Hello, Blogworld! I haven't seen you in a while. I must admit, the reason I am posting now is somewhat self-serving. Truth is, I've ordered a really nice birthday present for my new husband, and I get something for sharing the website on my blog. It is called Campus Quilts, and it makes quilts from your old t-shirts from college or wherever. Since both my husband and I went to Ball State, I thought this would be a great keepsake. Campus Quilts appears to be very professional, and they were recognized by Rachael Ray and The Today Show. I can't wait to get the kit and get started organizing shirts! http://www.campusquilt.com/
Through reading the PATINS project blog (an Edublog) this fall and winter, I've come to know that Second Life can be a great educational tool. Yes, Second Life has many options that, while not necessarily UDL, certainly provide ways for expression not typically possible in most schools. Check out this video:
This one is good as well:
And this video is an eye-opening view of new educational tools (like Second Life):
Yes, Universal Design for Learning exists in Indiana, too. I'm glad I found it and don't have to pioneer it here myself! It is the PATINS (Promoting Achievement through Technology and INstruction for all Students) Project, and it provides a library of materials, Internet resources, and other technological resources to Indiana's schools.
The best part is that it currently has a UDL pilot program, wherein 8 schools are selected per year to receive UDL support materials and training for three years. For each of the six semesters they are in the program, the schools report data about their students' progress back to PATINS. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.
I found this as I was sorting through material from my high school senior English class. It captured my attention as quite profound now that I've been through Mind, Brain, and Education.
632 The Brain--is wider than the sky-- For--put them side by side-- The one the other will contain With ease--and You--beside--
The Brain is deeper than the sea-- For--hold them--Blue to Blue-- The one the other will absorb-- As sponges--Buckets--do--
The Brain is just the weight of God-- For--Heft them--Pound for Pound-- And they will differ--if they do-- As syllable from Sound--
Well, I really just need a space to post these videos because I'm using them for Tina Grotzer's class. They're for my unit on listening to television songs for kindergartners.
The Fort Wayne Center for Learning is a place where I am applying for a job after I graduate. I just found this video on their website today. It's a little cheesy, but it shows one place (even in lowly Indiana!) where individual differences are catered to specifically.
Hopefully, I'll be doing something like what these instructors do someday, although ideally in a whole classroom.
I found last week's class demos so neat, I had to peruse further. I especially enjoyed the Image Detective resource, which provides strategic scaffolding in looking at images. It reminded me of Thinking Reader for art. I guess that would make it "Thinking Viewer," or something like that. However, this site and others we looked at in class also brought up a question for me about balancing cognitive accessibility with guidance. With a strategic guide for looking, how do we know the strategy given isn't the creator's interpretation?
This is not so much of an issue with text or books. It's easier for words to "speak for themselves" (excuse the pun). But art--art is sensitive to interpretation. This is a difficult question. I know Tina Grotzer must have grappled with this a little as she made the Art Works for Schools curriculum with Project Zero. Perhaps that would give insight to how to approach art openly and give scaffolds.
My brother sent me the link to this article. Fascinating that the neurobiology for dyslexia may be quite different depending on what language you are dyslexic in. This short snip is about a study that compares English speakers and Chinese speakers. Does this have an implication for how to universally design interventions in different cultures?
Okay, so the play on words here is supposed to be the "rats of NIMH," a children's movie which came from a book, I believe; but I don't mean to compare the hard working people on NIMAS and NIMAC to unsanitary rodents. On the contrary, I was just exploring CAST's NIMAS website, and I am impressed by what they are doing.
I feel like I finally have at least a rudimentary handle on how NIMAS is played out. Some helpful definitions:
NIMAS: National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard
NIMAC: National Instructional Materials Access Center
And here's how it all works: CAST has been appointed by the national government to run two NIMAS-related organizations: NIMAS Development Center and NIMAS Technical Assistance Center
The NIMAS Development Center sponsors these committees:
NIMAS Standards Board
NIMAS Advisory Council (which handles state-level implementation)
AIM Consortium (group of 15 states devoted to improving instruction for K-12 students with disabilities)
Each of these met in Florida in January. In looking at the notes from the Standards Board meeting, I was struck by how new some of this is! The AIM Consortium was just created in the fall. I was also wondering why I hadn't heard of any of this before, since NIMAS started in 2004...
I figure it's about time for another post. I've been solidifying my goals in my CAST internship--deciding on my research questions before break, developing an observation protocol for data collection--and I've run into the challenge. The hardest part for me has been trying to connect theory to practice. Hardly surprising, but difficult nonetheless.
I found that this last week, I had put a lot of thought into the design of my observations, to focus it on what Universal Design supports the students use, how often they use them and if it affects the quality of their work. However, when I started observing, I went into a sort of "research mode." I'm pretty good at watching people objectively, but I was losing the heart of why I was observing.
Because my work is developing a case study, I should be focusing on the individuals' needs and characteristics. I had stopped thinking about Universal Design and had begun thinking "science." But my mentor reminded me that I can think about my subjects as people--it's okay to interact with them if need be!
So I couldn't stop right there, but I wanted to expand more on the education point. I am also impressed by the curriculum created out of Darius Goes West. It uses the same entry points/awareness ideas I mentioned earlier.
I'm glad I went to the screening of Darius Goes West on Tuesday. I was inspired, moved, and of course most importantly of all, prompted to think about education. ;-)
First, the movie actually made me think about accessibility--which does have important implications for education. Connecting back to my thoughts on Kerry's blog, I was amazed at another aspect of accessibility I easily take for granted. Kerry had posted about accessibility for the deaf on the T, but Darius's message about mobility access makes a more salient point. The guys in the film rated their "sample" of places in the U.S. as 65% accessible. That means 35% of locations are not. Can we be satisfied with that?
Second, I was honored to meet (well, see and say hi to) Darius, and I was inspired by his perspective. The programs that he and Logan and the foundations backing their cause have created changed my thinking about raising awareness and capturing attention. The way to get someone to think about a problem (like Duchenne Muscluar Dystrophy) is to put it in front of them--in whatever way engages their affect. Give them a blinding discrepant situation! And then I realized that putting the message right at the audience's fingertips was a great way to improve my blog.
So I'm going to do that. Here's what I want you to see.
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?
So today, I got to have lunch with (and listen to a talk by) Amir Lahav, a neuro-researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. Besides being a pretty cool and easy-going guy, his work and interest in sound's connection to learning through mirror neuron activation is fascinating.
After subjecting nonmusicians to 5 piano lessons, one of his studies found that listeningto the music they learned to play activated their motor areas. Music they didn't know how to play did not do this. Ok, so this is something maybe we've seen before; not that new.
But what about the other way around? Can we benefit motorically from listening? Here's the cool part: Lahav found that those who learned piano music and then had 5 sessions of just listening to the music they learned to playperformed better in sequence, timing (rhythm), and dynamics on a pop quizthan people who learned piano and listened to nature sounds.
Mirror neurons react and learn from auditory input. Imagine this implication for education: if you teach a movement with sound, or teach sound with a movement, listening becomes that much more helpful in performance. And teaching in multiple modalities would also strengthen the learning. The importance of listening continues to amaze me.
PS: But so does the importance of movement. In his concluding comments, Lahav said there is something strong and intuitive about learning through movement: "We move before we talk." We understand much through simulation, both physical and mental.
Friday, February 29, 2008
I've finished my first synthesizing thoughts in my post about Universal Design and T543...check out the comment.
I think I will continue to see connections between Applying Cognitive Science to Learning and Instruction and Universal Design. Where I've been influenced most lately is in developing the proposal for my major project in the aforementioned class. As I mentioned in the video post, my project for Applying Cog. Science is a set of lessons for kindergartners. My goal is to teach them listening skills.
My original inspiration came from the Learning Through Listening readings for Week 3. However, I was quite inspired by David's lecture (and his singing) on Monday night, and it helped me form more completely my goals and vision for the lessons I am creating. I realized that although I planned to incorporate technology as a teaching tool in my project, a big part of my purpose for the children is to help them learn--and discern--the messages through different media. I am choosing to focus on spoken language and music in particular.
So, thank you, David, for your inspiring performance! Please, if anyone has any other comments about Monday's lecture, feel free to post.
I'm trying out my new skills in adding videos. This video from YouTube captures both Universal Design and lessons and curricula for young children (which is what I'm trying to create for T543!) It's a Universal Design lesson in fractions and art for kindergartners.
I will post more on this later, but for now, I want to note that I have started seeing Universal Design connections in my other classes, especially Tina Grotzer's Applying Cognitive Science to Learning and Instruction. I saw plenty of crossover between UDL and the Teaching for Understanding framework. As I said, more to come...
