before-you-press-send-_-chrissie-butler

Distance learning – thoughts on inclusive design.

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before-you-press-send-_-chrissie-butler

We are in the transition period between “Learning at home” and returning to our education settings. It’s messy and we’re managing change across multiple contexts daily. One probable constant is that blended teaching approaches, combining distance and in-person learning will be the new normal for a while.

This post:

  • highlights some of the practices that can help us inclusively design distance learning options
  • draws attention to approaches that can create barriers to learning and ways to minimise them.

Learning from our own experiences

Let’s begin by considering our own distance learning experiences and reflect on what we value in an online environment.

Most of us have probably had a distance learning experience in our teaching career. We’ve taken a course, attended a webinar or participated in post graduate study where we’ve had to navigate Moodle’s multiple spaces, participate in discussion forums and submit work in unfamiliar formats.

Reviewing our experience of distance learning as adults, we’d probably give quite mixed feedback.

Some of us will have relished open-ended assignments, others will have ached for structure and exemplars. Some of us will have been comfortable posting into an online forum, others will have rewritten a reply to a post ten times before daring to press send.

As we participated in online learning, our home contexts will have impacted on our study. We may have juggled care of children, work pressure, a health crisis within our whānau and/or our own mental health. Most of the time we will have managed the juggle, but sometimes we may have had to step back from the study, negotiate extensions or have a heart-to-heart with a tutor.

Now consider your ongoing use of familiar online environments, such as TradeMe, Facebook, Netflix, or an online supermarket or newspaper website:

  • What do you value in an online environment you use regularly?
  • What kinds of things put you off using a website?

Also reflect on your experience of being part of a teaching team during lock down:

  • What kinds of communication approaches worked well for you?
  • What approaches or tools have you found useful?
  • What was frustrating or tiring?

Designing for humans

If you’re a designer of a distance learning experience, you know that the humans you are planning for will vary in:

  • how they are engaged (what captures their attention, keeps them interested and motivated and maintains their wairua)
  • how they process, make sense of and use information
  • the ways they communicate, collaborate, create and express their thinking.

Planning for this level of variability is an art and also the bread and butter of teaching. As we plan for young humans in distance learning contexts, many of the approaches we use face-to face translate easily (if taking a universal design approach is already part of our practice). There are, however, some additional thoughts worth considering to ensure what we are offering will work for all our learners.

So, to support you in your review of your distance learning options so far, here are:

  • two guiding thoughts
  • a table of practical considerations
  • a learning conversation (a video of Chrissie Butler interviewing Linda Ojala about using a UDL lens to review a lesson or activity).

Guiding thoughts

Learning support is for everyone

learning-support-is-for-everyone-_-chrissie-butler

In the context of designing online learning environments, I’d recommend we think of learning support like air or water or food, it’s a necessity and a human right.

If we turn the words around and call it “support for learning”, we can see that it’s something for everyone.

As experienced kaiako, we know every young human learns differently and learning from home looks and feels different for everyone. We also know that emotion and learning are interconnected (Boekaerts, 2010) and our COVID 19 context and its consequences are having an impact on our individual and collective wellbeing and mental health. We appreciate being able to reach for the support or tools we need, when we need them, be they a pair of scissors, a how-to-video or someone to talk to.

So let’s:

  • build supports, including useful tools, into the way we design our online offerings and make them available to everyone
  • have ongoing conversations with our support staff, teacher aides, deans, whānau leads, guidance counsellors, SENCOs, RTLB, Learning Support Coordinators, specialist colleagues and allow their insights to influence what we design
  • create spaces and opportunities where those who work closely with tamariki can maintain connection
  • seek regular and ongoing feedback from tamariki and whānau regarding what helps and what gets in the way of learning.

Walk in the shoes of your learners

Before you press send, take a walk in the shoes of your learners. Imagine being on the other end of your activities or assignments. What will be your learners’ first impressions?

Will each learner think:

  • Cool, I can connect to these activities, see why they are important and they are doable.
  • Yay, the instructions are presented clearly in video, text and image. With no waffle!!!!!
  • Great, I have options and the teacher has included everything I need to be able to get started.

Inclusive design considerations

Here are some considerations aligned to the three principles of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. You can find out more about each principle by following the link in the left hand column.

Focus area Things to think about Benefits for learners
ENGAGEMENT
Supporting engagement		 Communicate in ways that engage culture, are mana enhancing and build community.
  • See themselves in the context/feel valued.
  • Fosters ongoing social connections and friendships.
Agree with students the different ways and times they can connect with you.
  • Clear shared expectations promote feelings of safety.
  • Choosing options gives agency and autonomy.
  • Can match the medium to preferences, needs and the constraints of their home context.
Make explicit the purpose of each activity or selection of activities.
  • Know what they are learning and why.
  • Motivating.
  • Can quickly decide if the activity has relevance to achieving own learning goals.
Offer learning activities where students can connect interests and experiences.
  • Relevant and personal.
  • Increases student motivation.
  • Can use props, equipment and items of personal value from their own environments.
Avoid “must do’s” and offer a range of can do’s.
  • Agency to decide what activities they can do within their own context.
  • Reduces unnecessary angst.
REPRESENTATION
Support access and understanding of information and instructions		 Keep the organisation of your online space laid out in a logical predictable way.
  • Makes navigation easier.
  • Can predict where they will find things.
  • Reduces frustration.
Support short video instructions with separate written instructions. 
  • Provides an overview of the content.
  • Key content can be easily rewound.
  • Increases accessibility.
Avoid burying instructions in your daily hello video.
  • Instruction for activities can be found with the activity.
  • Can just focus on connection with you, rather than having to split attention.
ACTION and EXPRESSION
Supporting communication, action and expression		 Position supports next to each activity so they can be easily accessed.
  • Supports attention and concentration.
  • Supports independence. 
Offer multiple ways to fulfil a goal, including an option to choose their own approach.
  • Can successfully show what they know in a way that works for them.
  • Have agency over materials and learning tools.
Make activities with increasing levels of complexity available to everyone.
  • Can move between levels of complexity to match how they are feeling and who they have access to as collaborators.
  • Not limited by teacher expectations.

A learning conversation

The video below introduces how we can review a lesson or activity with a UDL lens using the UDL thinking cycle. It is an informal interview between myself and colleague Linda Ojala. It is 14 minutes long.


Downloads

how-can-we-learn-the-same-thing-differently-image-aroha-harrisSummary

Over the last couple of months, the learning curve has been immense as we have adjusted to teaching and learning over distance.

Hopefully this learning curve will continue to expand as together with whānau and tamariki we seek feedback, discuss and reflect on:

  • practices and ways of working we want to keep from our learning at home experience
  • old ways of working we don’t want to repeat or revisit
  • how to innovate a blended approach to teaching and learning that allows and supports every child and their whanau to access, influence and participate in learning experiences and environments that work for them.

I can imagine some of the richest discussions will be around maintaining and supporting learner agency and continuing to support close collaboration with whānau.

I also hope that we can take into the new normal some of our new learning about planning for variability, utlising digital tools and employing creative solutions, to ensure every child has access to learning in a way that works for them.

Finally, all the thoughts shared above translate directly to blended practice. They reflect a people-centred, systematic approach to design and are informed by the framework Universal Design for Learning.

Get in touch if we can help in any way or you would like to learn more about Universal Design for Learning, web accessibility and inclusive design principles and practices.

Acknowledgements

  • Vonnie Jones for uttering the phrase “before you press send”.
  • Linda Ojala for the interview and constant collaboration and innovation.
  • The UDL and inclusive design team at CORE.
  • The Aroha Harris quote can be found in the introduction to Anderson, A. (2016). The First Migration Māori Origins 3000BC – AD1450. Bridget Williams Books Ltd. 
  • Boekaerts, M. (2010). Chapter 4: The crucial role of motivation and emotion in classroom learning. In H. Dumont, D. Istance & F. Benavides, The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice. OECD Publishing. Retrieved 12 May 2020, from https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/the-nature-of-learning_9789264086487-en.
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udl-quote

Why UDL is valuable

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“Without a systematic way to interrupt current practice in the classroom the impact of these barriers is repeatedly faced by each generation without significant forward motion to break the cycle once & for all.”

Bae, S., Ofiesh, N. S., Blackorby, J. (2018)

UDL quote

@chrissiebutler CORE Education CC BY NC 4.0

Enables equity in education

“Providing high quality education is a matter of social justice” (Ministry of Education, 2019). As teachers and leaders our bottom line is that no-one will be left out or discriminated against. As everyone learns differently, finding ways to create flexible, barrier-free learning environments is of critical importance if all students are to thrive (ibid.)

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can help us in this work. It gives us a framework to design learning environments that are “flexible, and where barriers to learning can be identified and removed at the outset (Ministry of Education, 2019). It can help us towards equitable access and participation in education.

A culturally inclusive framework

Although UDL was conceived in US, it has value for us here in Aotearoa because it takes “a people-first approach to planning learning” (Ministry of Education, 2019). UDL invites us to think about “WHO we will teach and what those learners bring with them BEFORE we think about WHAT we will teach” (ibid.)

“UDL is focused on ensuring all learners get a chance to learn in ways that work for them. It is about removing barriers and opening doors to learning. It is driven not only by the findings from neuroscience and educational research but by a vision for equity” (Ministry of Education, 2019).

universal-design-for-learning-udl-in-aotearoa

@chrissiebutler CORE Education CC BY NC 4.0

Everyone benefits

When UDL is implemented intentionally across a community it can bring coherence to teaching practices that are inclusive of all learners. This approach benefits everyone.

Students can be confident they will have:

  • equitable access to learning opportunities
  • the tools and supports they need to demonstrate their learning in ways that work for them across all classes
  • responsive teachers who welcome their self-advocacy and seek feedback on their teaching
  • knowledgeable teachers who value and have an understanding of learner variability.

Whānau can trust that:

  • their ideas and questions will be welcomed
  • the uniqueness of their child will be valued and seen as a source of strength for the community
  • their child will be taught in a way that works for them and their learning needs will be met
  • their child will not be singled out or separated from their peers.

Teachers have a framework to guide decision-making. It supports them to:

  • identify and minimise barriers to learning and wellbeing hidden in their teaching
  • consider how to offer useful options and supports that can be built into the learning environment at the outset
  • problem solve with colleagues, students and whānau using the shared language of UDL.

Leaders have a framework that will:

  • help them support the presence and participation of every learner (child to adult) and ensure their rights as a learners are upheld and protected
  • support consistent, coherent inclusive teaching and learning practices across their school
  • set expectations around “what inclusive can look like”
  • guide the design of more inclusive systems and processes, staff hui, community events and building projects
  • provide a shared language that can be used with all stakeholders, across all contexts.

Find out more:

Acknowledgements

Bae, S., Ofiesh, N. S., Blackorby, J. (2018) A Commitment to Equity: The Design of the UDL Innovation Studio at the Schwab Learning Center

Marotta, M. (2018) Tips, Tricks and Tools to Build Your Inclusive Classroom Through UDL

Ministry of Education (2019) UDL guide, Inclusive Education website

Illustrations by @chrissiebutler CORE Education CC BY NC 4.0

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level up

Level up your inclusive practice

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level up
Here’s a loose attempt to apply a gaming analogy to valuing and planning for diversity in your learning community.

Level 1 star: Planning for the predictable

Imagine this scenario:

  • You have been asked at short notice to prepare lunch for 20 people
  • You don’t have an opportunity to find out about preferences/allergies
  • You are directed to go to the local supermarket (with the work credit card) to “Get something for lunch”.

Chances are you wouldn’t buy $150 of mince and cheese pies. Instead, you would probably run this little narrative in your head, “Hmm, I bet someone is vegetarian, maybe gluten-free or even dairy free, better get a range of stuff then people can choose what they want”.

That’s planning for the predictable.

We expect people to have different preferences and needs, so we plan for them. We want everyone to eat, to feel welcome. It’s about courtesy. We definitely don’t want anyone to feel excluded.

In any teaching context, the above scenario translates pretty well. As teachers or facilitators, we find ourselves in situations where we have to prepare an environment for learners we don’t know personally.

What guides planning in this context? What might be the predictable needs or preferences in a learning environment? How do you demonstrate courtesy or practise manaakitanga?

Maybe you think about:

  • The people: who they could be, what they may bring, what may be important for them
  • The tikanga you will use
  • Potential barriers hidden in the design of the environment or activities that could hinder participation and learning
  • Options and supports that can be offered to everyone

Summary: Level one is about expecting, valuing, and planning for that diversity from the outset.

Level 2 starstar: Valuing the personal

Scenario two: Kai for a friend’s birthday.
If I invite a friend over for her birthday and I know she loves strawberries, I’ll probably offer strawberries as an option for dessert. It’s a small ordinary thing: something most of us do.

When I am facilitating, and I know that there are a bunch of people in the room who love walking in the mountains, I will try to include analogies and images related to mountains, big vistas, and wild remote places in my storytelling. Again, it’s a small act, motivated by an intention to build connection and support engagement.

Again, the practice connects easily to the classroom:

  • Reflecting knowledge of learners and their histories/experiences/context in the learning design
  • Offering everyone options and supports inspired by the needs, preferences or interests of individual learners

Summary: Level 2 is really about getting to know people personally and using that knowledge to refine the learning design.

Level 3 starstarstar: Getting strategic

Adopting Level 1 and 2 practices will probably improve the usefulness of most learning environments. The downside? These approaches can be a bit random, e.g., when learners move between classes they can experience very different levels of access, options, and support.

So, what can help us establish:

  • shared foundational approaches to ensure learners get a more consistent deal as they move from class to class, course to course, school to school?
  • common language to support our practice and conversations with students, whānau, and each other?

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is the approach I wholeheartedly recommend schools, kura, and learning organisations investigate. Although UDL originates in the US, we are learning to use it with integrity here in Aotearoa.

UDL is:

  • a strategic approach to inclusive practice
  • endorsed by the Ministry of Education
  • an explicit component of the revised approach to PB4L school-wide approach
  • provides a framework for effective use of technologies
  • applicable to all aspects of education (systems and processes, professional learning design, community partnerships, the design of physical environments, assessment practice, activity and event planning…).

Many of the practices recommended in the UDL framework are already familiar, so we’re not starting from scratch.

The value the UDL framework brings is it helps us:

  • notice aspects of our practice that we hadn’t considered before
  • identify and remove barriers to learning hidden in the way we routinely do things
  • move away from random well-intentioned acts of inclusion
  • supports us to engage actively with diversity and variability
  • guides deliberate coherent innovation in inclusive design.

Summary: Level 3 is about taking a strategic transparent approach to planning for diversity.

Rate your workplace

So, which level best represents your organisation starstarstar?

  • What’s your view and what’s your evidence?
  • What would the students say?

Getting some support to level up

If you are keen to find out more about inclusive practices and Universal Design for Learning:

Image credits
Level-up image: By Diomedes17 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51580060¶

Stars: By CFCF – Own work on Wikimedia, CC0,

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Madlove Wellcome

Learning from mental health: innovation in inclusive environmental design

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Madlove wellcome - vacuumcleaner
The Vacuum Cleaner and Hannah Hull’s Madlove – Designer Asylum, 2016, Design by Benjamin Koslowski and James Christian. Image credit – Wellcome.jpg

At the end of 2016, I bumped into an art project that shook up my ideas about how we collaborate with our communities to build inclusive environments.

The project was called Madlove: a designer asylum. It was conceived by artists the Vacuum Cleaner and Hannah Hull who brought together “people with and without mental health experiences, mental health professionals and academics, artists and designers – and everyone else on the spectrum” to dream a new landscape for mental health.

The project resonated with me on many levels. But I particularly loved the innovative way the project leaders:

  • supported people to deeply reflect on needs and aspirations
  • facilitated the sharing of diverse ideas
  • used the arts to convey meaning and build understanding
  • created a design that was informed by an acute sensitivity to individual differences.

For example, here’s an outline of the community workshop process:

How to re-design the asylum
Ist half of workshop process from The Vacuum Cleaner and Hannah Hull’s Madlove – Designer Asylum, 2016, Design by Benjamin Koslowski and James Christian. Image credit – Wellcome.jpg
  1. Find experts by experience: Search out people to participate in the workshops with diverse first-hand experiences and diverse perspectives. Also welcome their friends and supporters.
  2. Remove barriers to these people sharing their ideas: Seek to remove barriers both to participation and barriers in mindset; offer flexible options and supports.
  3. Stimulate imagination: Use real objects, textures to stimulate participants’ senses so that they can think about what supports wellbeing, reduces anxiety, and encourages focus and attention or connection.
  4. Consider emotional qualities: Explore what conditions will impact and influence emotional states.
  5. Create a sensory palette: What does good learning and wellbeing look, smell, taste, sound, feel like?
  6. Decide what personal qualities you need: What people and attributes will you need around you to enable you to thrive?
  7. Find out what activities and facilities help: Brainstorm all the things people would like to do in the space.
  8. Build a team to develop the design: Find an illustrator to visualise all these amazing ideas. Collaborate with a designer and an architect to create the design.
How to re-design the asylum
Second-half of workshop process from The Vacuum Cleaner and Hannah Hull’s Madlove – Designer Asylum, 2016, Design by Benjamin Koslowski and James Christian. Image credit – Wellcome.jpg

When I reflect on the above, I really like the way in which participants are supported to use all their senses to think about the design of a new space. I also like that participants are offered multiple approaches to reflect on what it is they need and what can help. It is much more than an academic exercise or a presentation and discussion. It is an in-depth inquiry into what is needed and provides real guidance for designers around what must be included in a design.

I also really like Step 8, where an illustrator is employed to distill the brainstormed ideas into a graphical representation. These graphics are then used to support the understanding of the architect and the designers and together a prototype model is developed.

Another way an illustrator was usefully employed was in the development of “Day in the Life” graphics. These were developed from interviews with participants and were again used to build the understanding of the designer and architect.

Gary's perfect day
Gary’s Day in the life from The Vacuum Cleaner and Hannah Hull’s Madlove – Designer Asylum, 2016, Design by Benjamin Koslowski and James Christian. Image credit – Wellcome.jpg

I think the “Day in the Life” idea is something we could also explore with students and whānau.

Finally, it is worth taking a close look at the key for the 3-D model which outlines the specific function of each area. Although the model surpasses our budget constraints in an education context, there is something about the way the designers are able to articulate their rationale for the design that makes me wonder if we could do the same in education.

Madlove Key
Madlove key from The Vacuum Cleaner and Hannah Hull’s Madlove – Designer Asylum, 2016, Design by Benjamin Koslowski and James Christian. Image credit – Wellcome.jpg

Example of text from the Madlove key above:

  • Topography: The landscape offers natural changes in levels of privacy, from the vibrant hubbub of the valley floor, to the solitary serenity of the hilltops. The decision of whether to join the action or get away from it all can be made at every busier location – it’s always possible to retreat from an active space, but not miss out on what’s going on”.
  • Library of good mental health: Quiet study and group learning in a library carved into the hillside. A wide selection of books to support or distract. Each book is recommended by a fellow mad person, with a note on how it helped them.
  • Tree houses: Individual ensuite bedrooms that can be adapted and personalised, with views down the valley.

 

I hope there is something in the Madlove story that captures your imagination. Right now in education we are:

Let’s do the best we can to make sure these new spaces are optimised to support the learning and wellbeing of every student. Working with the diverse perspectives of learners and whānau is a strong place to start.

Credits:
Huge thanks to the Madlove team and the Wellcome Collection for their kind permission to share these images and ideas.

Want to learn more about designing inclusive environments?

If you interested in how to design respectful, inclusive environments where everyone is learning and achieving and you want to learn more about how our diversity can be a source of strength, come and join us at:

Changing Spaces

Stonefields School, 81 Tihi Street, Auckland
Friday 28 April 2017
8.30am – 3.00pm

FIND OUT MORE

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Syllabus –Lynda Barry – Notes from an accidental professor

My dream learning environment — a flexible space that supports creative endeavour

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Syllabus –Lynda Barry – Notes from an accidental professor

What spaces makes your brain hum? Who is your dream teacher and how do they teach? What kind of learning space supports your creativity? I asked myself these questions in the podcast My dream learning environment. Here’s the transcript. Take a look:

Q: Kia ora, Chrissie — and thanks for agreeing to be interviewed.

A: No worries. It’s a pleasure.

Q: OK, so let’s start with the question we ask each guest as an opener: If you could study anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

A: University of Wisconsin — to study with Lynda Barry.

Q: Woah, no hesitation there! Why Wisconsin?

A: Because Lynda Barry is there and she works in a way that would totally make my brain hum. I would be camping outside the door to get in each day.

Q: That’s quite an endorsement.

A: Yep, she’s a total inspiration and a mentor. A maker and a teacher and a wonderful rule breaker and explorer. Best of all, she only gives feedback by saying “good” and laughing uproariously, and for me that is the perfect fit.

Q: I think you might need to tell us a bit more.

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