Universal design for learning

Introduction

When it comes to the universal design for learning (UDL) the primary intention is to make the learning process as inclusive as possible. Therefore, the primary demand is to build different modes of learning aimed at deriving the same content and assessment (Meyer, Rose & Gordon, 2014). Thus, under the UDL, all students with different capabilities have equal opportunity when it comes to accessing the education besides being subjected to the same assessment intention. Equality is thus a standard norm in UDL where no group benefits at the expense of the other (Rapp, 2014). Teachers have to create specific ways of ensuring that all students in the class are well taken care of in the teaching, rehearsing and assessment (Brand & Dalton, 2012). In the same lien of thought, the primary intention of this paper is itilization of the insights of UDL while formulating a lesson plan that is inclusive and sensitive to all students demands.

Lesson Description

Title: Money and Life

Subject: Financial Skills

Lesson 1: Benefits of Being Financially Literate

Grade Level: 9 12

Lesson introduction

In many societies, teenagers are well known to have impulse spending. It is a common norm among the teenagers to follow their peers into a mall and spend on items that are not necessary due to the peer influence. The seriousness of this problem is the fact that most of the time this behavior is carried into young adulthood if the teenagers are not exposed to responsible financial decision making (Wehman, 2013). In this lesson, students will be guided into identifying the poor decision they have made in their life and determine the luring force behind their decisions. Then a class presentation will be done in groups of five where each group will shed light on the poor decision that its members have made, their impact and the alternative us the money could have played and corresponding associative benefits.

Multiple Representation

As this lesson is deeply rooted in the UDL background, there will be the utilization of multi-representation elements to improve the exclusivity of the lesson. The money will be presented in different forms to capture the element of value. Moreover, there will be the utilization of the simple language to help all the students understand the objective of the lesson. Besides, the lesson will also be available in the audio form to help students with visual challenges.

Moreover, the Power Point slides on the lesson will be presented on the smartboard during the lesson time to help the students who have hearing challenges. Besides, there will be a diligent pre-class test of all the complimentary tools to ensure that the audio and Power Point slides are in sync to avoid some of the student lagging behind.

Multiple Means of Action and Expression

In the line of ensuring that all the students have an equal opportunity of demonstrating their understanding of the content of the lesson, different assessment tools will be utilized. Visuals, audio, and written feedback will all be used as tools of assessment where students will be allowed to choose their preferred means of expressing their perspectives. This is an intentional choice for ensuring that each student will have an equal chance of demonstrating their mastery of the lesson. Moreover, the mode of action and expression each student will use will not be assigned to the students as this can lead to students feeling sidelined or can form an avenue of bias phenomena that UDL strives to eliminate in the learning process.

Multiple Means of Engagement

At the heart of UDL lies the need to allow flexibility of strategies utilized while teaching to provide students with a variety of options based on their strengths that help them. The primary intention of UDL is to ensure that all possible mode of teacher-student engagement will be readily available during the lesson and that the students are highly motivated (Rapp, 2014). In the same line of thought, while teaching there will be the utilization of pie-charts on how best to allocate money for the different use that enhances sustainability. This will form a simplified manner of using percentile mode of allocation. Moreover, there will be the use of Braille system for the visually impaired students upon which they will be able to give their feedback verbally.

Besides, there will also be the use of money allocation game for sums in the class where students will be given questions and compete on the speed of coming up with a corresponding healthy allocation of resources. Also, there will also the use of multi-choice platform where the question and answers will be available in audio and in Power Point form to allow room for students with hearing and visual challenges to be actively involved in the allocation game. The winners at each question will be given 5 dollars and report back in the next class on how he or she used the money.

Personal Reflection

While ensuring that the learning process is effective arises the need to see to that the students are highly motivated. Under this perspective, the lesson has the component of the allocation game with small token forms one of the motivating. Moreover, the token given will also be used in a manner that upholds the norms being taught in class. Another parameter used in the lesson that helps in motivating the student is the improved flexibility of expression and action component where students have the freedom to choose their mode of expressing their understanding. This will minimize the element of some of the student feeling unfairly targeted or isolated. Moreover, the element of differentiated instruction is well captured through the use of different tools and platforms in the lesson. The UDL intention is to ensure that all the students despite their differentiated challenges experience the same opportunity when it comes to learning the process (Brand & Dalton, 2012). In the lesson the use of Power Point, audio platform, braille papers, and pie-charts to name but a few all help in ensuring that student with different capabilities is taken care of during the class time.

UDL has changed my perception of instructional planning. It is evident that diligent instructional planning entails more than planning the content to be delivered to the student but also the need to consider on how best to deliver the content in a manner that meets different students demands. Similarly, the assessment of the impact of the lesson need also to be executed in a way that allows students to express their understanding in a platform of their choice.

The primary take from the lesson plan is the potential diversity in assessment (expression and action) that students can be allowed to utilize. Allowing students to use different tools of expressing themselves in assessment will help students with different abilities to utilize the tool that enhances their ability. This will not only help the students pass well in various assessments but also motivate them due to the improved freedom they experience in the learning process. Allowing the use of different platforms for the students to express their understanding will help the concerned society to tap all potential capacities thus experiencing a more improved society output. Moreover, it will also improve the societys inclusiveness a phenomenon that is at the heart of universal design for learning.

Conclusion

It is evident that UDL demands the need to ensure that learning process incorporates all approaches and tools that enable all the students to have equal access to lessons being taught. Moreover, it is clear that UDL demands realignment in both the teaching strategies and assessment strategies to ensure that inclusivism is reflected in all parameter of the learning process. Over and above, it is evident that utilization of UDL provides an avenue for a society to ensure that all people despite having different challenges have an equal opportunity to succeed.

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