Sarah’s UDL Blog

I just read this great first-person account of life with synesthesia, a cognitive quirk that causes certain people to see letters and numbers in particular colors. This is another reason why we might want to build flexibility of color displays into our universally designed resources. Also it makes things pretty…

I really enjoyed the readings this week from Teaching Every Student…, in particular the specific examples of ways that technology can help to make learning experiences and accurate assessments accessible for learners with different needs. UDL is an ideal that all schools and teachers should be working toward, but I worry that we have a long way to go.

In particular, I worry about the economic barriers that exist with regard to implementing UDL principles and methods in schools. I’m in the TIE program, and definitely believe that technology can serve as a catalyst for transformation in schools. However it’s the schools with the greatest needs that often have the fewest financial (and consequently, technological) resources, and I worry that the emphasis on technology supports in discussions of UDL might skew the discussion in these schools. When I think about applying many of the strategies from this book in the economically disadvantaged schools in which I taught, I’m a little stumped by the “digital divide” issue. How do I manage this with my three dyslexic students, my four students with other learning disabilities, my twenty-five other students, and one unreliable desktop computer (with no internet connection)?

While schools may not be able to provide every student with his or her own computer, I know that teachers can still implement many of the UDL principles (providing multiple forms of representation, expression, etc.). In our discussions of UDL, can we explore the benefits and affordances of digital technologies while also exploring cheap, low-tech ways of bringing these principles to life in all classrooms?

I found last week’s reading on Williams Syndrome to be really interesting, and I discovered this NY Times article that discusses the syndrome. The article also goes into a really fascinating discussion of the evolution of the neocortex, and the role that socialization and language play in primate communities and in the survival of humans. Check it out, if you have time!

Here are a couple of videos created to give viewers a sense of what it’s like to have dyscalculia:

Dyscalculia and Directions

Dyscalculia and Numbers

Students in the Health Design Technologies(!) program at Coventry University created this amazing video simulation that allows non-dyslexic viewers to experience some of what reading is like for people with dyslexia. Take a look:

The Thatcher Effect is a psychological quirk, like the McGurk effect, that reveals interesting characteristics about the way our minds work. Take a look at the image of Margaret Thatcher, below:

The upside-down images in the top row look slightly different from one another, but not as weird as the right-side-up images– even though they’re exactly the same. The reason for this is that the facial recognition areas of our brains function most effectively when viewing faces right-side up, and often miss details or have a hard time noticing small differences when we’re not looking at faces this way.

I just ran across an article about the Rock-It Science Festival, an upcoming NYC music and arts festival sponsored by the Sensation and Emotion Network. The SENetwork focuses on “interdisciplinary research in sensory processing and emotion regulation,” and the festival consists of an interesting conglomeration of neuroscientists and musicians (including Rufus Wainwright and a neuroscience rock band called the Amygdaloids).

One of the key issues that the SENetwork addresses is that of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), a disorder that causes people to have extremely strong negative reactions to sensory input such as noise. Reading about their work raises a couple of questions for me:

• How can Universal Design principles be (or how are they already) implemented in out-of-school cultural settings such as musical performances or museum exhibitions?
• If stimula that can be enriching and supportive for one learner can be jarring and disruptive to others, how do we provide effective and easy-to-use controls to help people customize this type of experience?

I’d love to hear (read?) your thoughts in the comments!

I’m Sarah Field, and I’m a Master’s student in the TIE program. Before coming to HGSE, I got an undergrad degree in American Studies and Spanish, and then worked as an elementary school teacher and as a curriculum developer for an educational publisher.

While I’m still exploring possible post-graduation paths (maybe designing educational materials for schools, or maybe coaching and supporting classroom teachers on curriculum and technology issues), I definitely plan to take on a role for which the principles of UDL will be important. I’m taking this course because I’m interested in understanding the diverse ways in which students learn, and in identifying ways that thoughtful applications of technology can support them.