Universal Design For Learning (UDL)
https://disabilitycenter.colostate.edu/
As well as the idea of ‘Multiple Intelligences’ described by Gardner (2000) there is an infinite range of abilities and needs among adult learners. I have worked with people in residential psychiatric settings and with those exiting the criminal justice system, as well as at culturally diverse schools, with a high proportion of families in poverty. Having this range of interaction with diverse learners, I was interested in improving their experiences. Davis and Arend (2013) tackle styles of learning and teaching in their book Seven Ways of Learning, and Vygotsky (1978) indicates that all can learn from their own starting point, but I also knew a little about UDL, and things I found out during the AET program really strengthened the case in my mind for promoting the UDL approach. Whatever style or mode of teaching you decide is most appropriate for your learners, adding a UDL perspective is going to make everything you present more accessible.
Adult Education to me is a social justice endeavor. During the AET program I took a closer look at the situation of three main groups; those with disabilities, seniors, and English language learners. UDL is applicable and helpful to all learners, but I came to it mostly from the direction of disabilities. A visiting speaker -Joe Tiner from CSU Disability Services- pointed out that people with disabilities are the largest minority, and also the only minority group which anyone can become a member of at any time in their life.
A recent role which made me more interested in adult education was working on so-called ‘transition planning’ for students between 18 and 21 who have disabilities. This means looking at their opportunities and decision-making for when the time comes to move on from a regular high school environment.
I personally had a ‘transformative learning experience’ when I saw firsthand how Unified Sports https://www.specialolympics.org/our-work/sports-and-games/unified-sports had opened a world of new opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities and their families to be involved in something that most other people take for granted. I began to wonder if this could be equated to the opportunities provided by a college experience, noting that programs accepting students with intellectual disabilities are few and far between. I undertook a research project to look at whether this might be caused by negative attitudes on campus towards those with disabilities. CLICK HERE to view the paper. The results were inconclusive, but I had concurrently been thinking about Friere’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1972). This work partly explains how educators can -even unknowingly- effect their students detrimentally by not providing what they truly need in an appropriate mode.
Another visiting speaker from Disability Services at CSU, Rose Kresser, convinced me that Universal Design was an obvious and necessary way of thinking. She reiterated how Universal Design movement was started to make physical environments more accessible for people with disabilities, but in doing so, the environments became more accessible for all. UDL is similarly applying these principles to teaching all learners. My interest turned to how the UDL framework could become more widely adopted in adult education to counteract various examples of ‘oppression’. I had learned about Roberta Harro’s (2010) “Cycle of Liberation” and produced a ‘theory to action’ paper about how and why UDL could be promoted. CLICK HERE to view the paper.
I took this further in another paper, which was about how postsecondary faculty could gain knowledge and professional development about UDL (and Culturally Responsive Teaching) via online means. CLICK HERE to view the paper.
Through an online training with CSU Institute of Teaching and Learning (TILT), I had a chance experiment with making my own online course about UDL, using the ‘sandbox’ facility in Canvas. I got to experience how to create video subtitles with Amara. I hope to improve my own knowledge and skills in this area, by becoming active in some Communities of Practice, and will support efforts I see to implement UDL/UDI in adult education and training wherever possible.
REFERENCES
In Alphin, H. C., In Lavine, J., & In Chan, R. Y. (2017). Disability and equity in higher education accessibility.
Davis, J. R., & Arend, B. (2013). Facilitating seven ways of learning: A resource for more purposeful, effective, and enjoyable college teaching. Sterling, Va: Stylus.
Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books
Harro, Roberta “The Cycle of Liberation” chapter in Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Castañeda, C. R., Hackman, H. W., Peters, M. L., & Zúñiga, X. (2010). Readings for diversity and social justice. New York: Routledge.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Smagorinsky, P. (2012). Vygotsky, “Defectology," and the Inclusion of People of Difference in the Broader Cultural Stream. Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 8(1), 1-25.
UDL Resources
LINCS
LINCS is a national leadership initiative of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) to expand evidence-based practice in the field of adult education.
https://lincs.ed.gov/state-resources/federal-initiatives/teal/guide/udl
Unified sports SPECIAL OLYMPICS
There are as many as 200 million people with intellectual disabilities around the world. Our goal is to reach out to every one of them – and their families
https://www.specialolympics.org/our-work/sports-and-games/unified-sports
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