When I
think about assessments of students with disabilities, my mind refers back to
elementary school, and a girl named “Willie Mae.” She was beautiful, with big
brown eyes, smart, somewhat quiet with long braided black hair and braces on
her legs. She had contracted polio as a toddler. Because of her physical
limitations, she was not asked to participate in many outdoor activities. But
she was not exempt from the coursework. “Willie Mae’s” hands and arms had
become restricted from a lack of physical therapy which made it tough for her
to hold a pencil, much less to write. Fifty-five years ago there were no
accommodations made; maybe educators were afraid to change their method of
teaching the course materials but understand that in that era most coursework
and assessments involved writing. testing, quizzes, and coursework included
using her hands. So how could they have evaluated a student that has limited
use of their hands and arms? An oral exam or a tape recording could have
accomplished the same goal. At nine years old she had to be homeschooled, she
just couldn't keep up, or so it was said at the time.
As
a regular practice, just as I did in Module 1 of my mini-course, on the first
day of class, comprise a questionnaire called “Getting to Know You” including
the question ‘What would you like me to know about you?’ Also, I don’t want to
assume what a student can or can not do so I need to observe all my students
when they are participating in classroom activities and plan various ways of
participation so that no one feels excluded. The assignments in Module 1 and 2
include a skit and an interview. A learner that is limited visually, auditorily
or physically could use a digital storytelling application called VoiceThread.
This application will allow the student to talk, type, and draw right on the
screen as well as create and share conversations around documents, snapshots,
diagrams and videos that can be used collaboratively to create their skits and
comprise interview questions.
Through
some reading about Universal Design I found some information about a study
focused on the implementation of display technology to provide information to
hearing impaired students, using Virtual Reality and a smartphone application. These smartphone apps were designed with Universal Design for
Learning (UDL) in order to help with learning of hearing impaired high school
students. “The aim of using UDL in students of special needs is to provide them
with suitable learning environment so that they can improve themselves to the
best of their potential” (Izzo, 2012, pp. 343-350). There is no doubt in my
mind that UDL has revolutionized learning.
As a potential educator in the 21st century, I want all my students to
be engaged, and the course work to be accessible to a wide range of students with
different needs. “Engagement is essential for the learning process, so learning
how to use resources strategically towards given demands in a task can
encourage resourceful, goal-driven, purposeful learning” (http://castprofessionallearning.org).
A
student may have a disability but is not disabled. Isn’t it a part of my job to
make sure there is equal access to learning in the classroom? Three things that
I will do make sure that my students feel included is to: treat everyone
equitably, make sure that all students have full access to learning, and the
tools they need and make them feel welcomed, supported, and valued as they
learn. I have to be mindful that Universal Design “is” about designing course
materials, content, and most important is that the instruction benefits all
learners.
We all learn and express ourselves
differently.
References
CAST: Professional Learning. (n.d.). Top 10 UDL tips
for assessment.Retrieved from http://castprofessionallearning.org/project/top-10-udl-tips-for-assessment/
M. V. Izzo, "Universal design for learning:
enhancing achievement of students with
disabilities", Procedia Computer Science, vol. 14, pp. 343-350, 2012.
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