GW UDL Class for 2009 begins June 22, 2009

Welcome! If you’re just joining our GW UDL blog we invite you to explore. This virtual space debuted last year and has become a part of our yearly summer course. We’ve found that using a blog gives students a place to share and reflect on what they are learning about UDL–both in class and as they fold this into their practice. You’ll find some of our student’s blogs listed to the right of this portal area. Explore these as they offer some insights into what we learn in this course. Others are blogs of some of the course instructors and invited guests. We’ll continue to add more throughout this summer course.  This is our GW UDL blog community. Welcome to some of our new Blogs for this summer on the right of this screen (under Blogroll).

UDL Graduate Training @ George Washington University

Welcome to this blog space, dedicated to the George Washington University graduate class, Sped 220: Universal design for learning: Implications for career assessment and transition. This graduate course debuted during the summer of 2003 and has continued since. We’ve seen a variety of students cycle through this summer institute through a range of majors — vocational evaluation, transition, curriculum and instruction, rehabilitation, acquired brain injury, and secondary instruction (just to name a few). Each student has arrived with their own interests and desires for how UDL might fit into their educational plans. Many have folded this information into their private practices, consulting work, classroom teaching, and college coursework. We applaud you all for indeed –many of you — have been pioneers in this journey. We invite you to participate in this online blog space by commenting on the conversations. Or, maybe you’d like to add your own blog and link to our class. If so, we encourage you to check out Edublogs. Regardless of your approach, we hope you’ll help us grow this conversation and online community.

The 2007 GWU UDL Institute

Last summer, I asked my esteemed VCU colleague, Dr. Susanne Croasdaile, to join me in teaching this class. What a wise decision that was and has continued to be. Susanne brings a background in curriculum and instruction, research, and systems change. Her curriculum lens and her experience in the classroom offer just what is needed in this class. My background is in vocational evaluation, transition special education, and higher education. Together we complement each other, delve quickly into assistive and instructional technologies, and have a passion for UDL. Our students in 2007, brought a diverse platter of interests and desires for how they wished to explore and promote UDL.

The 2008 UDL Institute

As the summer months come to a close this week,

I wanted to share mythoughts about this year’s UDL institute. We kicked off this summer class in late June — spending a very long five days together — exploring an array of UDL articles, books, resources, and techniques. As with each class over the past six years, this one was no different. Students were eager to learn, enjoyed the time together, and were amazed at how much sense a UDL approach makes. In fact, in emailing with one student about her final project, she shared with me a conversation she was having with her 80 something father and the components of UDL. His reply, “well that’s how everyone should learn”. My late father had the same feeling and, I suspect many a learner would appreciate the flexibility that is borne out of a UDL classroom. This year we shifted our class design a bit by infusing more instructional

technology time on the tools that students might use or include in their final projects. As with other classes, some students found a final paper to be their favorite route to take while others chose to create a movie in Movie Maker or Photo Story. Regardless, the final products were great to see. We even hear that a new video on You Tube may be debuting soon. We’ll let the student blogs be places you can learn more about their work and interests…should they wish to share.

Working Knowledge: Inside the Kindle E-Book Reader

“Researchers had wrestled with e-book readers for decades, but most sported power-thirsty, backlit LCD screens that glared in low light or were drowned out by bright sunlight. The breakthrough this time is a screen made with “electronic paper” from E Ink Corporation in Cambridge, Mass. Sony, Amazon and other makers worldwide are using the material.”

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=library-to-go

Blogging–It’s Good for You

“Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits.”

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-healthy-type

Wikis in Plain English…on dotSub

Click on http://dotsub.com/films/wikisinplainenglish/index.php?autostart=true&language_setting=en_712.

Yaaay!

Link to “Why Kids Don’t Get It” Video and Transcript

http://www.pbs.org/saf/1302/video/watchonline.htm

http://www.pbs.org/saf/1302/resources/transcript.htm#kids

How to read the “Teaching Every Student” required textbook for free online

You can read the “Teaching Every Student” required text online for free! Even if you choose to purchase the text, Fran and Susanne would like you to experience reading this accessible online text. You can access it at http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/.

Counting down!

Monday, June 22 will be the first day of the Universal design for Learning – Implications for Career Assessment and Transition course at GWU.