MAY 17, 2010
VCU WEBCAST
PEATC


Services Provided By:  Caption First, Inc.
	

   >> CATHY HEALY:  Hi, thanks for joining us today.  I'm Cathy 
Healy, with PEATC's next steps transition training program.  
Our program is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of 
Education Rehabilitation Services Administration. 
   We are partnering with Virginia Commonwealth University RRTC 
to bring you information about topics pertinent to the 
transition of students with disabilities from secondary 
school. 
   This program is offering CEUs and CRCs to professionals and 
also a parent training certificate as a well. 
   PEATC has been around a for more than 30 years.  We are the 
parent training and information center for Virginia.  We have 
been fielding inquiries from families about all things 
connected to special education and general education, and how 
families can be good support systems for their children and 
young adults with disabilities. 
   So we invite your phone calls and your E-mails.  You can 
reach us at 800-869-6782 for Virginia parents or locally at 
703-923-0010.  We invite you to visit our Website where you 
will find information about other transition related webinars. 
   We also invite you later today after this presentation to 
take a short evaluation, and also participate in a web board 
discussion with our presenter. 
   We are very happy today to have information about universal 
design for learning.  Traditionally, students with 
disabilities have left high school and were expected to go to 
a sheltered workshop, or go to some kind of training program, 
or maybe not be employed.  But what we know today is that many 
many students with disabilities are actually graduating with 
high school diplomas, going on to college, going on to 
employment.  But even for other students with very high 
support needs, we are understanding more and more about brain 
function, and how if we design programs appropriately, 
everybody can learn. 
   What we really want to instill in our transition age 
students with disabilities is a love for lifelong learning, 
not just what they are going to get in the classroom, but 
certainly beyond, because lifelong learning is good for 
everyone. 
   Even my own son who has an intellectual disability and who 
graduated high school about three or four years ago, even he 
is able to access lifelong learning.  He has a laptop.  He is 
part of a reading program.  The reading program is very 
motivating for him.  He is learning vocabulary.  He is 
learning about phonics.  And generally it is enhancing how he 
performs on his job and in his community. 
   So, we advocate that lifelong learning is not just something 
that a certain group of people should be privy to, but that it 
is good for all people. 
   So today, Fran Smith, who is with Virginia Commonwealth 
University, she is the coordinator of technology and distance 
learning at VCU and has been spending a number of years 
studying universal design for learning, or UDL, is going to 
present information about the guiding principles for UDL, even 
how families can access information and start thinking about 
how they can incorporate some of those principles for their 
young people with disabilities as they transition into 
adulthood. 
   I'm very excited to have Fran here today.  And if you have 
questions, stay tuned for the web board.  She will be happy to 
entertain questions.  Thank you very much.  Fran? 
   
   >> FRANCES SMITH:  Good afternoon.  I'm Fran Smith.  I'm 
coordinator of technology and distance education for the 
Virginia Department of Education's training and technical 
assistance center at Virginia Commonwealth University, and 
Collateral Faculty, School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth 
University.  I want to talk about keeping students in love 
with learning, universal design for learning and families.  
This topic is dear to my heart and something that I think is 
an educational framework that we can all learn from. 
   One of the challenges that we find today is that today's 
typical classroom might include students whose first language 
is not English, students who are not reading on grade level, 
students who have behavioral or attentional and motivational 
problems, and students from varied cultural backgrounds. 
   In that situation, as educators we need to be mindful of the 
types of strategies, technologies and approaches that we use 
that we can reach all learners. 
   When we apply a framework such as universal design for 
learning, we shift our approaches to the more traditional 
classroom approaches, which favor a sage on the stage so to 
speak approach, to more flexible classroom approaches, where 
we involve various ways to engage the learner in the 
experience, involve more discussion, involve more 
technologies, so that all learners can learn. 
   I'd like to start by defining what universal design is, and 
where that comes from.  Universal design borrows from four key 
areas that we have been able to build from, such as assistive 
technology, the concept of universal design known in the built 
environment through architectural designs, the importance of 
building an accessible design so we are reaching all 
individuals through the computer media we use, and the fact 
that we design things that are usable by all, through 
usability standards.  
   The definition of universal design has been defined by a 
number of pieces of legislation, and was first defined also 
through the Center for Universal Design which is at the North 
Carolina State University, defined as a means of designing and 
delivering products and services that are usable by people 
with the widest possible range of functional capabilities, 
which include properties and services that are directly usable 
without requiring assistive technologies, and products and 
services that are made usable with assistive technologies. 
   That particular definition also comes from the original act 
which was the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, which also 
built on the Assistive Technology Act of 1988. 
   We then had the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act 
amendments in 2004, which took universal design and defined it 
into the context of learning as an approach to teaching, 
learning, curriculum development and assessment that uses new 
technologies to respond to a variety of individual learner 
differences. 
   Another piece of the IDEA 2004 legislation was the National 
Instructional Materials Accountability Act, which we call the 
NIMAS standard.  It is a technical standard used by publishers 
to produce source files in an XML language that may be used to 
develop multiple specialized formats. 
   So those of us who are working with individuals who might 
require the use of an audio book, a Braille format, or a 
different kind of format to work with an assistive technology 
can benefit from a universal format that we can access. 
   In Virginia we also have the system through Aim, Virginia, 
at George Mason University, and there we have developed an 
alternate system of providing accessible educational materials 
and standards set by NIMAS for students who meet the federal 
requirements for print (inaudible) individual IEPs. 
   Finally, in 2008, we saw the first, the official definition 
of universal design for learning embraced in the Higher 
Education Opportunity Act of 2008.  In that act, we see that 
universal design for learning is defined as a scientifically 
valid framework, providing educational practice that first 
provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in 
the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, 
and in the ways students are engaged. 
   It reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate 
accommodations, supports, and challenges, and maintains high 
achievement expectations for all students, including students 
with disabilities and students who are limited English 
proficient. 
   What we have seen over the years is the ability for us to 
capture the true spirit of universal design from the built 
environment now into the classroom, so that we can work 
towards reaching all learners. 
   Universal design for learning is all about a civil rights 
legacy and the importance of access for all.  So when we think 
about, for example, an environment for an architectural 
situation, as you can see on this slide, universal design 
thinks about access for all individuals.  So we build in this 
case a rounded sidewalk, where an elevation is built in ahead 
of time for someone who might use a wheelchair.  And we also 
have access points so anyone can reach that door, as opposed 
to an old design, where we have concrete stairs, which would 
be an obvious barrier to someone with a wheelchair.  So we 
design ahead of time, and try to avoid the fact that we would 
have to retrofit after the fact. 
   Some examples in universal design that we have seen over the 
years are the types of things that many of us use today, like 
curb cuts.  Curb cuts were designed for individuals to have a 
smooth access when they are crossing over a barrier such as 
that.  But many mothers use curb cuts when they are strolling 
their children.  They are useful for roller bladers when they 
are going through an access point. 
   We also have closed captioning, and closed captioning was 
designed for individuals who of course are deaf or hard-of-
hearing.  But we see more use of closed captioning in sports 
bars and in places, in homes where individuals would rather 
have a closed captioning across the bottom of the screen, 
rather than listening to that noise. 
   Some other examples here that we see in universal design, 
increasingly in smart home development, where you have a shelf 
like the one in this picture in the far right of the screen, 
so that someone who perhaps is in a wheelchair in a room or 
needs to have something brought down to their height has that 
easy access. 
   That brings us to the main topic of today, which is about 
universal design for learning, and a philosophy and framework 
that has been coined by researchers at the Center for Applied 
Special Technology in Massachusetts.  These folks have looked 
at the research around effective practices and instructional 
delivery, effective ways that individuals learn and the 
benefits of what we know through the neurosciences. 
   Added to that, the value of using technology when we can to 
make a more flexible learning environment, is part of the 
underpinning of this.  What I share with you today comes 
directly from their materials and resources, and we will visit 
that again at the end of the presentation. 
   The origins of UDL from a CAST perspective is based on a 
philosophy that believes that barriers to learning are not in 
fact inherent in the capacities of learners, but instead arise 
in learners' interactions with inflexible educational goals, 
materials, methods, and assessments. 
   If we think about universal design again, we start with how 
we develop that in the built environment.  And one of the key 
pioneers in looking at universal design from that standpoint 
was Ron Mace. 
   Ron was an architect working at North Carolina State 
University as well as a consumer who happened to use a 
wheelchair, and he realized that we needed to think more about 
how we designed environments and how we designed products, so 
that we could reach the needs of the broadest possible range 
of users from the beginning, rather than, again, thinking 
about retrofitting after the fact. 
   An important philosophy of universal design for learning and 
one that we are excited about in today's world is the value of 
looking at ways of offering material that is not just bound to 
a print format, and a lot of times books and other curriculum 
materials are often inaccessible to students when we have them 
in that format. 
   So, it prevents barrier -- the barrier that is prevented is 
a fixed media.  If we think about a fixed media for students 
in our classroom, or students who go to college and students 
who go into the work setting, it's very difficult for an 
individual who might have dyslexia, who might speak a second 
language, who may have a visual impairment because they are 
blind, or who may have a learning disability; where the book 
in printed format is a very inflexible format, and we cannot 
utilize the technologies that allow that user to enlarge the 
print, to speak the text out loud, to utilize color enhancing 
that makes that experience that much easier and that much more 
beneficial for them. 
   So, number 1, books and printed materials are a barrier that 
we would like to try to avoid. 
   Second, when we think about universal design for learning, 
we celebrate the fact that we all have different learning 
stylings.  We all have different ways of knowing.  Some of us 
are auditory learners.  Some of us are visual learners.  Some 
of us are hands-on learners. 
   But given the chance to use the style that we learn usually 
will bring forth the success that we are looking for, and it 
celebrates the value of multiple intelligence theories, where 
we look at the types of intelligences we all bring to the 
table, not just one or two. 
   Universal design for learning is also an educational 
framework that celebrates a number of educational approaches, 
such as apprenticeship learning, where we think about approach 
that encompasses active models of skilled performance, so that 
we can give models to an individual to show them what it looks 
like to achieve the type of success that we are hoping they 
will achieve in a classroom setting or in a work situation. 
   The scaffolds to support the learner, that provides ample 
opportunities for practice, and provides ongoing immediate and 
relevant feedback.  And collectively all of these help us to 
reach a more flexible way of learning that supports a learner. 
   Universal design for learning also takes into account new 
insights that we have been able to gain from brain research 
about the nature of learner differences, and helps us to weave 
that into a century of best practices in progressive 
education. 
   When we think about universal design for learning from a 
neuroscience perspective, what CAST has been able to help us 
see is that the research they are looking at shows us that 
there are actually three distinct networks involved in the 
learning process.  They are interconnected systems, but they 
are each three distinct in their own way. 
   They are known as the recognition network, the strategic 
network, and the affective network.  So just to give you an 
example of how we might involve those, think about the first 
thing you did, at least for me, the first thing you did this 
morning when you made that cup of coffee. 
   Your recognition networks help you to recognize the 
coffeepot.  It has to do with the "what" in the learning 
process.  I'm familiar with where the coffeepot is in my home 
and I'm able to find that.  The strategic networks have to do 
with the process of learning, so they help me to remember the 
steps that I need to make that coffee, and how I integrate 
those steps successfully to make that happen. 
   And then the affective networks confirm the reason why I'm 
engaged in making the coffee to begin with.  And it's why I 
get that engagement with the entire process and the aroma of 
the coffee that I smell in the morning after it's completed. 
   So this is the three networks involved in the learning 
process. 
   I'm going to start with describing those a little more in 
detail, beginning with the recognition network.  Again, the 
recognition network has to do with the "what" of the learning 
process.  It helps us to identify, interpret patterns of 
sound, light, taste, smell and touch. 
   Every-day examples of the recognition network include 
identifying ingredients for recipes, telling the difference 
between shampoo and shaving cream so you can wash your hair, 
identifying the smell of freshly-cut grass. 
   For individuals who are from different cultures, for 
individuals who may have difficulty with their recognition 
networks, those can be a difficult thing for them to do. 
   So what we try to encourage is to consider ways to support 
that.  A fundamental principle of universal design for 
learning is to provide multiple approaches.  And in this case, 
we are trying to provide multiple approaches in the way we 
represent the information.  So we might provide alternate 
formats for the ways we present information that for some 
learners could be a print way, for other learners that might 
be an in a digital format.  We might provide that in a model.  
We might provide that in a demonstration. 
   We might provide multiple examples.  We want to try and 
highlight critical features of what we are instructing.  We 
want to provide multiple media and formats.  And we want to 
utilize strategies that support background context, because 
again, not knowing the learner's background and not knowing 
what they bring to the learning situation, it's a, it helps us 
to provide as many opportunities to strengthen those 
recognition networks. 
   Another example of providing multiple examples in the 
recognition network is to pair visual information with 
auditory information -- or in this example, providing a 
graphic organizer format, so that we can highlight the 
critical features in a visual -- doing hands-on activities, 
and using active note-taking. 
   The second network in the UDL framework is strategic 
networks, has to do with the "how" of the learning process.  A 
lot of the executive functions that we have to plan, execute 
and monitor actions and skills are involved in this process. 
   In learning situations, strategic networks are critical.  
They have to do with how we complete a project, how we take a 
test, how we take notes, how we listen to a lecture.  For a 
number of individuals, those are very difficult tasks for them 
to organize simultaneously. 
   What we want to do in an educational or work situation or 
even at home is to try to provide flexible models again of 
skilled performance, offering models so we can show an 
individual what that looks like when they reach that 
completion. 
   Provide opportunities to practice with supports.  When I'm 
teaching a class, I often utilize the electronic track changes 
features in Microsoft Word, so that I can electronically 
scaffold the learning process of my students so that they can 
learn from my comments. 
   Provide ongoing engaging relevant feedback through the 
process, offering flexible opportunities for demonstrating 
skill and providing alternative means for action and 
expression. 
   So again, in the class that I've taught in universal design 
for learning, I try to provide students the chance to both 
offer me a written paper, or in some cases provide a digital 
project that complements the same goals that we are working 
on, but gives them a different way of showing me what they do. 
   When we think about multiple means for supporting 
expression, we also take into account the many benefits of 
technology, especially a lot of the assistive technologies 
that we have used over the years. 
   So for some students, allowing students to dictate test 
answers and written assignments with their voice is an 
important solution for them.  Allowing them to use a model, a 
picture representation, allowing the use of a word processor 
or word prediction program to aid the writing process, all of 
these are important in supporting the strategic networks. 
   Finally, the UDL philosophy looks at the third area of the 
brain, which is the affective network, located in the core of 
the brain.  This has to do with the emotional significance, 
the reason why we get engaged with the learning process.  They 
enable us to engage with a task and influence our motivation 
to learn.  They are responsible for developing preferences and 
establishing priorities and interests.  In learning 
situations, affective networks are essential to wanting to 
learn. 
   Often, students who come into classrooms, or any of us, go 
into a learning situation, depending on the time of day, 
depending on how we got up out of the bed in the morning, and 
how we approach that learner is very important in engaging 
that process. 
   So providing alternative means for engagement might involve 
offering choices of content and tools, offering adjustable 
levels of challenge, offering choices of rewards, and offering 
choices in learning context. 
   Universal design for learning through the CAST resource that 
we will look at in a moment provides us with a wonderful 
graphic arrangement of what these three principles and 
connecting them to these three networks entails.  So under the 
recognition networks, again, we are providing multiple ways to 
support means of representations.  In that case we might 
provide options for perception, options for language and 
symbols, options for comprehension. 
   In supporting the multiple ways to support expression and 
the strategic networks, we look at ways for providing options 
for physical action, options for expressive skills influencing 
and options for executive functions. 
   And finally, an engagement, under multiple means of engaging 
the learning experience and engaging the affective networks, 
we provide multiple options for recruiting interests, multiple 
options for sustaining effort and persistence, and multiple 
options for self-regulation. 
   A number of examples are provided on this graphic, and you 
can find this graphic on the national universal design for 
learning Website, as well as on the CAST Website, which we 
will revisit again at the end of the presentation. 
   But I think you will find some of these web references 
provided in your materials. 
   Key to the philosophy of universal design for learning as an 
essential educational framework is that we concentrate on four 
key areas.  The goals and milestones that we are trying to 
achieve, and it doesn't mean that we change the goals of what 
we are trying to teach, or the goals of the work task that we 
are trying to teach the students who accomplish. 
   It does have to do with the approach that we take, the media 
and methods that we use, the instructional methods that we 
employ, and the means of assessment that we use.  So, let's 
look at that for a moment. 
   If you think about a traditional classroom setting or a 
traditional learning situation, learning goals may get skewed 
by the inflexible ways and means of achieving them.  In a UDL 
approach, learning goals are attained in many individual ways, 
by many customized means. 
   We again give the learner the opportunity to show us what 
they can learn in their way.  If we think about materials that 
are used in the traditional sense, again typically print is 
distributed as a means of reaching everyone and getting the 
same materials.  We offer a few options.  In the UDL approach, 
a variety of materials, media and formats to reach learners 
with diverse abilities, styles and needs equally well supports 
that philosophy. 
   If we think about traditional methods that we use in those 
situations, they are typically teacher-centered where we rely 
on a lecture approach.  They are homogeneous in their 
grouping.  And the burden is placed on the students to adapt 
to get it; when in fact, under a UDL approach we involve more 
interactivity.  We have more heterogeneous groupings, and we 
use rich supports for understanding independent learning. 
   Finally, in assessment traditional goals often confuse goals 
with the means and are summative, when it's too late to adjust 
instruction; whereas under UDL many possible means as long as 
they measure learning are used, and we support instructional 
improvement.  So the assessment process becomes an ongoing 
continuum that we can look at, adjust and work with a learner 
over the time. 
   Certainly digital media is not the only approach that we 
employ in a successful UDL framework, but it's one that is 
increasingly used in today's world, and provides us to be a 
lot more flexible in the ways that we provide the material. 
   If we utilize digital media, we have the ability to be more 
versatile in the text.  We can change the text size very 
easily for someone who has low vision or is having trouble 
reading because of their vision problems.  We have the ability 
to infuse images, to utilize sound, to utilize video, to bring 
a richer experience to that media. 
   We also can transform media more quickly if we use digital 
media.  We can add within media variations in the text, in the 
size, in the pitch, and in the speed of the presentation, 
which can be very helpful for someone who has a different 
learning approach or a learning difference. 
   I actually have a couple of digital technologies that I'd 
like to demonstrate with you today. 
   One is the Apple iTouch, and some users have also the Apple 
iPhone.  We are real excited about these types of 
technologies, because they utilize a very contemporary tool 
that most people have in the mainstream.  And increasingly we 
are seeing a lot of these applications, or as many people know 
them as apps, and I have on my iTouch actually a couple of 
apps that bring forth some really promising tools. 
   One is -- let's see if I can bring that forward there for 
you to look at.  Several of the apps that we like on here are 
electronic books.  And some of the books that you can use, you 
can download from Kindle, if you are a Kindle user.  You can 
use a book we know as Stanza, which gives you the ability to 
control a little bit of the font size and the background 
color, which can be very helpful. 
   We also have an application on here known as Speak It, which 
provides the ability to type in the text that you are 
interested in typing in.  And I'm just going to type in "UDL" 
here and then speak it.  And then I can hear that text spoken 
out loud.  That can be a real helpful tool if I'm trying to 
speak with my iTouch or my iPhone. 
   One of the distinctions with the iTouch and iPhone is, one 
of the recent apps we have seen is Dragon Naturally Speaking 
for voice activation.  So there, we are using the iPhone 
technology.  But what is really exciting about these types of 
tools is that we cannot only use apps, but we can take a Word 
document, turn it into an MP3 file, and add that to my 
collection of documents that I carry with me.  And then if I 
have a tool on the app that allows me to speak it out loud, I 
can use that more easily, or I can listen to that MP3 file 
while I'm walking or while I'm driving in my car. 
   So that is one tool.  The other tool that I'd like to show 
you is known as the Livescribe.  The Livescribe is a wonderful 
new technology that allows me to have a custom notebook which 
looks like any other piece of notebook with paper and a 
customized pen.  So what this provides is a support for me, if 
I'm in a class and I'm taking notes with my pen, but I'd also 
like to capture the auditory lecture from the instructor, or 
maybe I'm in a setting where I'm getting instructions on how 
to be successful in a work task, and I want to again record 
the steps, as well as write them down. 
   So how this works is, at the bottom of my paper, I have some 
places where I can calibrate my pen.  So again, I have to have 
a special paper to work with this pen.  I'm going to press 
"record" which will give me an auditory cue that my pen is 
ready to go.  I'm going to start taking notes about, "This is 
an example of using a Livescribe pen." 
   When I'm finished, I simply click on "stop" which stops the 
recording.  This pen is designed to take a photograph as well 
as an auditory recording of what I'm writing. 
   When I go back to my notes, I simply place the pen on the 
sentence. 
   >>  Example of using a Livescribe pen. 
   
   >> FRANCES SMITH:  So, I can hear right at that moment what 
I've been writing.  I can listen to that with the headphones 
that are provided with the pen.  I can upload these files, 
these auditory files back to my computer.  And as an 
instructor, I can take advantage of those files as a support 
to my students, if I want to again scaffold their learning 
process for students who may be weaker in their strategic 
networks.  A wonderful tool; I can purchase this at Target, 
runs me about $140. 
   So it's an exciting time with use of technology in today's 
world as a way to benefit an affective educational framework 
such as universal design for learning. 
   Universal design for learning digital supports for success 
can include on-line instruction, digital textbooks and printed 
materials, continuously improved speech recognition, 
captioning videos, providing audio descriptions of video, 
providing text descriptions of graphics, and using text aloud 
functions.  A number of tools are freely available today on 
the Internet; one of which we use quite a bit for text aloud 
functions is a tool known as Read Please.  Another one we use 
is known as Natural Reader. 
   Both are freely available on the web, and allow you to have 
those on your computer, and to speak aloud the text or speak 
aloud the Website that you are visiting, which can be an 
important support for someone who needs that.  I sometimes 
need that myself during the day. 
   There are three ongoing national initiatives that will 
probably be of interest to all of you.  One is the National 
Universal Design for Learning Center.  The national UDL center 
launched last year, and provides us with a one-stop shop for 
resources on the basics about universal design for learning. 
   The graphic that I showed you earlier that gives you the 
three basic principles and the nine areas around those 
principles you can find at this site, along with some best 
practices in what is happening in the research, some areas of 
advocacy and areas that are calling for change in the field, 
and then a place to communicate and connect with others around 
the country who are employing universal design for learning 
successfully. 
   The national community of practice on universal design for 
learning is a new on-line national community of practice 
through the IDEA partnership's web portal sharedwork.org.  If 
you are not a member of shared work, it's an easy thing to 
register.  And you can go to that location and find the 
national community of practice on universal design for 
learning, where we are building a community across the country 
of interested individuals across all stakeholders who want to 
see the growth of this philosophy extended to many 
environments. 
   Finally, the national UDL task force, which represents the 
voices of over 35 national associations, and builds a unified 
voice in trying to bring together efforts that help us look at 
legislation and change around universal design for learning.  
This particular group has been instrumental in why we now have 
the definition of UDL in the Higher Educational Opportunity 
Act, and they are instrumental right now in working towards 
bringing that into additional pieces of legislation and 
builds. 
   Two documents that will be of interest to families that I've 
included in this presentation, one is a parent advocacy group 
that is put out by the National Center on Learning 
Disabilities known as a Parent's Guide to Universal Design for 
Learning, which will help you to look at how to take all of 
the principles that we have talked about today and the 
strategies and apply those at your situation and at home, as 
well as a fact sheet for families from the National Center on 
Universal Design for Learning which again looks at the same 
approach, and gives you some information that you can bring 
into your situation. 
   For more information, again, I'd encourage you to look at 
the Center for Applied Special Technology, CAST, National UDL 
Task Force and the National Center on Universal Design. 
   This is a wonderful opportunity to also thank the partners 
at PEATC who have made this available to you today, and will 
provide us with an electronic means for you to bring forth 
questions in a discussion forum on line.  Thank you. 
   (End of Webcast at 1:40 p.m. CST.)
   



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