Universal Design for Learning and Accessible Technology for Diverse Learners

1. Universal Design for Learning and Accessible Technology for Diverse Learners Teresa Monicken, Regional Coordinator ND Dept. of Public Instruction Craig Nansen, Technology Director Minot Public Schools

2. Acknowledgement • Some of the following slides were adapted from presentations by: • WestEd and • Center for Applied Science Technology (CAST) • Madalaine Pugleise, Professor at Simmons College in Boston, MA

3. NCLB and IDEA: Implications for Technology • Accountability • NCLB: Adequate Yearly Progress • IDEA: State Performance Plan (SPP) • Annual testing: NDSA/NDAA • Data collection, interpretation and reporting • Data driven decision making

4. Accessible Instructional Materials • National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) • Developed to facilitate the provision of accessible instructional materials to blind or other persons with print disabilities in elementary schools and secondary public schools

5. NIMAS is a technical standard established for use by book publishers to produce source files (in XML) that may be used to develop multiple specialized formats for children withprint disabilities Due to: • Blindness • Visual impairments • Physical limitations • Reading disability from organic dysfunction • Braille • Large print • Audio text • Digital text Produced by NICHCY, 2007

6. Path A: Working with NIMAC 4—Authorized users prepare specialized formats for children 1—SEAs or LEAs “adoption” AND… 3—NIMAC verifies and catalogues the fileset 2—K-12 publishers submit filesets Produced by NICHCY, 2007

7. Future Goal • Market Model • Built-in curriculum supports / accessible curriculum for diverse

8. The ChangingClassroom: General education teachers deliver instruction to diverse groups of students Educational demands are on the rise Shift from acquiring knowledge to integrating knowledge Higher curriculum standards All students are held to the same standards

9. Why Accessible Technology? • More students within the general education environment • Educational technology can be inaccessible to slow learners or students with disabilities • The most significant barrier: fixed medium of presentation – textbooks, chalkboards, worksheets.

10. Who Does Accessible Technology Help? Students at risk: low socioeconomic or minority students ELL: English language learners Students who are slow learners Students with disabilities All students you want to engage or participate

11. Accessible Technology in the Classroom • Accessible technologies levels the playing field • Talking text, web resources, graphic organizers, or word processors can enhance teacher's ability to meet the diverse learning needs

12. Universal Design for Learning • Definition: UDL is an educational approach to teaching, learning, and assessment, drawing on new brain research and new media technologies to respond to individual learner differences. David Rose: Center for Applied Special Technologies, CAST

13. Universal Design for Learning • Multiple means of representation: • give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge • Multiple means of expression: • to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know • Multiple means of engagement: • to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation

14. Tests Interviews Survey Performance and Exhibition Portfolio Powerpoint presentations Newsletter publications Podcasts Blogs and Wikis Movies (You Tube) Inspiration Maps Ways to Demonstrate Learning http://www.envisionprojects.org/cs/envision/print/docs/803

15. A UDL Curriculum Is designed, developed and flexible from the start. Has built in supports. Is designed to maximize options for students and teachers Meets the needs of all learners. Is under the auspices of general education. Center for Applied Special Technologies, CAST

16. UDL: A Foundation for RTI • UDL can better support the delivery of specialized RTI intervention in the general education classroom. • http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/tk_introduction.cfm?tk_id=21

17. How we’ve been doing business…

18. NCREL 2005 : Using Technology toImprove Student Achievement” Changing skills—Students now need to: Have range of skills: audio, video, animation, email, websites, message boards, blogs, streaming media; Learn to analyze and interpret data in electronic formats; Learn various data representation systems; Be able to multi-task across technology applications ; Have understanding of how to apply to new situations

19. Video Clip • http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8416a242f40fb7d7f338&page=1&viewtype=&category=tf • http://www.teachertube.com/skin/player/fullscreen.html?file=/flvideo/223.flv

20. Their World IS Different

21. Using Technology to Support Diverse Learners WestEd Slides Digital Text Audio Digital Enhancements Software Overview

22. What is Digital Text? • Text stored as strings of characters. • Digital text • Many books and historical documents converted to digital format, for access via computer. Digital Text

23. Digital is Flexible and Versatile • The flexibility of digital or electronic text makes it a great option for customizing text to the needs of different learners. • Digital text can be • Searched, • Rearranged • Read aloud by a computer • Customized for individual learners Digital Text

24. Digital Text Adaptations • Visual display can be manipulated - larger, etc. • Auditory display - good for pre-reading • Allows embedded learning supports in content • Definitions • Summary • Key questions • Allows students to copy/paste, or otherwise manipulate the text, to indicate comprehension Digital Text

25. How-to find Digital Text Free Books Online (not audio) • Internet Public Libraryhttp://www.ipl.org • Project Gutenberghttp://promo.net/pg • University of Virginia's e-Book Libraryhttp://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/ebooklist.html • Digital Book Index http://www.digitalbookindex.org/search001a.htm Inexpensive books online • Over 34,000 titles http://www.bookshare.org/web/Welcome.html • Berkeley Digital Library SunSite http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Austen/Emma/ Digital Text

26. Audio Talking Text (Text to Speech) Text to MP3 or I Pod Audio books http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/home Talking Website http://www.merriam-webster.com/

27. What is Talking Text? • Words on the screen are read by the computer on command • In some cases, the words need to be highlighted first • Allows reading of individual words or phrases • Works with word processors, websites, and more • Often called text-to-speech

28. What can Talking Text Do? Talking text software will: Highlight sentence and word as it is read Allow reading by letter, word, or sentence Allow correction of pronunciation Have other helpful features, e.g. talking dictionary

29. Who does Talking Text help? • Students who struggle with comprehension may benefit from: • pre-reading to increase comprehension • reading and listening together (reinforcement) • reading selected words or phrase • Talking Text also helps writers to hear omissions or inaccuracies in their work.

30. Software That Talks KidPix Deluxe Kidspiration/Inspiration Storybook Weaver E-Text Reader (free) Macintosh OSX AppleWorks Microsoft Reader …and many more!

31. Enhanced Text Enhanced Text is text with the addition of: • Images • Sounds • Charts, timeline, or graphs • Definitions • Background information and • Questions that increase learning. Enhanced Text

32. Who is helped by Enhanced Text? • Students with who have difficulty with comprehension or with organizing information. • English-learners who struggle with vocabulary. • Students who come from diverse cultures and may need more context. Enhanced Text

33. Prentice Hall Interactive Books and Wikipedia http://www.phschool.com/iText/literature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Enhanced Text

34. Software Features • Word features • Adjust text appearance: font: type, size, color • Adjust the grammar checker: target specific errors or reduce frustration for students • Outlining • Text boxes and graphics • Thesaurus & Dictionary Word Features

35. Word Features • Highlighted text • to demonstrate understanding or to mark unknown words. • AutoSummarize • A tool that will: • highlight key sentences or • extract key parts of a document • Summarize document Highlighting will draw attention to the text Word Features

36. Word Features • Example of adding a hyperlink or voice comment to text. Emma Woodhouse, handsomeclever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.

37. Curricular Support • WestEd • http://www.wested.org/cs/tdl/view/tdl_topic/2 • Google • http://www.google.com/educators/tools.html • American Library Association Great Sites for Children • www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/lit.html • CAST • http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/tk_modellesson.cfm?tk_id=21&tkl_id=81&disp=research

38. From Research to Practice! • Determine what materials, software, and technologies that already exist • Discover materials that are flexible and powerful enough to help all students maximize progress • Recognize software and website features that mitigate learner need and offer universal design • Create long range plans to address technology curriculum integration needs