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samsung vr headset

Places in memory

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Stephen Lowe

Samsung vr headsetIt is mooted that the only reason we have a brain is so we can find our way around, and remember where to go. Back in the day before cars, it helped us strike the essential balance of energy: we could find food before we ran out of steam to keep looking. It was about survival. So, the way the argument goes, memory is inextricably linked to our sense of place and the paths we follow to get there.

There’s a fair bit of evidence to support this, for example, the findings of brain researcher Eleanor Maguire (Foy, p.34). Focusing her attention on the place cells that remember landmarks and the grid cells that remember margins and pathways, her work demonstrates our allocentric and egocentric ways of viewing the world. Allocentric is when we know where we are in the landscape, can identify a place where we want to go, and in which direction to move to get there. These are our abilities (or in some people a lack of them) to read a map; to navigate. Egocentric is when we know where we are by recognising a view, and by remembering that, if we turn right when we get to the river and follow along its course, we will come to another view we remember and can picture in our mind’s eye. This is the way the ancients got along down song lines and along burial paths, handing down the waypoints orally. Many sea shanties, too, listed headlands, rocks, and safe harbours remembered in the verses of songs that were sung repeatedly.

Do some exercises in your mind’s eye to cement these ideas.

Shut your eyes and sniff an open jar of Vegemite. Does that take you back to a place and time? Can you see the people who were there? Can you remember their names?

Going back to the place where you were born, do your eyes quickly scan for familiar landmarks? Do you notice small changes? Do you know that feeling of well-being like all your molecules just fell into place?

Walk through the Christchurch CBD. Did you know the city before the earthquake? Have you experienced the deeply disturbing feeling when landmarks you knew are gone? In my own hometown of Timaru, historic buildings were demolished to make way for a Mitre 10, completely changing the cityscape. Senior citizens especially felt real stress.

We are blessed, or cursed depending on how you see it, with a brain that can do so much more than just act as a navigation system. We can do abstract things, like appreciate music and encode it on paper, like explain phenomena using mathematical models. We might have lost some of our navigational powers compared, say, to homing pigeons, but essentially our brain remains, at least in part, a built-in Tom-Tom.

The latest craze is VR. Virtual reality struggled for years with bizarre helmets, visual lag, and low resolutions. Then two things changed all that: Palmer Luckey’s Oculus Rift, and Google Cardboard. In Maguire’s terms, VR plays on an egocentric view of the world. It gives us landmarks and pathways we have not actually experienced, but, which we can experience vicariously in a computer-generated environment. Five years ago, Ayumu, a 7-year old chimpanzee was getting to grips with a touch screen and surpassing human capability, and parents were struggling with the concept that their children needed an iPad just to do their regular schoolwork. Now, VR, Google Cardboard, Google Expeditions, and Samsung Gear are being heralded as the new essentials for the modern learning experience.

OK, I have set the scene. Now it’s time to get to the guts of the matter. Is learning about memory? Is it about recall?

I think it is, but then I admit to being old school. I, like you, maybe, learned my times tables, and have found mental arithmetic a really useful life skill. I do not need to reach for my calculator to work out journey times or the likely cost of the fuel. I have enough French to travel independently in Africa. I have domain knowledge and skills that I can draw on in an instant: in the rain, in the dark, when I’m feeling ill. These are things I would say I have learnt; that I have internalised.

I believe the younger generations — not to discount the value of Wikipedia and Google — need this too. Some knowledge really has to be learnt if we are to use it to think with. There are extrinsic motivators too: for many professions closed-book examinations are not going away any time soon; you can’t jam if you don’t know your chord progressions; you can’t present convincingly unless you really know your stuff and can speak from the heart. An expression you hear used less these days: knowing it by heart.

The memory palace will be a technique known to many. Think of a house you know. In your mind’s eye, put the things you need to remember in the rooms. Picture yourself walking through the house retrieving the things. Do you see how memory is linked to place?

My challenge to educators is to use VR to give students places where they can put memories, and to give them pathways along which they go. By all means use the Wow factor to grab their initial attention, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that that is enough. Instead, aim to engage them at a much deeper level. Use it to deliver rich learning narratives, and attach those stories to vivid imagery, and an immersive sense of location.

Don’t let us allow this exciting new technology, VR, to get hijacked by the big players for edutainment. As educators, let’s get creative to use it as a tool to embed powerful learning in the minds of our students. Oh, and let’s have heaps of fun doing it!

References

Foy, G.M. (2016) Finding North: How navigation makes us human. Kindle Edition.

Image source:

Nan Palmero from San Antonio, TX, USA, from Wikipemedia Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence.

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superhero

Literacy should wear a superhero cape

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Paula Eskett

Laundry, Libraries and Literacy. Which is the odd one out?

The answer may depend on where in the world you are reading this.

Khayelitsha is an informal township 30km from Cape Town on the Western Cape Flat. In the 1950s, South Africa’s race-based legislation such as the Group Areas Act and pass laws forced non-white people out of Cape Town’s urban areas and designated them for white people only. Known as “apartheid‘s dumping ground”, Khayelitsha and the surrounding informal settlements on the Cape Flats were made home to non-white people, and continue to be a legacy of the Apartheid government.

Today, 21 years after democracy, Khayelitsha is Cape Town’s biggest township and home to between 300,000 and three million people depending on whom you ask. It’s not part of the usual Cape Town tourist circuit of beautiful beaches, wineries, eateries, and landmarks.

It could be said, it’s deliberately out of sight to be out of mind.

KhayelitshaCC 0 By Paula Eskett (Own work)

A day in the life of

If you’re a woman in Khayelitsha, it’s likely you will spend close to nine hours a week hand washing your family’s clothes. Your shack may not have water, which means (statistically) you’ll be walking 200 metres to collect the water for your washing, or you may be lucky enough to share an outside cold water tap with a neighbour. For the women and mothers of the Cape Flats, the onerous task of laundry takes its toll on the amount of quality time able to be spent connecting and teaching their children.

Libromat is born

LibromatImage source: Paula Eskett (Own work) [CC BY]

In 2015, the Hult Prize offered $1 million award for young social entrepreneurs tackling some of the world’s biggest problems. The 2015 challenge: to provide self-sustainable education to impoverished urban areas. Five social entrepreneurs from Oxford University with extensive backgrounds in childhood education and inspired by a Cape Town research project focusing onThe impact of dialogic book-sharing training on infant language and attention (interactive book sharing), pooled their talents to apply for the fund.

Their idea for a Libromat was born.

Libromat supporting literacy

Iminathi Educare was the pilot site for the first Libromat in 2015.An inspiring preschool run by the Thokozani Brothers, a grassroots youth development organisation that use the performing arts as an entry point to engage youth in education and positive youth development based in Khayelitsha.

Mhlangabezi Masizana and his wife Lindelwa started the Thokozani Centre in response to the specific problems confronting their community.

“Better to build a child than repair an adult”
Mhlangebezi Masizana — Director, Thokozani Brothers.

Children at the early childhood centre Eminathi Educare
Children at the early childhood centre Eminathi Educare [Photo source: Paula Eskett (Own work) [CC BY]

As the morning dawns, parents drop their children off at the early childhood education centre (Iminathi Educare). As the day progresses, families visit the centre to use the laundry services and children’s library, and receive mentorship from the dedicated librarians on site through Libromat. In the afternoon, the centre is used as a homework club run by volunteers from the community; and as evening begins to set the youth choir rehearses. Finally, at night and on weekends, the centre is used for community meetings. 1

The Libromat is a combination of training hub, library and Laundromat, encouraging and teaching parents how to share and enjoy picture books with their children, while using low-cost washing machines to complete the family washing. For many participants, this is a daunting, and often intimidating, prospect as they, themselves, may be unable to read.

For four weeks, Libromat offers courses on book sharing between parents and children. Lessons start with videos clips that teach parents techniques like pointing at and naming key objects, connecting pictures in the books to familiar things, and taking opportunities to talk about feelings and emotions with their child. Then parents practice these techniques and receive immediate feedback from two women in the community trained at a nearby university. 2

Within a few weeks, the programme has shown marked improvements in

  • Children’s language
  • Children’s concentration
  • Children’s social understanding
  • Parent’s responsiveness
  • Parent’s sensitivity 3

“I am a working mother, so more often than not I am tired. But now, I make time to share something in a book with my daughter every night. There was not much communication before. I see her drawing closer to me.”
Ntomboxolo – Mother, 34

Libromat March specials15 Rand roughly equals NZ $1.40 [Image source: Paula Eskett (Own work) [CC BY]

Although they were not the overall winner, a $200,000 donation enabled them to bring their inspired idea to life to contribute to improving the literacy outcomes of young people in the Cape Flats.

There is now second Libromat  co-located with a public library in Nyanga, also on the Cape Flats and a new Iminathi Educare / Thokozani Youth Centre as a key project for Uthando in 2016.

Uthando is the Zulu word for Love

loveCC0 Public Domain Ben Kerckx https://pixabay.com/en/users/Ben_Kerckx-69781/

I had the incredible opportunity to discover the Libromat and Imanthi Educare because I took part in a Philanthropic Cultural Tour with Uthando. James Fernie and Xolani Maseko run Uthando South Africa, together they work with committed locals. Through their not-for-profit work, which includes an enormous number of grassroot projects, they are truly changing lives. It is difficult to write about this inspiring organisation without emotions beginning to flow.

My half day tour to Khayelitsha was a truly life changing experience.

While writing this blog post, New Zealand’s housing crisis, Auckland in particular, has been very much in our news. In June, John Campbell’s CheckPoint’s programme featured an interview with eleven-year-old-T.A. Her story, and that of her family reached into hearts and minds of New Zealanders across the country. The family of eight had been living in their van since February. When asked what she wanted most in the world, T.A replied “A library” She said the hardest thing in her life was “not being able to read”. With eight people living in their van “ they’re all up in my face. There’s no light either, I can’t waste the (van) battery, so I can’t read”.

It’s hard to comprehend that in 2016, children in New Zealand and Khayelitisha have more in common than we would like.

Literacy’s SuperHero Cape

superhero
CC0 Public Domain Prawny https://pixabay.com/en/users/Prawny-162579/

There is abundant research citing evidence that proves beyond any doubt that literacy and being literate changes lives.

LIANZA’s  recent GoodE literacy event hosted Miranda McKearney in New Zealand.  British social justice entrepreneur, reading advocate, founder of The Reading Agency who recently set up The Empathy Lab, Miranda’s message (underpinned by research) is  — literacy and being literate changes lives.

  • “Cognitive development is massively sped up with reading for pleasure”
  • “Kids who read for pleasure and do lots of it, the research shows that’s more important for life progress than parents level of education or their socio-economic background.”
  • “If you have a difficult or disadvantaged start but you love reading, you have a huge chance to bust of that difficult start”
  • “Reading for pleasure has a proven poverty busting dimension”

Miranda’s powerful Radio New Zealand interview also talks about reading and empathy.

OECD research shows reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s future success. Proficiency in reading is crucial for individuals to make sense of the world they live in and to continue learning throughout their lives.
– Pisa in Focus 4

Literacy’s importance is not restricted to childhood; it plays a vital role in our adult world too:

  • communicating online
  • collaborating online
  • transactions with government
  • e-commerce, and more.

If you can’t read in the 21st century, you’re seriously disadvantaged.

Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st C will need to read and write more than at any other time in human history. They will need advanced levels of literacy to perform their jobs, run their households, act as citizens, and conduct their personal lives. They will need literacy to cope with the flood of information they will find everywhere they turn. They will need literacy to feed their imaginations, so they can create the world of the future. In a complex, and sometimes dangerous world, the ability to read can be crucial.
International Reading Association, (Moore et al, 1999, p3 as cited by Clark & Rumbold, 2006).

The Challenge

We have the evidence that proves reading and being literate changes lives. But, for many, poverty, access to libraries, books, and resources continues to be an unfair barrier. Decision makers, holders of the public pursue, designers, and those privileged and trusted with making the decisions that will determine the existence  — or not,  to Library services of the future, you have a great responsibility.

The shoes you may walk in, and lives you lead may not be those of the children and communities you are making decisions for and about. At the end of the day, you hold the ultimate power to make the decisions that will continue to impact on those children, families, and communities.

A rebuilt school designed without a school library, or a public library closed down, removes from that school and community all the potential a cultural, social, and academic hub offers. These decisions, often presented as the result of a tight fiscal policy, say as much about decision-makers’ lack of insight, understanding, awareness, and potential that 21st century libraries offer the people they are employed to service.

Those leaders owe communities the promise that they will acknowledge, try to understand, and walk in their shoes as you make decisions about services and spaces that you yourself may never use, but for people  like T.A in Auckland and Ntomboxolo in Khayelitsha, they change lives.

“A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life raft and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination. On a cold, rainy island, they are the only sheltered public spaces where you are not a consumer, but a citizen, instead. A human with a brain and a heart and a desire to be uplifted, rather than a customer with a credit card and an inchoate “need” for “stuff.” A mall—the shops—are places where your money makes the wealthy wealthier. But a library is where the wealthy’s taxes pay for you to become a little more extraordinary, instead. A satisfying reversal. A balancing of the power. 5 “
– Caitlin Moran

Further reading:

  • Rinse, Spin, Read To Kids: It’s A Mashup Of Laundromat and Library – NPR
  • Libromat frees women from laundry to read with their families – Inhabitat
  • Libromat: A New Approach to Early Childhood Development – Ayiba Magazine
  • LIANZA Libraries in Aotearoa 2016

1 James Fernie Uthando https://www.facebook.com/groups/212073008812776/

2 http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/10/27/452210361/rinse-spin-read-to-kids-its-a-mash-up-of-laundromat-and-library

3   http://www.libromat.com/about.html

4 https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisainfocus/48624701.pdf

5 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/caitlin-moran/libraries-cathedrals-of-o_b_2103362.html

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window on the world

Mirror and window contexts for learning

Posted on July 22, 2016 by Alana Madgwick

Window on the world

I look out the window and what do I see? A world of wonder that stimulates my curiosity, and opens my eyes to a world that is different from mine. I do this so I can gain insight into how others work, live, and feel; their history, myths, and innovations. I see things I wouldn’t otherwise see. This window is bright and colourful; my teacher helps me open the latch.

Our New Zealand Curriculum allows freedom of choice and exploration for teachers and students to value window texts (texts and contexts that are foreign to the worlds of the learner). These window texts help students see the world through different eyes and perspectives. This is a key part of our curriculum. It helps our young people get prepared for a future society.
looking in the mirror
The opposite of window texts are mirror texts. I look in the mirror and I recognise experiences, contexts, worlds that are similar to mine. These texts and contexts reflect my culture, values and beliefs. I look in and see myself. The mirror is metallic and shiny; my teacher holds it for me.

When we have our learners at the centre of our curriculum choices, we ensure our texts and contexts are evenly balanced with both mirror and window texts.  All of these choices are critical, because they send out subtle and not-so subtle messages about whose knowledge is important, what success looks like, what achievement matters and whose worldviews dominate. On the positive side, J. Cummins writes:

“Students who are empowered by their school experiences develop the ability, confidence, and motivation to succeed academically.  They participate competently in instruction as a result of having developed a confident cultural identity…”
(Cummins, 2001).

A turning point for me; that exemplifies the importance of this balance and the impact it has on our Pasifika learners, was listening to a student reflect on his educational experiences. As part of a professional learning and development workshop, University of Auckland Pacific students were invited to share their reflections on their educational experiences as Pacific young people in the compulsory sector. A young Tongan male exposed the fact that his Tongan world, contexts, heros, values or history were never acknowledged in any way or form through his journey as a learner. This imbalance of mirror texts left him feeling marginalised; like his fāmili (Tongan word for family) worldview did not warrant a mention about what was and is important to him

balancing the scalesThis experience led him to studying Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland to try and tip the scales into balance.

How can we ensure our learners get a balance of window and mirror texts, so that they grow with confidence and build a strong sense of cultural identity that is rich and valued in your curriculum choices?

Quite often in an honest effort to be culturally responsive teachers and schools tokenise culture rather than building on cultural contexts for authentic learning. It goes beyond using Pacific names in mathematical problems, or tapa cloths on walls.

Misatauveve Dr Melani Anae (Senior Lecturer, Director of Research, Pacific Studies, Te Wananga o Waipapa, University of Auckland) states what is urgently needed is ethnic enhancement programmes i.e. teaching students the socio-political and historical contexts of Pacific cultures and peoples in the context of their learnings. For example, teaching them (within the primary/secondary/tertiary sectors) the socio-political and historical contexts of the myth/song/performance they are learning about, when cultural dances are being performed.

Do you have a balance of window texts and mirror texts in your curriculum?

A starting point would be teachers allowing choice, valuing Pacific texts and heroes, critical analysing of the negative stereotypes that overflow in media, and ensuring Pacific ākonga can be proud of what they see in the mirror that the teacher holds for them.

Image sources:

Window image: CC Public Domain: https://pixabay.com/en/window-open-ocean-sea-beach-1163609/
Man looking in mirror: our own creation of an image by an unknown artist.
Scales image: by Eva Brosnan: http://unisci24.com/322481.html

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5 year old

The real lives of five years olds at school

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Sarah Whiting

five year old

Has anyone else noticed how many reality shows occupy space on televisions at present? They claim to provide us with a microscopic view into what goes on in the ‘real’ lives of people who bear very little similarity to ourselves, or those we hold close to us, and the lives that we lead. And yet, despite this, we get sucked into this ‘fly-on-the-wall’ style viewing, and so they keep going. Although I question and can happily analyse such programmes for their authenticity and meaningful viewing, I do believe there is something we can learn from them when we come to working with children. If we were able to be an observer of those we work with, would we, first, have a better understanding of their lives, and secondly, be able to support them more effectively as a result?

As a passionate Junior School enthusiast and educator, this is something for which I am always advocating, particularly when thinking about how we best support our young learners by considering the whole child. And, if I put my hand on my heart, I can honestly say that is something that fell off my radar from time-to-time whilst feeling the pressures and reality of everyday teaching. However, as many of my colleagues and friends are currently experiencing the reality of their own children starting school, and watching their babies either thrive or shrivel up in their new environment, my thought processes have begun whirling yet again, particularly as many of these children thrive in their ECE environments prior to starting school.

So, what is happening between early childhood and primary education? My experience and discussions have shown that starting school is one of the major events in a child’s early life (Aimes, n.d.). It also tells me that each child is unique and responds to this transition in different ways. Some take it in their stride, whilst others fall at the starting block. This is what we see happening and what I have been left wondering is, what is happening internally for these learners? We know that change/stress can have a huge impact on the brain; its ability to process new information and hold on to that which is already there. In fact, when we experience stress, our bodies as a whole prepare to either fight or flight. Just imagine that level of cortisol coursing through their wee veins. What impact does this have on their ability to learn?

I believe that there are several layers to delving deeper to the root cause of this. Firstly, the role teachers play and, secondly, the development progressions of each child. What we do know is that the things teachers say and do have a huge impact on children’s learning through the way they connect and communicate with learners. Piaget’s work (as cited by Anthony, n.d.) demonstrates how what teachers say and do is taken literally by young learners. Now, put that into the realm of learning, and you can imagine the number of things that get lost in translation along the way, which, as you can imagine, can be rather unnerving to anybody let alone a five-year-old.

Another aspect of this is the processing learners go through in development stages. With children often talking to themselves or speaking out loud to complete activities. As educators, we can often miss this and pass it off as being disruptive, when, in actual fact, according to Vygotsky, this is the vital foundation of their executive function skills (as cited by Anthony, n.d.). These are the very skills we want our children to strive for in an agentic environment. If we line this up with Graham Nuthall’s (2007) work on the hidden lives of learners, it shows just how vital the level of social development is — including building relationships, negotiating social norms, and problem-solving. As educators, do we make time for this, or, are we asking too much of them to gain academic scores as well? And should we be more understanding when seemingly simple things appear to fall off the memory bandwagon?

Finally, the thing that I believe is missing is the inclusion of play. Play and freedom to explore has a much more vital role in development and learning than we can ever imagine. Thinking as an adult, I will quite often tinker with things to work out how they work and what they are about. As a child, you play to explore the world and its social realms. Kids tend to play roles that are familiar to them and have a persistence to completion when they have achieved something just as we do through tinkering. This is embraced through Te Whāriki the New Zealand early childhood curriculum (1996), but seems to get lost when learners turn five. Maybe it is about us rethinking about what play is. It is purposeful and meaningful. The times when children are left to explore seem to be when they walk away with the biggest learning, whether it be jumping in the mud or pretending to be the prime minister.

I can’t help being left with a feeling of discomfort in the pit of my stomach when I reflect on what I have seen and observed from recently transitioned learners, both in new entrant classes and in their lives outside of school. Instead of embracing the individuals that they are and the learnings they have acquired, we tend to fall into the trap of ‘preparing’ our young children for a formal education and to learn the ‘rules of school’. This feeling has only been heightened by recent research that informs us that when formalised teaching is introduced too soon, the impact on learners can be negative in the long run. For example, the results of a worldwide study by the University of Cambridge (2013) showed ‘…that the early introduction of formal learning approaches to literacy does not improve children’s reading development, and may be damaging’. Also, those ‘children started at 5 developed less positive attitudes to reading, and showed poorer text comprehension than those children who had started later’. Is this really what we want for our learners? My gut response is a massive NO!

Now, the good thing. It is never too late to make a change and empower our learners right from the moment they walk in the door. Here are my top 5 suggestions to help you embrace the hidden lives of your learners today, for a better future for them all:

  • Embrace the front part of the New Zealand Curriculum (2007) — this is what learning is all about: values, key competencies and principles.  Also if you look closely, it builds on from Te Whāriki (1996) nicely:

NZ Curriculum
Image credit: nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz

  • Develop strong relationship with family and whānau; utilise their expertise around their children, such as this education gazette link indicates. Check out this link from the inclusive education site for ideas of how you can do this.
  • Get to know your learners; sit back and watch them; take meaningful interest in their lives, not just their ability to count backwards from 10. You can do this by spending 10 minutes a day sitting down with a child and talking with them. Let them lead the way and then use the knowledge you gain to reconnect throughout their time.
  • Build on each child’s learning from Early Childhood Education to make the transition as seamless as possible. This is something that was identified in the ERO research publication about successful transition. Have a look through it and see what you can do to make your New Entrant programme ECE friendly.
  • Place more emphasis on play-based education. This earlier CORE blog post on powerful play goes into more detail.

So go on, get out of their way; let our young learner explore and learn!


References

Anthony, M. (n.d.). Cognitive Development in 3-5 Year Olds. Retrieved from: http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/stages-milestones/cognitive-development-3-5-year-olds

Amies, N. (n.d.). Preparing for starting school: All you need to know for a smooth transition, Ready for School: Bright Horizon: UK

Ministry of Education (1996) Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Education, Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum, Wellington, Learning Media.

Nuthall, G. (2007). The hidden lives of learners, NZCER Press: New Zealand

University of Cambridge (2013). School starting age: the evidence. Retrieved from: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/school-starting-age-the-evidence.

Feature image source

“Looking for gators”, by katieb50, sourced by Creative Commons on Flickr.

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equality vs equity

Unpacking UDL, differentiation and adaptation

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Lynne Silcock

In this blog I offer you my thoughts about what UDL (universal design for learning) is (and is not) and how it is differs from differentiation and adaptation.

The concept of UDL is really well articulated in this Enabling Elearning video when the student (Felix) says: “Last year I had dyslexia and I felt different. This year I don’t feel different; it’s much easier”.

Felix had been in a class where he was the only student using a laptop to support his learning (as he has dyslexia).  His individual learning needs may have been met, but he felt ‘different’ and ‘special’. He then went to a class where everyone was using technology. Felix was able to independently access the tools he needed when he needed them, just as everyone else in the class did – it felt easier and he felt more included.

Hence UDL aims to remove barriers from the start to make learning work for each and every learner, rather than designing learning for the (mythical) average and then providing supports for a few who don’t match that mythical average.

The idea is that support and flexibility are embedded in the learning environment as much as possible, so busy teachers do not have to address them on a daily basis. When a range of learning supports and flexible options are embedded into the everyday learning environment they become normalised and every student can use them (or not) as is appropriate.

In contrast, differentiation and adaptation provide individual supports and are one component of UDL – they are something that you would do for an individual when you have already looked at more universal supports that help every learner.

The difference between an individual support approach and a more universal approach is shown clearly in the image below. UDL is represented in the right hand picture where the barrier is removed and no-one needs individual supports to see the game. Differentiation and adaptation is represented in the middle box where each individual has different supports to see the game. Of course both options are better than no supports but the universal design option aims to create a learning environment that is usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialised design.

equality vs equity
Image Credit (with permission): Via Advancing Equity and Inclusion — A Guide for Municipalities ©CAWI

Differentiation and adaptation are very important options for removing barriers to learning, but because they often focus on individuals, they can sometimes do more to set students apart from their peers than to include them. That is why it is so important to try to design learning that works for everyone before looking at individual approaches to address learner needs.

UDL thinking — creating an inclusive education

I believe that the real power of UDL is in transforming our thinking.

UDL is about asking … ‘Will that work for everyone?’ And it involves smart, purposeful design for everyone from the outset so that, as much as possible, individual adaptations are not necessary.

It is an approach we apply to everyday decisions and lesson or curriculum design. I believe the important thing is that we are constantly trying to make learning work for everyone. We may not always succeed, but trying is important.

For me, that UDL attitude is one of the essential keys to an inclusive education.

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