UDL at CMSCE, Rutgers University

Please consider joining educators from around the world in an online collaborative group to discuss the theory of Universal Design for Learning, what’s working and not working with students, and a selection of some of the best (and worst) digital tools available to help you meet the needs of all of your students.

If you are ready to explore more tools and collaborate with more educators before we meet again, you might consider joining the UDL Ning at http://udl4all.ning.com/

We’ve spent a lot of time working on our Toolkit today. You’ve reviewed a handful of tools that you may or may not want to use in your classroom. Please, before you leave, do one of the following:

1. Leave a comment here discussing which tool was your favorite, why and how specifically you see using it with your class.

2. Visit Ira Socol’s blog and read his post from April 9 called Not Getting to Universal Design. Please leave Ira a comment on his blog.

3. Visit Heather’s del.icio.us links and/or Lisa’s del.icio.us links and choose another tool tagged “UDL”. Leave a comment here letting us know which tool you selected. Be prepared to demonstrate the tool the next time we meet as a group.

We hope the theories behind Universal Design for Learning are all coming together for you and that you are excited to implement the strategies in your classrooms. You can find a digital copy of today’s presentation at Slideshare.net.

Well if you’ve made it as far as this blog then you’ve made it past the first couple of hours of UDL training. Congratulations! You now have the basic understanding that Universal Design for Learning is the framework for something that you’ve been working so hard as an educator to do for your students this year and possibly for many years past as well.

Please read the article, “Burbank Students Use Blog to Learn English”, by Kim Minugh found at http://www.sacbee.com/220/story/846880.html and comment on the digital project that Larry Ferlazzo designed in collaboration with other educators to help his students learn to become more fluent in English.

Today we reviewed the characteristics of useful digital media and evaluated websites to determine how we could utilize them in the UDL classroom to support the learning of all students. Choose a website, or digital resource, and write a recommendation for teaching colleagues. Name the site, or tool, explain why the teacher should consider it, and describe how it could be used in the UDL classroom. Use those persuasive skills to get colleagues to use new tools to ensure that all students learn.

Today we reviewed the characteristics of useful digital media and evaluated websites to determine how we could utilize them in the UDL classroom to support the learning of all students. Choose a website, or digital resource, and write a recommendation for teaching colleagues. Name the site, or tool, explain why the teacher should consider it, and describe how it could be used in the UDL classroom. Use those persuasive skills to get colleagues to use new tools to ensure that all students learn.