Tech

With the recent advent of online assessments, the capabilities of the school network have come to the forefront in many school districts across the nation (Cavanaugh, 2014). In November 2014, President Obama addressed school bandwidth issues during the inaugural superintendent summit on digital learning and future readiness. At the summit, President Obama stated, “Right now, fewer than 40 percent of public schools have high-speed Internet in their classrooms; less than half. It means that in most American schools, teachers cannot use the cutting-edge software and programs that are available today. They literally don’t have the bandwidth” (The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 2014). In 2014, President Obama unveiled the ConnectED Initiative (ConnectED). At the unveiling, President Obama stated that many schools have the same bandwidth as an average American home but with many more users. (more…)

The essential role of technology in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is that it enables a teacher to easily offer multiple means of learning. Students can read, watch, interact, and simulate with technology to learn content using their strengths in their preferred learning styles. Digital materials make it possible for the same material to be flexibly presented and accessed—even adapted on a student-to-student basis (Strangman & Meyer 2003).
The National Center of Universal Design for Learning (2016) defines UDL as a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone – not a single, one-size-fits-all solution, but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs.
The three principles of UDL are:
1. Multiple means of REPRESENTATION (the what)
2. Multiple means of EXPRESSION (the how)
3. Multiple means of ENGAGEMENT (the why)
The following are example of how technology can be used in the three principles of UDL: (more…)