USING TECHNOLOGY TO TRANSFORM THE NATURE OF THE CURRICULUM

A Professional Development Project forEnglish Language Arts (AND …?) at …

CENTRAL MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL

AGENDA:

1. Introductions

2. Goals for this evening

1. Understanding our Context – Learning for a New Century

2. Who is ILS and Why would we care?

3. Understanding Differentiation

4. Understanding Technology

5. Targeting Professional Development

6. A Plan …

WHO IS

AND WHY WOULD ANYBODY CARE?

ETL Newsletter

ILS Community of Practice

Write down as many ways as you can to describe the learning challenges your students bring with them to their schooling – the diversity among your learners you encounter in your classes.In your group, write in the centre a summary of your groups analysis.

DIVERSITY

The Challenge(s) The OpportunitiesMotivation -

Not critical thinkers

Lack a framework for their thinking

Worksheet kind of people

Disinterested

Transferring creativity

Not engaged

Lack of empathy and understanding different points of

10% IPP

Time challenged

Outside engaged

Family (re-defining)

ESL

ADHD

Sequencing information

Organizing information

Managing information

Reading

Discouraged and defeatist

Accessing traditional learning

Lack learning strategies

Motivated, interested, sense of humour

Need challenge

worldy

USING TECHNOLOGY TO TRANSFORM THE NATURE OF THE CURRICULUM

Differentiating Through Universal Design for Learning

1. Changing Landscapes

Placing greater demands for 21st Learners to master 21st

century skills

What’s Driving the Agenda(s) …

2. Brain Research

New insights into the learning brain shed light on learner differences and effective uses of technology.

3. Differentiation

Differentiation is essentially giving students multiple options for learning. This includes how information is presented, how students build concepts and how they choose to demonstrate their understanding. As one can imagine, this dramatically changes what we understand as the "traditional classroom."

4. The Role of Digital Media in Differentiating for Instruction

• To help select the most suitable medium or use of multiple media simultaneously

• To convert material from one medium to another on the fly

• To modify the appearance of information within one medium

• To delve more deeply or connect laterally to other concepts through links

• To communicate with many different people through networked computers

Universal Design for Learning …

… argues the divergent needs of special populations increases usability for everyone.

… argues for helping ALL learners achieve by building in three kinds of flexibility:

• Representing information in multiple formats and media

• Providing multiple pathways for action and expression

• Providing multiple ways to engage - connecting interest and motivation

Teaching Using UDL

Challenges us to rethink the nature of our work and provide the FLEXIBILITY necessary to serve diverse needs.

Challenges us to re-think HOW we provide content in differentiated ways, how we …

• Provide Individual supports• Provide challenges differently and appropriately for

each learner• Set Goals • Assess progress with effective and ongoing

assessment • Measure progress• Adjust our work after evaluating the methods and tools

being deployed

Flexible Media - Content-Free and Content-Rich Resources

Content-free resources. (productivity tools) - Are software applications, which are programs developed to solve a particular problem or to perform a particular task or function and that allow us to "access, retrieve, store, organize, manipulate, and present information by electronic means.

Content-free resources also include communication tools, which can be used to transmit, receive, and transform data, content, and conversations and can be synchronous or asynchronous . Content Rich Resources - Are resources that are high interest, relevant, informative, and visually engaging and that make connections with and motivate and challenge the learner. These resources that have a clear learning intention or support a learning process (sometimes referred to as "learning objects") Content-rich resources can also include discrete video and audio clips, images, animations, and text documents ("digital assets"), which can be used individually or can be sequenced and combined by teachers to support their learning intention.

Include interactive CD-ROMs, learning objects, digital assets, databases, and websites.

Flexible Media - Content-Free and Content-Rich Resources

SOME EXAMPLES:

SOME MORE EXAMPLES

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING…

Conclusions

The three UDL principles share one common recommendation: to provide learners with a wider variety of options.

Access to these options is tied directly to the use and management of technology.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING

• How are you assessing the needs of your learners?

• In what ways are you meeting the diverse needs of your learners?

• How do you know that you are being successful?

Challenges us to rethink the nature of our work and provide the FLEXIBILITY necessary to serve diverse needs.

… Challenges us to re-think HOW we …

• Provide Individual supports• Provide challenges differently and

appropriately for each learner• Set Goals • Assess progress with effective

and ongoing assessment • Measure progress• Adjust our work after evaluating

the methods and tools being deployed

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING … As a model to drive our PD Agenda(s)

…SOME Suggestions

• Select the most suitable medium or use of multiple media in simultaneous ways,

• Allow for conversion of material from one medium to another on the fly

• Modify the appearance of information within one medium

• Provide opportunities to delve more deeply or connect laterally to other concepts through links and

• Allow for communicate with many different people through networked computers.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING …

… shifts our practices and our structures. It challenges us to rethink the nature of our work, building in inherent flexibility necessary to serve diverse needs.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING …

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING …Some Resources:

CAST – http://www.cast.org

Centre for Leadership in Education – http://www.centernet.org/udlproject.htm

UDL David Rose Column– http://jset.unlv.edu/15.4/asseds/rose.html

HOW PEOPLE LEARN – http://www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/

HOW TO BEGIN LAYERED CURRICULUM – http://help4teachers.com/how.htm

The purpose of this project is …

To explore the principles of Universal Design for Learning through an expanded, action research driven pilot project in ELA classrooms at Central Memorial

MEETING TODAY -

Setting Context

Establishing Pd Agenda

Building a Plan and Setting

Dates

Project Design Day

Writing Proposal/

Plan

Identifying Professional Development

Needs

Setting Target Dates

Thinking About

Research

Second MeetingAll Day

What Are the Technologies

Understanding Universal Design

For Learning (trechnology

enhanced differentitation)

Content 'Rich' Content 'Free'