This Spotlight was nominated by Layla Rivera and Alana McDonough, two of CAST’s summer interns from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education
Vicki Davis is a classroom teacher (grades 8-12) and IT director at Westwood Schools in rural Camilla, GA who doesn’t let her rural location prevent her students from connecting with the world. Vicki and co-collaborator Julie Lindsay (Qatar Academy, Qatar) have joined forces to create Digiteen, a global citizenship curriculum. Some of you may know of Vicki and Lindsay’s work; they are internationally recognized for developing the Flat Classroom project.
Digiteen links classrooms of middle school students from Australia, Canada, USA, Spain, China, Bangladesh and Qatar with the goal of promoting better online citizenship through research and discussion and culminates in each school taking action within their own community to promote this. Digiteen, a global citizenship curriculum, aligns with many of the UDL Guideline checkpoints.
In the video below, you will learn about Vicki’s teaching philosophy and her amazing accomplishments. In essence, she teaches her students how to learn and believes that with the traditional paper and pencil curriculum, only certain types of students can learn.
Vicki Davis – A Teacher on a Mission
Below we explore the Digiteen curriculum through the UDL lens using the Digiteen Teacher Guide, Vicki’s Class Wiki, the Digiteen Ning and an interview with Vicki.
Alignment with the UDL Guidelines
Access the complete version of the UDL Guidelines: Version 1.0
Multiple Means of Representation |
Multiple Means of Action and Expression |
Multiple Means of Engagement |
|---|---|---|
Checkpoint 1.1: Provide options that customize the display of information.Assignments, resources for research are available in multiple and flexible media. |
Checkpoint 6.3: Provide options that facilitate managing information and resources.Vicki gives students strategies that assist and support working memory such as “to do” lists, breaking down projects into smaller tasks, and also has students reflect on what they’ve accomplished “today” and what they plan to do “tomorrow.” |
Checkpoint 7.2: Provide options that enhance relevance, value, and authenticity.Students choose how best to educate students in their school about digital citizenship in the final Action Project. It’s a real audience and the topic is socially relevant (e.g., Internet safety). Checkpoint 8.3: Provide options that foster collaboration and communication.Students connect virtually and in person. They work in groups brainstorming, researching, writing, discussing, reviewing digital citizenship. Virtually, the Digiteen Ning allows students and teachers to interact, share multimedia and reflect on their experiences. Checkpoint 9.3: Provide options that develop self-assessment and reflection.Students answer questions about their individual contributions, how the team is functioning, how they have grown as learners at intervals throughout the project. They can choose the media they’ll use to share reflections with others (blog post, video, PowerPoint). |
By providing students with the opportunity to collaborate and communicate with teens around the world via a digital, socially-relevant medium, the Digiteen project is very engaging for students who have been called ‘digital natives.’ Engaged students give teachers a better picture of their true understanding and potential.
According to Anne Meyer, Chief of Education Design at CAST, “Thanks to Vicki and Julie’s work, students around the world are tapping into new power as learners. By collaborating directly with others around the world and learning to use a huge variety of flexible web-based tools, students are mastering the new literacies essential to modern global communication. Their work highlights the critical importance of UDL’s third principle: multiple means of engagement!”
We invite you to explore Digiteen and the Flat Classroom projects through the links below.
Learn More
Digiteen 2009-10 Application: Click here
Sample Digiteen Action Project: Click here
Flat Classroom Project: Click here
UDL Spotlight 