UDL in Transition and Postsecondary Education

Question 1:

Explore the UDL on Campus website and choose one institution that is currently applying UDL in their setting (not GW). Discuss what you ascertain as strengths of this program with regard to their consideration of UDL. What resources are working? What barriers may still exist? 

UDL is becoming more prevalent in colleges across the country. I chose to focus on Towson University’s application of UDL for a few reasons. First, I almost went to Towson University for my undergraduate studies. Second, it’s close to where I live. Finally, I think Towson is doing an outstanding job of implementing UDL to enrich the experiences of students and faculty alike.

The UDL Professional Development Network is comprised of 85 faculty and staff who participate in face-to-face and online professional development, professional learning opportunities, and tools and research sharing. In addition, faculty coaches with more extensive UDL training provide peer support. In a video interview, Claire Holmes, a Research and Instruction Librarian stated, “We believe already that it’s super important to engage students immediately and we know that there’s a learner variability. We don’t know what it is. We don’t know much about our students usually, that we’re working with in any given class, but we know it’s there, so having the tools of UDL principles and guidelines allows us to kind of capitalize on what we already do when we’re teaching information literacy, but hopefully expand the choices for students and allow us to change up the various ways that we teach” (2014). Some of the ways Towson University utilizes UDL in courses is revised syllabi and final projects. There’s also learning assessments and digital learning projects.

Towson also offers interactive services such as academic advising, disability support services, and programs for adults with Autism. This allows Towson to meet the needs of their students learning variability.

I think the fact that Towson has such a strong community of faculty and staff members working together to effectively implement UDL makes for a huge strength. This allows them a space for collaboration, as well as the opportunity to learn from UDL coaches.

Question 2: Consider the points addressed in the talk by Dr. Kester, Dr. Smith, and Ms. Kallas. What frameworks appeared to be important for promoting UDL systems change? What were some opportunities that they leveraged to promote success?

Because UDL is still relatively new to the field, it’s taken a lot of work to create systems change. Dr. Kester, Dr. Smith, and Courtney Kallas discuss some themes in promoting this UDL systems change. One of the first topics discussed by Dr. Kester is identifying barriers by collecting data. Then, it’s important to bring a diverse perspective to reinforce a growth mindset, and creating an environment for change among a team.

When looking at creating conditions for systems change, Dr. Kester identified four important strategies.

• Appreciative Inquiry
• Authentic Stakeholder Engagement
• Liberating Structures to Increase Engagement
• Collective Impact

Appreciative Inquiry is a theory that shares some of the same principles as person centered thinking. It’s about looking at what you do in the field and expanding on Discovery or “the best of what is”. Next, is the dream step or envisioning “what could be”. Third, is designing or co-constructing “what should be”. Finally, there is destiny or sustaining “what will be”. This model allows for high level of enagagement when building a foundation for systems change.

Another strategy addressed was Authentic Stakeholder Engagement. Leading by Convening is a blueprint for authentic engagement among stakeholders. This came from the IDEA Partnership. It was federally funded to address educational issues. This allows for stakeholders to feel more comfortable through the collaboration process and be more willing to “buy-in”.

Then, Dr. Kester discussed Liberating Structures to Increase Engagement. This shifts the collaboration from just presenting a focus question to presenting multiple means of structuring engaging activities. She shared an example of creating having participants sit in a U shape and start the conversation around the given topic at the front. Others could circulate to the front to engage in the conversation and could circulate to the back when they were finished. Creating more engagement makes for more meaningful collaboration, which will hopefully lead to more effective systems change.

Courtney Kallas discussed the importance of Collective Impact. Kallas expressed how she noted that there was a lot of success with work-based learning experiences for youth with disabilities in terms of increased graduation rates. Partnerships were created in places such as The University of Colorado at Denver where students experience UDL in simulation during a medical science class. This allows students to decide if this is a career path they truly want to explore. Other partnerships Kallas discussed were with the Denver Aquarium, Career and Tech education, garden-to-cafeteria in Denver Public Schools. Kallas put emphasis on finding congruence for all students through student centered work based learning experiences.

References

Kester, J.  (n.d.) Systems Change. [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://blackboard.gwu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-9206594-dt-content-rid-60587276_2/courses/45957_201901/Systems%20Change.pdf

Smith, F., Kester, J., and Kallas, C. (n.d.). UDL in Transition, Career Assessment, & Career-Technical Education. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://blackboard.gwu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_310811_1&content_id=_9206923_1

Universal Design for Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.towson.edu/provost/initiatives/leadership/teaching/academicinnovation/development/udl.html