Universal Design for Learning

I like the concept of Universal Design for Learning because it is more about the “what” and not the “how”.  UDL lessons also allow each student to operate at his or her own level but still obtain the information they need.  Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning points out, “New technologies offer us the opportunity to respond to the multifaceted individual differences in our student population by providing more varied media, tools, and methods.” 

I agree technology can play a large role in helping the classroom teach create a environment of differentiated learning in the classroom.  This is so important because of the different levels of ability represented in every classroom today.  It is also important to remember that the students need to be the ones utilizing the technology and not just the teacher.

Teachers complain about the difficulties of providing for the varying levels of ability in the classroom, and I agree it can be difficult at times.  However, if the teacher could focus on creating a lesson in terms of what the students need to know and accomplish by the end and leave the “how” to get to that point to the students through using different types of media, including technology, they would find it a much easier task.

Ultimately, teachers need to shift the focus away from how the students learn to what the students learn.  There needs to be a shift from the teacher being the deliverer of content to the teacher being the facilitator that helps guide students to where and how to find the content so it then can be applied in various high level activities.