{"id":223,"date":"2019-07-05T06:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/?p=223"},"modified":"2019-07-22T08:21:18","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T16:21:18","slug":"three-udl-starters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/three-udl-starters\/","title":{"rendered":"Three UDL Starters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by: Dr. Seanna Takacs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us say that you have heard of UDL and have an interest\nin making some modifications to your curriculum. You may have students whose\nlearning needs have confounded you. They may be language learners or may have\naccommodation plans that you struggle to implement. You might have had a class with\npoor participation (or outright distraction) or a class where it was a struggle\nto meet everyone\u2019s needs during and outside office hours. You may be answering\nthousands of emails about assignments. You may have students who talk to each\nother instead of you when figuring out the course expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are lots of reasons why instructors consider a change, so if this is you and the term UDL flitted through your mind, keep reading for THREE UDL starters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PROVIDE A RATIONALE\nFOR EVERY ASSIGNMENT<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

FIRST. Look at your course presentation and pick out the\nassignments. Not tests and exams, just assignments (for now). Make a\nhandwritten list of the title of the assignments (yes, you should actually\nwrite them out).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SECOND. Describe out loud, to yourself, or better, a\nfriendly face what the assignment is about. Why did you give this assignment?\nWas in for interest? To make a connection? To develop deep knowledge? To\nfamiliarize students with what they might meet in a workplace? Is it an\nassignment typical of your field? Were you stuck and this seemed like a good\noption (this is totally ok, by the way). This exercise will provide a rationale\nfor the assignment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

THIRD. Once you are clear on the rationale, convey it to students explicitly and transparently, which will help them see that there is rhyme and reason to the assignment. We all like to know why we\u2019re doing what we\u2019re doing and the first step as an instructor is having a sense of purpose yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PROVIDE ONE CHOICE\nFOR EVERY ASSIGNMENT<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now that you have voiced the rationale for your assignments,\nit\u2019s time to take a deeper look. You have probably chosen to have students do\none of the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • write a paper<\/li>
  • do an oral presentation<\/li>
  • produce a group project<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    For each of those assignments, students will typically have\nthe choice of oral or written presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When you think about providing choice, draw a chart with three columns. Choice one can be conventional (as above), or what you were already planning. Choice 2 can be where you push the assignment design a little bit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    ASSIGNMENT RATIONALE <\/td> CHOICE 1 (HOLD) <\/td> CHOICE 2 (PUSH) <\/td><\/tr>
    To develop a deep understanding of behaviorism <\/td>Write a paper on the role of behaviorism in ordering food and a drink at Starbucks. <\/td>Over a week, observe interactions at Starbucks where principles of behaviorism are at play. Make a video explaining to a friend which interaction is the best example of behaviorism. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

    VOCABULARY STUDY<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Creating a strong sense of rationale for the course assignments\nand providing alternative assignments will set you up for the third UDL\nstarter. When we\u2019re teaching in post-secondary, there is the temptation to\npresent vocabulary and either have students memorize the terms or acquire them\nthrough the experience of being in the course. Intentional, deliberate\nvocabulary student is key in helping student understand why they are learning\nspecific terminology and how to use it best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So how do you do it? Start slowly. Select five to ten\nimportant vocabulary terms in the course. These may be vocabulary terms that\nare historically important, contextually bound, contentious, or divisive.\nPresent the vocabulary term at the beginning of the class, explicitly define\nit, and demonstrate why it is a pivotal term in your field. Help students see\nwhy a keen understanding of the term is important in connecting with other key\nconcepts. Since the term will be imbedded in the rest of the lecture and\nactivities you have planned, the seemingly innocuous vocabulary study will\nsupport students in representing both their knowledgeable and the assignment\nrationale in flexible ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TEST IT OUT AND\nREPORT BACK<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    I would encourage you to try out these three UDL starters\nfor your upcoming courses. Together, they hit all the UDL buttons: engagement,\nrepresentation, action and expression. They dovetail nicely so you can make\nsome small changes with some big impacts. If you decide to try all three pieces\nor one component, please get in touch to let me know how it goes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","iawp_total_views":11,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48,47,45,44,41,42,46],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learning-design","tag-course-design","tag-curriculum","tag-higher-ed","tag-higher-education","tag-udl","tag-universal-design-learning","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions\/227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/tlcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}