Thank you to Dr. Laura Gonzalez with Integrative Community Studies for authoring this week’s teaching tips!
At UNCG, we have students who come from a wide variety of academic and demographic backgrounds and we do not all learn the same way. Here are some ideas borrowed from the UDL (Universal Design for Learning) Toolkit from Dickinson College that could help us in our work as instructors.
How can we reduce barriers to learning in our classroom materials, including texts, articles, videos, syllabus, assignments and presentation slides? We can consider our multiple ways of learning and accessibility needs and try to provide multiple access points to our course materials.
- In addition to the written syllabus, could you create a video tour or screencast of the key point, or make your written syllabus more visually engaging? Here is one example from University of California Urvine.
- Could you use a syllabus quiz to encourage students to digest the content in small groups and then teach it back to each other?
- Do you know how to use Panopto to create captions for your presentations?
- Can you ensure that any readings you provide are compatible with screen readers so that students can see/hear the content? More tips can be found here.
How can we enhance our classroom activities so that all students can participate in the learning experiences? Think about ways to lower distraction, increase engagement, and open the doors for more students to access the learning experience.
- Set up some familiar routines so that students know what is about to happen in class and can prepare their minds for learning. For example, you could always open with a quick review from the last class and a preview of the day’s topic. Or you could always close with a “2 minute exit ticket” where students can write down what was clear and what remains confusing from the class that day.
- Allow several ways for students to ask questions, such as raising hands, writing on index cards, or using online chat or shared docs.
- Provide time and space for reflection during class, so that content can be processed by a variety of learners. You can include both verbal and non-verbal reflections, and even visual reflection! For example, Padlet is one tool that allows for visual collaboration.
- Consider offering exemplars with feedback so students understand what to keep doing and what to improve, and thus feel less anxious about graded assignments. For example, you could show students a paragraph from a past essay assignment that was exemplary, and one that had room for growth, and then ask them to identify the strengths of each in groups.
The toolkit from Dickinson College also has suggestions for grading or assessing learning with a UDL lens, if you are interested in that. Please try one of the ideas above, if you have not already, and let us know how it went. We could feature you in a future newsletter!