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One of the UDL Guideline principles is to provide educational content in multiple and flexible formats (Multiple Means of Representation) to help ensure that every learner has basic access to the information they’re expected to learn. Traditional print-based curricular materials aren’t able to provide such flexibility due to the nature of the print format, which means individuals with learning, print, and physical disabilities, English language learners, and others who may struggle to use print must attempt to locate alternate formats. When digital products have been offered by publishers, most are not compatible with assistive technology and do not provide the depth of flexibility needed.

That is changing with the introduction of Pearson HTMLbooks™ . These new books offer the same text and images as the print format but in fully accessible e-versions and for the same price. Pearson, in utilizing NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) source files for their HTMLbooks, has created content that can more easily be converted to accessible formats such as Braille and text-to-speech. Pearson issued thirteen high school titles in 2009 and is slated to add more in January 2010. 

“We have been promoting the idea that there is a market for high quality accessible instructional materials for a few years, and Pearson has now stepped forward to test that hypothesis,” says Chuck Hitchcock, Director of the National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials at CAST. 

Karen Janowski, a leading assistive and educational technology consultant, praises the move. “Pearson should be commended for recognizing the necessity of providing accessible curricular materials for learners with print disabilities and for providing this high quality option for students.” 

View Pearson’s Accessible Web-based Textbook

In the following section we point out the accessibility and UDL features in Pearson’s Miller & Levine Biology HTMLbook. The UDL features called out below in the Pearson HTMLbook align to specific checkpoints within the UDL Guidelines (each UDL Guideline checkpoint is represented by a circle in the image below; explanatory text follows in the UDL Guidelines graphic). Used with assistive technology, the HTMLbooks transform learning for students using textbooks, facilitating the learning process while promoting independence and success.

Alignment with the UDL Guidelines

Access the complete version of the UDL Guidelines: Version 1.0

In 2003, Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC), an Indiana district serving 11,000 students, began implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in a single pilot school. Today, UDL principles are applied to one degree or another in all of the district’s 19 schools, first begun as part of a statewide UDL initiative called the PATINS project.

Dr. Tracey Hall, Senior Research Scientist at CAST, recently visited the district, where she spoke with teachers and administrators at a UDL Institute and witnessed first-hand UDL implementation in the schools. 

BCSC Interviews

In the following interviews, CAST asked three district professionals—George Van Horn, District Director of Special Education Services; Jeff Backmeyer, Principal of Mt. Healthy Elementary School; and Julie Calfee, a teacher at Northside Middle School—to share their perspectives on how UDL is changing teaching and learning in their district.

Jeff Backmeyer

Julie Calfee

George Van Horn

Why bring UDL into your district?

In this excerpt George Van Horn stresses that he along with Bill Jensen (Director of Secondary Education) and Karen Garrity (Director of Elementary Education) were all focused on improving instruction. They had already adopted inclusionary practices for their district and, rather than add on services, the next leap forward needed to come from a focus on improving core instruction. UDL aligned with their core beliefs.

Options for action and expression Technology can help provide options for learning Student demonstrating and testing science principle via bridge building Students sharing the technology work with parents via laptops. Technology used both as a means for delivering instruction as well as a means of expression for the students. Collaboration, technology and multiple means of action and expression

What obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them? George addresses the challenge of UDL being viewed as strictly a special education initiative, talking about the importance of a team approach to improving instruction, and emphasizes the critical support his superintendent and school board gave to the district’s UDL implementation.  transcript of audio clip – George Van Horn 1 min, 50 sec What resources are in place to support your district-wide implementation? Through a state grant and stimulus funding, BCSC has hired a UDL Project Director on a contract basis to help embed the language of UDL and connect it with teacher practice. They’ve also hired an instructional technologist who works with teachers helping them connect technology with their instruction.  Here George describes the key role their UDL Project Director, Loui Lord Nelson, plays in keeping them focused on instruction. transcript of audio clip – George Van Horn 2 min, 45 sec What’s happening now? Give some perspectives from the district, school, and classroom. George, in visits to classrooms in the district, sees teachers enjoying a new-found creativity that comes from asking teachers to do things in multiple ways.  He observes their increased thirst for knowledge and a new mindset taking root. transcript of audio clip – George Van Horn 1 min Jeff Backmeyer, Principal at Mt. Healthy Elementary School, sees that teachers are beginning to use the UDL vocabulary to describe their teaching practices. He also notices that teachers are asking for tools and resources that integrate technology. transcript of audio clip Jeff Backmeyer 2 min, 15 sec Julie Calfee, a middle school ELA teacher at Northside Middle School, reflects on how she applies the UDL principles in her classroom. Her rich description of her teaching practices around the three principles of UDL is exemplary; it’s clear that she has integrated UDL in ways that work for her students. transcript of audio clip – Julie Calfee 3 min, 10 sec Looking ahead Jeff reflects on his first days at Mt. Healthy and thinks about where they are headed today. “What’s first engaging to teachers about UDL is that it’s engaging for students. That’s their first hook.”  Now he sees teachers being able to use the language of UDL to describe what’s working about their teaching practice. transcript of audio clip – Jeff Backmeyer 1 min, 35 sec George describes instructional improvement as a marathon, not a sprint, and sees UDL as a means to structure systemic change in ways that focus on high quality teaching and learning rather than test scores. transcript of audio clip – George Van Horn 1 min, 30 sec.

Lessons Learned

This Spotlight was nominated by Dr. Tracey Hall, at CAST.

Senior Research Scientist

According to Dr. Hall, “Bartholomew is a great example — and also a realistic one — of UDL implementation. The aspiration to support, challenge, and engage all learners begins by addressing very practical issues, such as how to leverage existing resources to support UDL, and by recognizing that implementation takes time, training, and patience. I admire BCSC for stepping up to the challenge.”

We asked George for advice for those looking to implement UDL. Below is his list of recommendations.

1. Begin with literature and examples of UDL that are low/no-tech. Focus on instruction not technology. He recommends reading A Practical Reader in Universal Design for Learning, edited by David H. Rose and Anne Meyer, and a Teacher Project Planning Form with UDL developed by BCSC.

2. Provide all instruction about UDL utilizing the principles of UDL and point out what you are doing along the way (i.e., model what you want to have happen in the classroom).

3. Prepare a variety of tools and supports to help with the implementation of UDL that meet the learning needs of adult learners. For example, BCSC created a “help desk” feature on their website offering teachers just-in-time support on lesson planning with UDL. Teachers have a BCSC Rubric of the UDL Guidelines and they also developed a  Reflective Questionnaire teachers can use to examine their application of UDL in the classroom.

4. When training the teachers who will be bringing UDL into a building, develop and apply a data collection process (e.g., a specific time and or format used by teachers to demonstrate how they are communicating information about UDL to their fellow staff members and how they know UDL is being implemented).

5. Create a walk around checklist mapped to the UDL Guidelines. BCSC Walk Around Checklist, CAST Educator Checklist

BCSC Resources

BCSC website with UDL resources

Lesson plans using UDL (elementary, middle, high school)

Talking with parents about UDL (Word doc)

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

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

A big CAST shout-out to Karen Janowski, a highly respected assistive and educational technology consultant and author of the Teaching Every Student blog, for nominating two extraordinary educators Lisa Parisi and Christine Southard for the UDL Spotlight.

Lisa and Christine are co-teachers in a fifth grade inclusion classroom in Denton Avenue Elementary School, New Hyde Park, NY.  They’ve created a successful co-teaching model that works for them and for their students.  In fact, by the end of the school year in June 2009, 96% of their students, both regular and special ed, had achieved or exceeded grade level standards in both reading and math. Their teaching philosophy is based on two core beliefs that sound simple but are fundamental to their success. First, all students in their class are part of the class…the same expectations for all students. Second, they give all students what they need to meet those expectations. They differentiate instruction, provide tools, and give additional help…all within the setting of a general education classroom.

Below we highlight aspects of Lisa and Christine’s teaching practice that we find inspirational and align with the UDL Guideline principles.  If you are a teacher looking to get started with UDL, be sure to check out Lisa’s Open Letter to Jason about UDL in her blog, Lisa’s Lingo.

Listen to Lisa Parisi

Karen interviewed Lisa about her teaching practices – in particular about the shift she made from teaching content to teaching students how to learn. The full audio interview (see Learn More below) is well worth listening to as Lisa delves more deeply into the teaching philosophy and practice she shares with Christine.

So Lisa and Christine make sure the goal is clear and they give their students many ways to learn the material and demonstrate their mastery. For a specific example, check out the class wiki of their award-winning collaborative writing project based on the book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg.  Be sure to scroll all the way down on the wiki to explore how the project participants use VoiceThread to reflect on their project.

Watch a video of the Harris Burdick project

Alignment with the UDL Guidelines

Access the complete version of the UDL Guidelines: Version 1.0

We congratulate Lisa and Christine for creating a successful collaborative co-teaching model and we congratulate the principal and administration for a bold decision.  In September, all the inclusive classrooms at their school will have 2 fulltime co-teachers. They are giving it a try…can the model be replicated across the school? Lisa and Christine: keep us posted.

Learn More

• Listen to Karen Janowski’s interview of Lisa Parisi as they discuss the evolution of her teaching philosophy, specific strategies she uses with students and how she came to UDL quite by accident.
  

  Download: rec_karen-janowski_15_jul_2009_09_24_04.mp3>rec_karen.janowski_15_Jul_2009_09_24_04
  

• Lisa and Christine’s class website

VSA arts and its affiliate VSA arts of Massachusetts are exploring Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and inclusive arts teaching and learning by using the UDL Guidelines as key content for their professional development institutes and professional learning communities.

The UDL Guidelines give the teaching artists a common language for discussing student learning. Below is an excerpt from an interview with Don Glass, Director of Outcomes and Evaluation at VSA arts, where he discusses what drew VSA arts to Universal Design for Learning. 

Listen to what excites teachers about UDL

Contact: Don Glass, Director of Outcomes and Evaluation, VSA arts
Email: dlglass@vsarts.org
Website: http://www.vsarts.org/

transcript of Don Glass interview

The VSA arts teaching artists and teachers are geographically dispersed across the United States and need a way to share concerns and exchange best practices for working with students with a range of learning, emotional, and developmental disabilities.  The VSA arts professional learning community program, the Communities of Practice,  gives them this opportunity.  Using online and teleconferencing tools, teaching artists work with a coach to exchange feedback on the curriculum, assessment tools, and student work samples.  One tool they are beginning to use is VoiceThread.

VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia album of sorts that holds images, documents and videos and allows users to leave comments in a variety of ways, via: microphone, telephone, typed text, audio file, video via webacam. 

Watch A VoiceThread from VSA’s Professional Learning Community

The VoiceThread shows segments from a lesson taught by Marsha Parilla, a VSA arts of Massachusetts Teaching Artist at the Ohrenberger School in Boston. She is using dance and movement to help students explore the main ideas in a book the students are reading.  At the end of the video you will also hear Kati Blair and Nicole Agois, Education Program Managers at VSA arts in MA, explain how Marsha and the teachers are using UDL strategies to get at their main learning goal of having the students understand the concepts in the storybook.  

Click here to watch the same video via VoiceThread and experience the  UDL-like collaborative functionality of this technology. Do you think this technology is something that could be useful for teachers to use to explore teacher practice? Let us know what you think.

How VSA arts teacher practice aligns with the UDL Guidelines

Access the complete version of the UDL Guidelines: Version 1.0

Many of the UDL Guidelines resonate with arts learning opportunities by providing multi-modal options for representing and engaging with the content, and by providing options for students to express or demonstrate their knowledge and skills.  The arts are a wonderful forum to explore inclusive teaching and learning practices and CAST is looking forward to a continued rich exchange in the years ahead. Bravo VSA arts!

Learn More about VSA arts

It’s CAST’s 25th anniversary! We feature great UDL implementation in the field through the UDL Spotlight. Nominate a Spotlight from the navigation bar above.

VSA arts is an international nonprofit organization founded 35 years ago by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to create a society where people with disabilities learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts. VSA arts provides educators, parents, and artists with resources and the tools to support arts programming in schools and communities.  VSA arts showcases the accomplishments of artists with disabilities and promotes increased access to the arts for people with disabilities.  Each year 7 million people participate in VSA arts programs through a nationwide network of affiliates and in 54 countries around the world. VSA arts is an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

VSA arts of Massachusetts

The Contours of Inclusion: Frameworks and Tools for Evaluating Arts in Education

Arts and UDL Blog <http://artandudl.blogspot.com/>

“For me becoming a parent was simultaneously the hardest and best thing I have ever done. I have my doctoral degree in child development and, as a result, I thought I had all the tools I would need to be a great parent – I was completely wrong! I needed all the help and support I could get. I nominated BabyCenter for the UDL Spotlight because many of the website’s features exemplify CAST’s UDL Guidelines…”  Gabrielle Rappolt-Schlichtmann, CAST Research Scientist

BabyCenter is an interactive website and support network for parents and parents-to-be that exemplifies many of the UDL Guidelines. It’s a great example of what we mean by “provide multiple means of representation.” Watch the video below and see if you can find examples of how the BabyCenter website designers are giving us lots of options for how to access and take-in the content. Similarly, the designers have given us many ways to interact with information that’s personally relevant, following the UDL principle, “provide multiple means of engagement.”

As you watch the video and explore the website, think about all the different ways we have to engage with the content. What do you personally find most engaging and relevant about the website? Are there lessons to be learned here that could apply in the classroom or to curriculum design?

Watch the UDL tour of the BabyCenter website

Explore how the BabyCenter aligns with the UDL Guidelines

Access the complete version of the UDL Guidelines: Version 1.0

UDL is all about creating options for learners and we congratulate the BabyCenter website team for giving us well thought-out options for interacting with their materials and collaborating with others. Go BabyCenter!

We want to hear from you

Is this post a helpful way to better understand the UDL Guidelines? Do you know of a great tool with UDL features or someone who is practicing UDL in their classroom that we should know about? Let us know. We want to hear from you!

The Interactivate website has over 150 java-based interactive tools and activities (aka, applets) categorized by topic, that allow students to explore mathematics. It’s a free (donations accepted) resource developed and maintained by Shodor Educational Foundation and it’s as useful for teachers as it is engaging for students. All the tools and activities have explanations of how to use them in the classroom and most are aligned with common math texts. All are aligned to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards.

Why virtual manipulatives? Although traditional textbooks present different representations of math concepts,  it is often difficult for students to make sense of these representations and to understand the relationships between concepts. For years, hand-held manipulatives have  helped students better understand math concepts and relationships. Virtual manipulatives, like those offered on the Interactivate website, offer added possibilities for exploration that aren’t possible in either textbooks or with hand-helds.

Watch the short clip below demonstrating how Interactivate’s Spinner Activity can be used to explore theoretical and experimental probability. 

Watch the  Spinner

Explore how the Spinner Activity aligns with the UDL Guidelines

Access the complete version of the UDL Guidelines: Version 1.0

We have chosen to highlight how one Interactivate activity, the  Spinner, aligns with the UDL Guidelines, but there are many more tools and activities on the website that align with the UDL Guidelines.  We congratulate the Interactivate staff for creating these engaging virtual manipulatives that offer students another option for exploring mathematical concepts.  

A Note about Accessibility

Interactivate tools and activities are not designed to be accessible to students with visual impairments or who need to use a single switch to interact with a computer. We notice that the directions cannot always be read with text-to-speech, although they are usually not complicated, so students can generally figure out what to do without reading.  Does anyone have a suggestion for text-to-speech issue? We’d love to hear it.  Overall, a great job, a great resource. Well worth checking out.

Jenna Wasson, a CAST Research Associate and Instructional Designer, discovered a very cool, free web-based tool, well-aligned to the UDL Guidelines – SAM Animation. It’s designed to give students (even really young ones) the power of making stop-action animations to share their ideas and understanding. The environment provides a unique experience for students to grapple with challenging problems in mathematics, science, engineering, and more as they engage in the process of generating animations.

Watch a SAM Animation

Contact: Brian Gravel, Doctoral Student, Tufts University, Center for Engineering Educational Outreach
Email: brian.gravel@tufts.edu
Website: www.samanimation.com

Listen to how animation is used to teach science

In this two-minute audio clip you will hear from Brian Gravel how students are able to demonstrate their understanding of photosynthesis through the process of creating an animation.

Explore how SAM Animation aligns with the UDL Guidelines

Access the complete version of the UDL Guidelines: Version 1.0

SAM Animation is an excellent example of what we mean by “provide students with multiple means of expression.”  SAM allows students to express their ideas through a unique and socially-relevant medium. It’s also an excellent example of what we mean by “provide students with multiple means of engagement.” By providing a tool for expression that is so engaging and flexible, teachers gain a more accurate window into their students’ understandings.

Learn more about SAM in high school science

Listen to Bill Church, a high school physics teacher, as he describes how SAM Animation helps his students engage in the scientific process.

The SAM Animation website has all that you need to know to create your own animations. You can also see animations others have created, collaborate with users via a classroom Wiki, and learn more about the research behind this very cool National Science Foundation-funded project.

Special Note: SAM Animation is hosting its first annual conference SAM Animation Conference for Teachers on May 15th, 2009 at Tufts University for those who use or plan to use SAM Animation to teach science, math, reading, social studies, or anything else in the classroom. samconferenceflyer_may1509

Many of you have seen the weekly TV show Nature on PBS but have you have explored their free and “very UDL” companion website ? We have chosen their website on eagles as a model for this UDL Spotlight, but we urge you to explore any of the Nature series websites as an authentic way to engage learning beyond the four walls of your classroom or home.  

Watch A Video

In the video below, Yvonne Domings, a CAST Research Associate (and big fan of eagles) explains how the website offers users multiple ways to engage in and extend learning about eagles.

Highlights of how the eagle website aligns with the UDL Guidelines

Download a complete description of how the Nature website aligns with the UDL Guidelines.

We congratulate the PBS Nature website for the many options it offers its users to move beyond the traditional passive viewing of a TV show into the realm of active, engaged learning – “beyond the four walls.”  As Yvonne points out in her video overview, the website aligns with all three of the UDL Guideline principles, offering users multiple means of  representation, expression, and engagement.  Website users are offered multiple points of entry and ways to explore the rich content depending on area of interest.  We also found the multiple options for collaboration (e.g., posting and sharing via blog-like comments about eagle sightings, posting of photos) to be particularly engaging and effective — and in alignment with the UDL Guidelines.  Well done, Nature!

Visit the site, tell us which features you find most engaging in this “very UDL” website.

Ensuring Access Through Collaboration and Technology (EnACT)

EnACT is a U.S. Department of Education-funded Demonstration project designed to ensure that students with disabilities can attain their postsecondary educational goals in California State Universities. EnACT provides faculty with the skills, support and training to achieve this goal.

In this, our first UDL Spotlight, we focus on the classroom practices of Dr. Sandra Yang, a member of the Music Faculty at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. Dr. Yang shares her techniques and experience with implementing UDL in her Music One Class.

My interest in Universal Design for Learning began when I realized that it was not just a rigid new methodology, but was really, for me, a new way of thinking about ways to reach every type of student and help them be successful learners. – Dr. Sandra Yang, Music Faculty

Watch a Video

Visit the Website

The above video is just one of ten available on Dr. Sandra Yang’s interactive website sharing her personal exploration and application of UDL principles in her Music One class. To fully explore Dr. Yang’s experiences with UDL, be sure to check out each of the short videos (captioned, with accompanying transcripts), and download her lesson plans. Due to technical difficulties we were unable to display the captions that are available on the EnACT website. Link to transcript.

interactive website:http://pachyderm.cdl.edu/elixr-stories/udl-music/

How this Lesson Aligns with the UDL Guidelines

Learn More

Project Director: Dr. Emiliano Ayala
Contact: enact@sonoma.edu
Website: ENACT at Sonoma State

We spoke with the EnACT Project Director, Dr. Emiliano Ayala, to understand what drew him to UDL and how the project is playing out across California State University campuses.  Listen to Dr. Emiliano Ayala:

Why UDL?

transcript-why-udl1

How are UDL and EnACT helping faculty across CSU campuses?

transcript-udl-and-enact-at-csu

We hold up Dr. Ayala and his EnACT team as an exemplar UDL project at the postsecondary level, reaching across eight campuses. In fact, we were at a loss as to which aspect of the EnACT project to highlight first. In future UDL Spotlights, we will feature EnACT as a systems change initiative; highlight the EnACT Accessible Instructional Multimedia (AIM) and Merlot website application used by faculty to share their work; and feature the faculty learning communities as a practical way for faculty to embed UDL practices in their teaching.

Each featured Spotlight illustrates some of the CAST UDL Guidelines. Taken as a group, the Spotlights build a vision for a future of learning environments that are truly Univesal!

Let us know what you think about the UDL Spotlight by adding your comments (click on “1 Comment” below to add your comments).