Day 1 - Important Take-aways

Day 1

In today's class to two major terms that stood out to me were UDL (Universal Design for Learning) and Presumed Competency.

When teachers practice UDL in there planning and teaching that are implementing strategies that allow all students access to the information that allows them to engage and create that works best for them. Too often I see students presented with materials that is not conclusive to their learning. Learning that they could be engaged in and successful with but are not giving the opportunity. This makes me think of a student who has a learning disability who has difficulty with reading and writing. They are provided with necessary tools (AT) to support their learning difficulties in class but are not giving the opportunity to engage independently with the material. I think the opportunity to provide the student with the materials in this way if often over looked and provided to him in a way the supports his difficulties but not in an optimal way. This leads the student to be more dependent on others and the teachers. It prevents him from taking risks and building skills and knowledge that his already has.

Presumed competency is something that stuck with me because of our independent work time that we were given for our assignments. While I consider myself technologically literate, having a good base knowledge and some familiarity with assistive technology, I was not very productive during this time. I found myself becoming a little frustrated with the apps that I was using because I could not manipulate and engage them in a successful way. This made me reflect on how AT is delivered and expected to fix what it's intended for. I believe often students and teachers who are expected to use the assistive technologies do not have enough training or hands on experience. This often leads to frustration, creating another barrier to the students learning. Before the AT is implemented in the classroom, teachers and students should be given the opportunity to learn how to use it in the context of how it will be use in class and learn to troubleshoot problems. If this doesn't happen and problems arise in class with the AT, students and teachers will see it as a negative.