Part 1: Article Summary
This article discusses the importance of making content accessible to students from many different ways. This UDL principle discusses the importance of making sure students have access to their instruction in many different formats. Content is presented to students in many different forms, with text being a large part of it. Having to access textbooks, workbooks, websites, etc. students with reading challenges will struggle and lack the in person instruction to assist them at that exact moment. Some things that can be done for this accommodation include text-to-speech software, easy to understand step-by-step directions, multiple ways to submit information that demonstrates understanding and tools for organizing tasks.
Since teachers are not available at the exact moment for immediate feedback to students, more challenges may exist. However, an online learning environment lends itself to more tools for expression of knowledge. Teachers should provide many different methods for practice, task support, time management, and knowledge demonstration. Some tools discussed in this article include speech-to-text tools, videos discussing knowledge, as well as many tools for keeping organized and on task-check lists and to do notes.
Engagement:
In an online learning environment it is important that students remain engaged even more so they don’t lose motivation to complete work and learn. This article discusses things such as weekly check-ins, online check lists, how to slide or videos, and digital portfolios. These types of engagement will help the teacher to understand which students are needing more support as well. Another manner to keep students engaged that is discussed includes the use of collaborative activities, Padlet, and discussion boards.
Digital tools are an important component of online learning and as they grow and change more opportunities for student support will present themselves. Teachers must work hard to ensure that students' needs are met and this will require staying up to date with tools and learning new ones as they present themselves.
Part 2: CAST Learning Strategies
For my lesson in addition with regrouping there will be collaboration, technology, guided practice and independent practice opportunities. To support engagement with my students I will offer options with varying modes of complexity or difficulty. To do this students that are showing mastery early on will receive challenges to see if they can do more and students who are struggling will scaffold back to review more. To support representation the use of linking and activating prior knowledge by using visual imagery and concept mastery routines will assist students in making the learning meaningful. To support expression we will use virtual or concrete mathematics manipulatives.
Part 3: 2024 NETP Guidance
The 2024 NETP Guidance for closing the digital use divide uses many examples of UDL principles to demonstrate the best way to do this. The discussion of using these UDL principles to assist students is spot on. The ideas presented to support students by using technology will all benefit students with increasing their knowledge. By teaching students in different manners that are best supportive to them the digital use divide can be addressed. What works for one student will not work for the next student, but through technology and differentiation students' needs can all be met.
Resources:
Rao, K., Torres, C., & Smith, S. (2021). Digital tools and UDL-based instructional strategies to
support students with disabilities online. Journal of Special Education Technology, 36(2),
105-112.
Office of Educational Technology. (2024). A Call to Action to Close the Technology Access,
Design, and Use Divides: National Educational Technology Plan. Department of
Education. Retrieved from: https://tech.ed.gov/netp.
CAST. (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0 [graphic organizer].
Retrieved August 1, 2025, from https://udlguidelines.cast.org/ SCIRP+15
Hi Katrina,
ReplyDeleteDifferentiation of instruction/practice through the use of more complex problems or simpler problems with supports in place is great in keeping all students actively engaged at their current level. However, this does lead to much more preparation from the teacher's part. How will you work to manage a classrooms of students all working at different levels on different types of problems? How will you separate students into the groups to begin with? If working in an online environment, where question difficulty changes automatically I could see this being feasible, but keeping every student engaged with the lesson while at different points in it seems like it would have considerable challenges.
Those are great questions but at the end of the day there isn't much choice for the teachers. My classroom last year was made of 63% IEP students, 21% on level students and 16% advanced students. Classroom management and engagement was a daily struggle with students being so diverse. Students had to be separated into homogeneous groups and most new information was taught in a small group format. Teaching with this diversity in a classroom must be done in small groups, there is no way to keep them all engaged when presented with so many differences.
DeleteHi Katrina,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that students need to have access to their instruction in many different formats. I struggle with incorporating technology the most with math. I do find that whenever my students are using a program like IXL to practice a math skill, many of them still grab a pencil and paper to do the calculations.
Lindsay Glover