UDL Editions and My Internship

Let me tell you why I am SO EXCITED about the upcoming BookBuilder assignment. Not only does it rekindle inspirations I had as a child using book-creating software, it provides yet one more link between class and online literacy tools I am exploring in "the field."

As some of my Universal Design classmates may know, I am doing an FEP internship with CAST right now. The research project/program I am working with is called ICON (Improving Comprehension ONline). If you click the link in text or from my list of links on the right of the blog, you can see what the program is all about.

Why am I telling you to do this? You might start to see some similarities between ICON and the program David showed us on Monday--UDL Editions.

When I saw UDL Editions Monday night, I had a major feeling of deja vu. The two programs share many of the same features, with the same goals for improving reading strategies and the reading experience in general. But--UDL Editions seemed more polished and presentable (a la Google), so even though I suspected they were related, I also suspected UDL Editions might even be a step further in structuring Universal Design reading tools.

Talking with Seoin Lim (her blog) after class confirmed this. Both programs feature:

• spoken text capability
• scaffolded reading strategy points
• reading coaches (cartoons who give suggestions: also appear in BookBuilder)
  
• translation to Spanish
• underlined vocabulary words
• glossary
• access to background information

I could probably go on. I would like to create another blog, linked to this one, to tell about my experiences in my internship connected more closely with Universal Design. Look for that link soon.

I just love using Universal Design in reading. It seems to lend itself well to that area of instruction. I know CAST has multiple projects in a variety of subject areas. I keep wondering, though: What can similar UDL programs in science or history or math or car repair look like?
Any thoughts?