Leyla’s reflections

Ahh, realistically speaking….every transition always takes time, so while I cannot guarantee you one can change the world universally designing 100% by 2013, progresses can be initiated and continued on for further developments.  Among what is possible to expect by 2013 is everyone and everything will be technologically dependent.  Schools, educators, businesses, professionals, parents, children….even car mechanics.  By then, everyone will have access to the internet (in terms of developed nations, although this is expected to change for the developing nations in the next decade or so), but does it mean it will be universally accessible and learning for everyone? No, not completely.  We will continually expand more diverse learners, old and new, that will lead us to develop different strategies on how to effectively work with them.

Sidetracking for a second here…I find it an irony that while the concept of UDL stems from the development of Universal Design, it seems that the future is more reliance on immersing UDL than its original model of making everywhere physically accessible.  What I mean by this is that by 2013, it is possible that Universal Design for Learning and Universal Design of Instruction will become more accessible than Universal Design because of the ever changing trends in technology usage.  If we make the internet universally accessible, there may be no need for some people to physically leave their homes.  People can pursue their education through distance learning.  Movies can be downloaded online.  Webcams, live chat, blogs, Facebook, Myspace–they all enable users to create and build their social networks.  Even shopping can be done online as well. 

This will question how teachers will need to develop different strategies to deliver their instructions tailored to not just their students’ needs, but also different technology trends being used that can be beneficial for both the students and teachers.  With my interest in distance education, it is imperative to be aware of what technology tools are available that can be made accessible for future teachers and students to use in delivering and receiving instruction.  One may think, teaching an online course is easy and anyone could take it.  Yea….in a perfect world, that is.  Realistically speaking, there are many considerations that needs to be factored in when delivering contents to students online–and this will continually evolve over the years.  I know that what inaccessible issues we have now can be resolved by 2013, but we will also have new, emerging issues to tackle down as well.  This is something that will never end.  As long as we, educators, continue to make and show efforts in making the teaching and learning environment universally accessible for everyone. 

(1) Think back on your experiences as a student, at any level. Discuss the goals, materials, methods, and assessment of an experience. Do you feel it was a “universally designed curriculum”?

Looking back into my early childhood years, there are countless stories I could share in regards to how I was taught.  Let me give you a brief background of my educational upbringing–I grew up attending a public school where they had a self-contained deaf program.  I was placed in the self-contained deaf program for two years, and the next two years was spent 50% in the self-contained classroom and 50% in a hearing, mainstreamed classroom.  After that, I spent the rest of my educational upbringing full time in a hearing classroom with three other deaf students and sign language interpreters.  Why do I need to mention this?  Because it relates to how I was taught with a non-signing hearing teacher and a sign language interpreter. 

I recalled having to take a weekly spelling test in my 4th grade class.  This test was performed verbally–the teacher would verbally say the words and we, the students, had to write them down.  Once completed, the teacher would collect the tests and grade them afterwards.  Well, this was usually not a problem as long as we had interpreters presented. Unfortunately, the regular interpreter was out sick one week and the school could not find a sub, thus leaving the four of us deaf students with no interpreter for the day (this was before the ADA law became in effect).  Of course, we were the first deaf students ever to be enrolled in this teacher’s class and she had no idea what to do with us.  So, how did we take the exam?  She looked at us, and identified who could understand her the most (we were all deaf and oral as well) to interpret for the rest of us during the spelling exam.  So, my 10 year old fellow classmate actually interpreted for us.  Great idea, isn’t it?  If that actually existed in today’s society, legal actions would have been taken.  Needless to say, this was not the brightest and most effective approach for my teacher to take. 

While it was clear that she wanted us to hear the words and write them down, she didn’t realize that it was much harder for us to effectively complete the exam because not only we were just deaf, but one of my deaf classmates had to struggle to lipread her and assume what the words were said.  At the time, I also believed we weren’t the only ones struggling.  I recalled having a few immigrant students from Asia and Central America who’s first language wasn’t English either.  It was clear that the teacher’s instruction was specifically designed for hearing English learners and did not consider factoring how deaf and immigrant students could participate without being singled out or having us accommodate her needs.  However, I don’t think the teacher was aware that her teaching style was inaccessible for some of her students.  However, one would have thought she would have developed different strategies of delivering instructions in her class and didn’t always have to be done verbally.

Nowadays, as mentioned in one of my blog entries earlier, more diverse students are entering schools that forces teachers to develop different venues of making their learning environment accessible.  This meant not just for deaf people, but for hearing students as well.  Looking at these younger generations here in America, I consider them very lucky to have the accessibilities that was once unavailable before.  Access to learning should never be made difficult for students to retrieve. 

Page 70 of the Teaching Every Student text notes that “the ‘universal’ in universal design (for learning) does not imply one optimal solution for everyone. Rather it reflects an awareness of the unique nature of each learner and the need to accommodate differences, creating learning experiences that suit the learner and maximize his or her ability to progress.”  I believe this is very true and a critical to note because as mentioned during one of our discussions yesterday, there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” for everyone.  Except maybe in a perfect world, but that doesn’t exist .  Instead, the perception of “universal” is an alternative way of thinking that can be designed for everyone in different ways.  So, for this case, the more strategies and approaches teachers have and can incorporate in their curriculum, the more universal in terms of accessibility to information and learning is provided for their students.  Several case studies were exemplified in Chapter 2 of Teaching Every Student, that showed teachers developing different teaching strategies that not only makes it accessible for their students to retrieve information, but also how they make the learning environment accessible in different ways that accommodates each students’ needs.  

As a learner, I have seen much progress in the learning environment becoming more accessible to information and learning than before.  The increase in new developments of teachers developing different teaching and learning strategies indicates the awareness that the more diverse students they will be working with will require them to deliver their information ”universally”.  Teachers nowadays are getting students from immigration families where their first language isn’t English, students with different learning disabilities, and non-disabled people in the same classroom, yet providing the necessary information in one format is not going to work and benefit for everyone.  While this trend is going to continually increase over the years, new practices will be on the rise, and there will bound to be new developments and definitions on how to give and make learning accessible than what it is now.   

Of course, with new developments to be made in the future on making the accessibility of learning universal, new questions will be coming up as well.  Noting that with technology immersed in our everyday lives, it questions how much dependency will we need to make the learning environment accessible for everyone. 

Growing up, I’ve been accustomed to learning in a traditional, face to face classroom method and had expected the rest of my educational career to be like this.  Shortly after I received my undergraduate degree, I was intrigued in taking a course through Gallaudet that focused on people with disabilities in other countries.  Little did I know that this course was only going to be offered online, it was also the starting point of my fascination of the developments of online courses.  While my first online course was relatively new at the time, it generated not only more learning opportunities for me but it also broadened my horizons as well.

As a first timer taking this online course, I was able to acquire quickly the necessary skills needed to successfully complete the course but in terms of how the information/contents were delivered has provided its challenges.  The interactions provided was more of a direct instructional based rather than an interactive learning environment.  In other words, any interactions involved were mainly between the student and instructor but nothing further beyond that.  The course was mainly text-based, minimal visual medias, and I would say the very least, universally designed.  It did not provide me a student-centered learning experience as I would have hoped for, but it did teach me what an online course could provide.  What I was exposed to may not be the best example of how an online course should be provided, I did see a lot of potential and benefits in improving the developments of online courses and distance learning.  Especially when it comes to generating more accessibility for everyone- people with different kinds of disabilities, the geographically-challenged, and a viable option for working professionals who cannot afford to sacrifice their jobs. 

The reflections of completing my first online course have gained me to question what is needed to improve the delivery of instruction.  It was my realization that delivering a course in face to face class cannot be formatted the same way in an online course.  To begin with, there are challenges in how to deliver your course online versus face to face classrooms-knowing the students, determining how to assess students’ academic performances, identify what teaching methods work best for which groups, re-learning available online tools, etc.  One may see providing an online course more challenging than planning a curriculum for a face to face class, but the provision of accessibility is much higher via online versus a traditional, face to face class. 

Welcome to your brand new blog at Edublogs.

To get started, simply log in, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.

There’s stacks of great supporting material too! Take time to view our some helpful introductory videos, read through our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) or stop by The Edublogs Forums to chat with other edubloggers.

You can also subscribe to our brilliant free publication, The Edublogger, which is jammed with helpful tips, ideas and more.

And finally, if you like Edublogs but want to be able to simply create, administer, control and manage hundreds of student and teacher blogs at your school or college, check out Edublogs Campus… it’s like Edublogs in a box, all for you.

Thanks again for signing up with Edublogs!