Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

In today's increasingly diverse schools teachers are having difficulties adapting their teaching styles to the varying learning styles of their students. In addition, teachers are being held more accountable for their students, with an emphasis on state and national standards. To accommodate students with special needs, ranging from limited English, learning disabilities, attention disorders, physical disabilities, and even gifted students, teachers are turning to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). According Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age, UDL is a set of principles based on research that forms guidelines and provides a framework for teachers to use technology to maximize learning opportunities for each student. UDL intersects different teaching styles, learning styles, intelligences, assessment techniques, and technology to help students minimize their barriers and increase their learning. In order for teachers to use UDL effectively they must be flexible in their teaching strategies and creative with their materials to accommodate each student. By applying UDL to their classrooms, teachers will transform the traditional classroom model, and help students of all backgrounds and abilities learn more effectively.

Using UDL in a history classroom will not be very difficult, and I believe it will increase the learning of my students greatly because it will allow students to experience history from more than just a textbook or document. Students will be able to use forms of technology, such as online field trips to experience the places and eras their books describe. In addition, reading resources that are now available will be extremely helpful for students with lower reading levels, or with physical disabilities. Students could use reading software not just to read the textbook, but to read primary source documents which are often difficult to read because they use a different style of English. The software could help breakdown the sentences and words, and pronunciations to enable to students to read and analyze the documents. In addition, instead of writing essays, students could use other forms of media and technology to present the material they've learned, such as a slide show, movie, or website. Similarly, for students with difficultly spelling, poor handwriting, etc., they could use laptops or a computer lab to type up their essays for a test rather than hand writing them, which would cut back on grammatical and spelling mistakes, as well as possibly help some students finish in the time limit more easily than if they were hand writing their papers.

Using Digital Images in the Classroom

The Bull & Thompson article, "Establishing a Framework for Digital Images in the School Curriculum," from the May 2004 Learning & Leading with Technology described many positive uses of digital images in the classroom and explained the rise in importance of these images. Before the digital camera, it was costly to use cameras and film often, and it was also not as convenient. However, with today's integration of images in word-processing reports or personal websites, digital images can be used in classroom projects easier than their predecessors, and are generally less expensive because an infinite number of pictures can be taken and they never have to be printed, they can just be stored on the computer.

The four steps the article laid out of acquiring, analyzing, creating, and communicating with digital images are good starting points, and good guidelines for using images in the classroom. However, the analysis of the images must be the central aspect of the project; otherwise it is similar to putting together a scrapbook or photo album. The students will not fully understand why they are finding and using the images unless they understand the significance of the pictures. For example, in a history classroom, putting together a time line could be a fun and enriching assignment because students could find pictures from certain decades and explain what cues in the picture represent the decade it is from, and why. Thus, they are understanding the pictures rather than just using them.

The subject specific portion of the article was very helpful in providing ideas for uses of digital images in a history classroom. I see great potential for using digital pictures in a history class because it is often difficult to connect with the past, and using pictures can help bridge this gap, and hopefully make the subject more tangible. By providing images of who we are studying, or the period we are studying, I will help my students visualize the past rather than just read about it. In addition, the volume of primary sources available on the Internet is extremely helpful for analyzing history. Learning from primary documents and learning to analyze them is one of the major components of history, and with the resources available now it will be easy and fun to find documents, such as the Virginia Gazette from 1776, and read and learn about historical events first hand. The students will be able to get more involved with learning about history than ever before. One lesson I liked from the article involved giving students pictures from different time periods and asking them to put them in chronological order, and hypothesize about the date, and explain why they picked that date. These are only some examples of the potential of digital images in a classroom. They are a valuable resource, and I will incorporate them into my lessons to help students connect more with the material.