classrooms for
students. This first means that teachers
need to have knowledge of the digital tools available to them in their
classrooms and buildings. Even if a
school was limited with its available technologies, a teacher just needs to
know what tools are available, and then find a way to incorporate those tools
into his or her lessons- not only to meet the needs of the students in their
rooms, but to help students demonstrate their learning in methods that may not
be traditional, but are just as effective.
This method of providing multiple formats of learning and assessing
students in multiple engaging ways is called Universal Design.
Universal Design does not have to be “something
else” for a teacher to do. Many teachers
feel overworked because of all of the demands that are being put upon
them. One such demand is to meet the
needs of all students in the classroom.
Most classrooms are very heterogeneously grouped, and teachers have a
wide range of learning styles and abilities that they have to accommodate. Students are put into the least restrictive
environment, meaning that there could be students with quite severe
disabilities in the regular education classroom- and the teacher is responsible
to meet all of their needs.
Providing technological experiences to all
students in the classroom can actually help teachers meet the needs of the
students in front of them. Web 2.0 tools such as podcasts, wikis, video
sharing, etc., can be alternate ways of assessment and instruction that is not
only more interesting for our “digital natives” in the classrooms, but can meet
the accommodations and modifications that are written in students’ IEPs.
New Hampshire Rules for the Education of Students With
Disabilities. (2010, December 1).
Retrieved March 15, 2012, from New Hampshire Department of Education:
http://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/special_ed/documents/nh_rules_amendment_november2010.pdf
About UDL: What is Universal Design for Learning? (2012). Retrieved March 15, 2012, from CAST:
http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html
I like how you pointed out that UDL does not have to be a burden on teachers, but in fact it can make our lives easier by helping us meet student needs more efficiently. Thanks for a great post!
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