Article: UD: Accessibility for all learners

Good Morning!

I plan to use this space to write some quick notes about each of the articles we have been assigned this week in order to keep track of my thoughts and categorize information for my use on our unit.

This one comes from the four selections under: “What is Universal Design?”

Curry, C. (2003, October). Universal design: Accessibility for all learners. Educational Leadership, 61(2), 55-60.
Available online: http://www.mdihs.u98.k12.me.us/UDD/files/curry1.htm

I appreciate the way this article started with an example and revisited it throughout the the more-technical aspects of the piece. I love the way that the kids in the sample classroom had many choices in their learning, technology at their fingertips, and the opportunity to find means of learning that were best suited to each student.

I noticed in this article that Ms. Goldberg (the teacher in the example) employs many of the same teaching tools we use in our lower-tech classrooms. She started her lesson with a brainstorm using concept mapping technology. We usually begin a new unit with a KWL or a low-tech whiteboard webbing of ideas. A few years ago (before NCLB), I was able to create units with my students choosing what they wanted to study, the means used to study the content, and the details of the product. My students really enjoyed having this much input in their own learning. (I was also able to meet many learning benchmarks and standards.) Ms. Goldberg is able to do a similar process of unit planning with one other important consideration – technology. It seems that access to the technology makes the unit easier to implement, carry out, and assess.

I also am really impressed at the technology employed to aid students with disabilities. There have also been huge changes in simple technology – like the AlphaSmart. I had a student use one of these devices six years ago. It has come a long way in that time! For an affordable and simple device, it now has many features and options that would make learning and reporting more accessible for many students.

I am just amazed at how UD is able to provide the “same rigorous, progressive, and thoughtful curriculum for all students”. As it appears in the article, these ends are achievable if a teacher is open to change and innovation, and a class is trained and ready to implement technology in learning endeavors.

A couple lingering questions…

1. What does training look like for the kids in how to use the technology?

2. Is there a technology support staff available? (I ask this because I often struggle to solve the word processing woes of my 22 kids at once – and they are all using the same program.)

3. What is the best route to attain these high-tech teaching tools? How does one fund-raise to buy the technology? Also, how does one gain enough training to be able to troubleshoot all the programs/hardware?

4. How do we get air conditioning at our school?!?

Overall, a very interesting and thought-provoking article. I really like the way that UD is able to “minimize the need for individual accomodations”. Looking forward to learning more about the “how to implement” with UD.