This is not my first UDL training, and I'm a huge supporter of it. I don't have a lot to say about this particualr interview, only because it's stressing the importance of something I also believe is important. As for the tips and tricks, one was "teach how you'd like to be taught" -- I'd like to be left mostly alone. I guess I could use that as a guide? I'm also aware that my mood changes, and that I don't always know how I want to be taught... so I don't know if I can use that. But I really identified with the speaker's anecdote about someone blowing up at her, and then apologizing. I don't think most people "grow" from moments like that, so it's a testament to her professionalism that they could have that moment -- I think usually it just creates badness that doesn't go away, which is why we won't learn much about UDL -- we aren't really permitted a learning process.
The use of the ADDIE model and UDL principles in creating inclusive, effective online learning experiences is important BECAUSE it caters to diverse learning needs (I can't bring myself to call them "learning styles") particularly in a global context. Changing educators' needs are reflected in the (rough?) transition from traditional professional-development to self-paced online environments or classes. My question is, how can we really addressing the gap between standard PD sessions and actual teaching improvements? The project emphasizes the significance of understanding educators' challenges and preferences through needs assessments, guiding the course's content and structure. Feedback's role in online learning is pivotal, not just for correction but for engagement and motivation, highlighting the necessity of timely, personalized interactions.
The community aspect and course navigation aspect are both important for sustained engagement. This reading emphasized organization, rather than charisma or imagination or performance, as the aspect that facilitates engagement. Other readings have focused more on a diversity of types of material, which I think is overstated. Organization is not as easy as it seems, that seems to be the thing I learn about last (even when learning as I go, from my mistakes, in practive, etc). User-friendliness is largely on the LMS, I suppose, but there are ways to make Canvas user friendly -- they just also tend to be user-unfriendly to some people, friendly to others, so I don't know what to do about that really. If Canvas were more customizable, I'm confident I could come up with something...
Personalized learning activities appeal to AUTONOMY, which both stidents and teachers want (and feel shorted on?). Despite the course's positive reception, the low completion rate in MOOCs remains problematic, indicating the need for local learning communities and professional incentives to improve engagement and retention.
Doesn't "learning styles are as unique as fingerprints" undermine a lot of the pedagogy encouraging us to provide opportunities based on a fixed number of styles? The neuroscience here is irritatingly superficial -- I am no neuroscientist, I don't have what it takes to be one... so if I can tell that this is specious...
Okay, without being cynical (it's just this week, my schedule is beyond nuts, I'll be in a better mood next week) the paths are
... 1 - multiple means of representation. Make every module an ADD nightmare.
... 2 - provide supports for different levels of engagement.
... 3 - Help them take risks, and provide a bewildering number of options so that they yell at me over email and file formal complaints using the weaponized helplessness they've developed as a defense against exactly this video.
Look... I caption all my own videos, I don't let them get captioned automatically. I'm a good person, honest I am. To whatever merciful Gods of Pedagogy may be listening, please stop torturing me -- and making me bother my students -- with this pseudoscience.
All grumbling aside, I am 100% committed to providing every alternative assignment differently-abled students might need, and it's always an honor to do that. It's not UDL I object to, either, it's this patronizing glued-on rationale for it, which is totally unnecessary, that irks me so. Can't we do this stuff because we're decent people, and not because apparently neuroscience says it'll work better?