When I advocate for Universal Design for Learning, I often get questions about academic rigour. Does offering flexible deadlines and approaches, options for assessment, and supports to reduce barriers diminish rigour and prevent students from developing necessary skills? Are we expecting less of our learners and reducing their ability to overcome challenges? In my experience,…
For many of us, the last 18 months have been a time of transition and turmoil as we have faced a global pandemic, a growing climate emergency, increased racial violence, and the impacts of historical and ongoing colonization (to name just a few of the issues that have arisen in 2020-21). As a university community…
According to this report, students are confiding in Faculty about mental health struggles, particularly in the last year around COVID, and questions continue to arise around how to help students who have. In my discussions with Faculty around both UDL and accommodation planning, mental health disabilities come up frequently. Absences, episodic symptoms that see students…
Today’s blog post has kindly been provided by Teaching & Learning Commons’ Educational Consultants, Dr. Seanna Takacs & Dr. Gordon Cobb. It can be viewed here.
How was my summer? My summer was great because I got to travel to and through Singapore. Since I travelled to see and stay with a very best best friend (my heart, walking around outside my body) I got treated to special and secret places. We scooted down fragrant paths in Tiong Bahru, walked over…
The first level of a Universal Design for Learning framework is the access level and that makes sense; learning can’t happen if you can’t see, hear, pay attention to, read, or speak. The roots of UDL trace, in large part, back to neuroscience research (Reid Lyon, 1985; Meyer, Rose, & Gordon, 2014) on students with…
“We were never meant to be squares. We are circles and circles with Creation.” It was a member of the audience who, with soft urgency, reminded everyone in the room whose heads had swiveled. I recently had the pleasure of attending the 2019 conference for CACUSS (Canadian Association for College and University Student Services) in…
by: Dr. Seanna Takacs Let us say that you have heard of UDL and have an interest in making some modifications to your curriculum. You may have students whose learning needs have confounded you. They may be language learners or may have accommodation plans that you struggle to implement. You might have had a class…
by: Dr. Seanna Takacs When I begin to explain Universal Design for Learning to any audience, it is often received as paradigms and theories are: with quiet reservation until the audience can see where the rubber hits the road. What does this mean for my teaching? What does this mean for my time? How will…