EDCI 339: Blog Post #3

While I believe ensuring “equitable access to authentic, meaningful and relevant learning environments for all learners in K-12 open and distributed learning contexts” needs to be an ongoing, lifelong process where educators gain more knowledge and experience every day, I have learned a lot on this subject from this week’s #EDCI339 readings. 

As discussed by Selwyn in his piece for Monash University, online education is now more than ever “taking on a more prominent role” as school systems navigate education during a global pandemic (2020). This means that all students need to have equitable access to their learning and we as educators must know how to provide that for them. We must teach the whole child and take into account all of the previous learning experiences that make them unique. Making sure learners have resources that represent them (what they look like, what their family looks like, their gender identity, race, ethnicity, heritage, culture, etc.) is crucial to their comfort and psychological safety in the classroom. This week, one reading that I particularly enjoyed was “Design Principles for Indigenous Learning Spaces” by Kral & Schwab. 

In their piece, Kral & Schwab identify eight design principles for “building or facilitating [Indigenous] learning spaces” (2012, p.58). Click here to listen to an audio file where I speak about these principles based on the sketchnote below. Here is the transcript for that audio file accompanied by citations and references.

Universal Design for Learning needs to be woven into all equitable systems of learning. In their article, Basham et al. reflect on UDL and how it can help all learners when implemented properly into online education. While UDL was initially created as a technique for including learners with diverse learning designations and special needs into the “typical” classroom, it is now being used as a way to include all students and their unique variabilities (Basham et al., 2018, p.477). 

The “three core principles” of UDL (multiple means of engagement, multiple means of action and expression, and multiple means of representing information) are used to “address the academic, social, and cultural distinctions that exist in today’s schools” (Basham et al., 2018, p.480). UDL aligns closely with the ideologies behind open and distributed learning because of its focus on “harnessing technology and instructional practices to remove barriers in curricula and across digital as well as physical learning environments” (Basham et al., 2018,p.480). Interestingly, the results of UDL in brick and mortar schools looks vastly different to that in open and distributed learning contexts. To learners with “disabilities, cultural impoverishment, and ELLs,” there are often “insurmountable barriers” present due to the “inaccessible rigidity of online learning materials and practices” (Basham et al., 2018, p.479). By making sure that online resources are personalized and student-centred, UDL guidelines can often be met (Basham et al., 2018, p.489). Every year, educators and school systems are becoming more and more “knowledgeable of the importance of addressing the diversity in today’s digital environments,” because of this, access and equity have also increased; however, we still have work to do (Basham et al., 2018, p.492). 

While this article provides research-based evidence on UDL in open and distributed learning environments, I have a question for practicing educators today. What are some tried and true, effective methods of online instruction involving UDL that can be used to make the world of open and distributed learning more accessible and equitable for all learners? 

References 

Basham, J.D., Blackorby, J., Stahl, S. & Zhang, L. (2018) Universal Design for Learning Because Students are (the) Variable. In R. Ferdig & K. Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 477-507). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.

Kral, I. & Schwab, R.G. (2012). Chapter 4: Design Principles for Indigenous Learning Spaces. Safe Learning Spaces. Youth, Literacy and New Media in Remote Indigenous Australia. ANU Press. http://doi.org/10.22459/LS.08.2012 Retrieved from:   http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p197731/pdf/ch041.pdf

Selwyn. N. (2020). Online learning: Rethinking teachers’ ‘digital competence’ in light of COVID-19. [Weblog]. Retrieved from: https://lens.monash.edu/@education/2020/04/30/1380217/online-learning-rethinking-teachers-digital-competence-in-light-of-covid-19