Tag: strategies

Universal Design for Learning Showcase

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Sent on behalf of Dr. Jamie Linn Gunderson, School of Education

As Wildcats commit to fostering inclusive learning environments and maximizing student success at Chico State, it’s essential that we explore innovative approaches that address the diverse needs of our students. One approach gaining momentum in higher education is Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

What is UDL?
UDL, rooted in neuroscience, acknowledges that learner diversity is inherent and should be expected. The UDL framework provides a flexible blueprint for designing curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Integrating UDL into teaching practice fosters inclusivity and enhances learning outcomes for every student by ensuring that all learners can effectively access, engage with, and demonstrate their learning. Interestingly, many existing teaching strategies align with UDL principles, making adopting of the framework both intuitive and impactful.

How does UDL connect to teaching practice? Consider the following:

  • Do you facilitate peer interactions within your course? Fantastic; you are fostering collaboration and community, which sustains effort and persistence and engages the affective network of the learning brain.
  • Do you provide your students with checklists or templates to organize their learning, assessments, or assignments? Awesome; you are supporting planning and strategy development, which promotes executive function and engages the strategic network of the learning brain. 

These examples are just two of many strategies that can motivate learners to engage in content and provide opportunities for learners to cement their knowledge through practice, planning, and/or action. Implementation of UDL can look different across learning spaces and recognizing how your teaching already aligns with the UDL framework is a natural first step. From there, it’s all about the +1 Strategy (Tobin & Behling, 2018) and a healthy dose of self-reflection – “How can I get 1% better in my next lesson/assignment/assessment?”

How are faculty implementing UDL?
Great question, thanks for asking! Research examining the impact of UDL implementation on students is in action on our campus. Currently, seven STEM faculty across Chico State and Butte College, along with many of the 20+ faculty who participated in last year’s UDL Faculty Learning Community (FLC), are implementing UDL in their courses. UDL implementation varies and faculty who participated in the UDL FLC over the past couple of years worked to design their course syllabi and learning materials to be more inclusive and accessible, their course activities to be more engaging and interactive, and their course assessments to be more rigorous and relevant to learner contexts. 

Interested in learning more and engaging in opportunities to see what UDL implementation can look like?
Join us for the second annual Universal Design for Learning Faculty Showcase on Wednesday, May 8th from 1:00-2:00 p.m. in Colusa 100 (and via Zoom). At this event, you will:

  • Learn about UDL and its impact on learners.
  • Hear from STEM faculty sharing their UDL implementation experiences.
  • Explore examples of inclusive instructional materials, assessments, and activities.

You don’t want to miss this opportunity to see UDL in action and hear directly from faculty at Chico State and Butte College!

JLG

References:

  • CAST (2018). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.2 [graphic organizer]. Wakefield, MA.
  • Meyer, A., Rose, D.H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST Professional Publishing.
  • Tobin, T.J,. & Behling K.,T. (2018). Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press.

Final Exam Strategies

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If you’re interested in learning creative methods (some might call them “professor hacks”) to administer and assess final exams, tune in to the Virtual FLC this Thursday at 10 a.m. We will ask faculty to share their own innovative techniques for remote final exam and projects. As always, TLP staff will be in the room to help us bring ideas to life. Below are a few strategies to consider to help you and your students thrive during the next couple weeks.

  • Use Kaltura Mashups, Turnitin, or VoiceTyping in Google Docs to offer audio or video feedback
  • Give options for the final exam (e.g. 5-page essay on takeaways from the course, online test, complete a project).
  • When grading papers, do not spend time offering written feedback unless you expect a revision.
    • or ask students if they want your feedback and offer it only to those individuals
    • or offer feedback and recommendations to the class as a whole rather than to every student
  • Be clear with students about due dates and timelines for final projects and exams
  • Offer longer-than-normal durations to take an exam and be less rigid with deadlines (this gives you more flexibility with grading too)

Final Presentations

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When they return from spring break, many of our students will begin work on final projects that they will present to the class. These can be remarkable works of creativity and collaboration demonstrating powerful learning outcomes. They can also be grueling exercises in PowerPoint reading that make the semester end with neither bang nor whimper but with “I already gave my presentation, do I still have to come to class?”

When done right, final presentations—by individuals or groups—are an excellent way for students to synthesize and extend learning and practice the real-world skill of getting a group of people to understand something important.  There are many resources for designing good final project assignments; this overview from Stanford’s Teaching Commons lays out some good guidelines and creative ideas.  And since you have been modeling good presentation techniques all semester, your students know what an effective presentation looks like.  But how useful are these final presentations for the rest of the class?  Too often the rest of the class checks out, literally or mentally, from sessions devoted to presentations other than their own. But those last class sessions need not be a waste for all but presenter and instructor.  If the presentations are good—and should we presume anything else?—they should be just as valuable to the students as any other class session.  You may need to help them see this, though.  Here are a few possible strategies:

  • Make completion of a response to the other presentations a required component of the student’s own project. This can be as simple as asking them to fill out a feedback form with “One thing I found interesting in this presentation…” for each project, or as elaborate as requiring peer feedback on each presentation.  If you score the presentations with a rubric, consider having the students complete one for each other.
  • Beyond attaching points to paying attention, try giving added legitimacy to student presentations by entrusting them with real course content. With adequate guidance, students can do the heavy lifting on key course concepts or applications, which makes real the students’ transition from novice to something-beyond-novice learners.  If appropriate, you can use material from the presentations in a final exam.
  • Foreground the importance of interacting with other students’ projects by moving the presentations online and devoting class time to responding to and connecting the projects. PowerPoint, video or other presentation formats can be attached to blogs or discussion threads in Blackboard to facilitate responses. Students might also post viewing guides or follow-up questions for their presentations, so that in-class discussions are primed and ready. Here’s an article from Faculty Focus that lays out this process.

This time next week you may have toes in the sand, hands in the garden, or at least a triple latte at your side while you move through the next stack of papers.  Keep your eyes on the prize.

*  Authored by Dr. Katherine McCarthy.