Have you ever wondered

"How do learners navigate a learning environment?" or "How do learners express what they know?"?

Focusing on the “how” of learning, this strategic network of the brain recognizes that there is no single means of action or expression that is optimal for all learners. For example, individuals with movement impairment may struggle with a certain learning activity, such as turning pages in textbooks. Other learners may struggle with expressing themselves in speech and/or in writing. Therefore, it is important to provide learners with different options for action and expression.

The Action & Expression principle is comprised of the following guidelines, and this section of the module walks you through them one by one.

4.1. Provide Options for Physical Action ⇩| 4.2. Provide Options for Expression & Communication ⇩| 4.3. Provide Options for Executive Functions ⇩ | 4.4 UDL in Your Context ⇩

4.1. Provide Options for Physical Action

When designing our course materials, it is important to provide materials with which all types of learners can interact. For example, educational technologies may raise barriers to learners with movement impairments because their navigation options (e.g., keyboard, touchscreen, touchpads) can be limited. As you take this online module, you may have no problem with navigating the content by scrolling down the screen, but it’s not always the case for those who have moving impairments. To increase accessibility, we need to optimize our learners’ access to tools, and teach them how to use them effectively. In addition, we should try to make the use of assistive technologies, if required, as seamless as possible for our learners.

Depending on time, resources, and support available to you, you may not always be able to follow all these guidelines and accommodate all learners; however, it is important to design and plan your lessons and classrooms by keeping these learners and guidelines in mind. In addition, remember that making one change to address a particular accessibility barrier can benefit other students, who do not have the same accessibility challenge, as well.

Watch this 3.5-minute video on how to make open education resources accessible and why it’s important.

Title: Open Dialogues: Open education and accessibility
Duration: 3:29 min.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/KcvYG-rkO-Y

Table Showing Checkpoints for Physical Action and Examples
Checkpoints for Physical Action	Examples for your classroom
Vary the methods for response and navigation	Consider using textbooks that have ebook or audio formats available. Provide alternative ways of participating in classroom activities (e.g., writing a comment on an online board instead of speaking up or walking up to the board to write).
Optimize access to tools and assistive technologies	Design materials so that they can be read or heard using assistive technologies. Share your class slides with students ahead of time not only to allow students with vision impairment to connect the slides with their assistive technology on their mobile devices but also to allow any students to take time to prepare for the class if they wish or need.

4.1.1. Self-Reflection Activity

Think about a class you teach and reflect on the following questions:

Think about one of your course activities, what choices might you offer students regarding accessing course materials to make your classroom more accessible and inclusive?
How do you provide opportunities for participation and feedback for your learners with movement and vision impairment?

4.2. Provide Options for Expression & Communication

Learners express their knowledge differently; some are comfortable with writing, some prefer to speak, and others may like to draw. The medium (e.g., writing, speaking, drawing) is the vehicle for self-expression and there is no medium of expression that can be equally suited for all learners. In order to give all learners opportunities to show their knowledge, we need to provide them with alternative modalities to express themselves and share their learning. This way, learners have a fair chance to demonstrate their learning.

Cartoon showing inequities in education. Teacher asks different animals to climb a tree.

Figure 4.1: Provide options for learners to demonstrate their skills

Table Showing Checkpoints for Expression and Communication and Examples
Checkpoints for Expression and Communication	Examples for your classroom
Use multiple media for communication	Give students different options for introducing themselves to the class (e.g., text, drawing, video, audio, illustration). Introduce and use different interactive web tools for communication in your classroom (e.g., discussion forums, chats, Twitter, blogs, wiki …). Provide options for assignment requirements to demonstrate their content knowledge differently (e.g., writing a paper, making a presentation, poster, video, etc.).
Use multiple tools for construction and composition	Give students different options for documenting their learning (e.g., wiki, concept map, ePortfolio,…). Allow the use of spell checkers, grammar checkers, and word prediction software where possible (e.g., enable spell checker in your online courses). Provide sentence starters to prompt students to write self-reflections, peer feedback on other students’ work, etc.
Build fluencies with graduated levels of support for practice and performance	Provide multi-part assignments with feedback at each stage. Conduct a two-stage exam (http://blogs.ubc.ca/eoassei/two-stage-exams/). Provide opportunities for mentorship from different sources (e.g., instructor, TA, tutor, peer).

Student Voices

Dr. Laila Ferreira (Faculty of Arts, UBC) implemented the UDL checkpoint “build fluencies with graduated levels of support for practice and performance” in designing assignments for her third-year writing course. Below are some of her students’ comments regarding this approach:

Student X: “The scaffolding really helped me become better prepared for the final project, as I now have more knowledge and a much better idea about the research."

Student Y: “The staggering of the assignments helped me to stay on track and allowed me to spend more time thinking about the project as a whole."

Student Z: “The step-by-step nature of the scaffolding of assignments made it easier for me to integrate myself into the way of thinking in this class."

4.2.1. Activity: Providing Options for Expression & Communication in Different Disciplines

After exploring some examples of providing options for expression and communication and the examples provided in these courses, describe one change that you would make in a course you teach.

Land and Food Systems Course
Chemistry course
Psychology course

4. 3. Provide Options for Executive Functions

Executive functioning is a term psychologists use to describe the many tasks our brain performs that help individuals learn new information, remember and retrieve information, and use information to solve problems of everyday life. For example, executive functions allow you to organize an event, complete a research project, meet a deadline and get dressed in the morning. The capacity of executive functions is limited. Therefore, to perform any tasks well, we need to reduce distractions and free up the space in our executive functions so that we can focus and prioritize. To help our learners develop their executive function skills over time, we need to give them options and prompts to generate ideas and organize tasks, support the development of their working memory by using checklists, course schedules, and reminders, and provide them with different options for monitoring their progress.

Table Showing Checkpoints for Executive Functions and Examples
Checkpoints for Executive Functions	Examples for your classroom
Guide appropriate goal setting	Provide rubrics, assignment guidelines, and/or assignments that have been done by past students to outline expectations. Post course goals and sub-goals (e.g., goals for different stages of learning), and refer to them throughout the course.
Support planning and strategy development	Provide a course schedule or timelines/calendar. Provide guidelines and opportunities for student-led study groups (Embed coaches or mentors where possible). Provide checklists and project planning templates. Let students share their learning strategies.
Facilitate managing information and resources	Colour-code sub sections of the course content in the syllabus and course materials (e.g., handouts, PowerPoint slides) to help students understand the organization of the course content. Provide templates or tools for data collection or organizing information (e.g., guides for note-taking, lab note templates).
Enhance capacity for monitoring progress	Provide self-assessment activities with automatic feedback throughout your online course where possible (e.g., online interactive quizzes that provide automatic feedback). Provide opportunities for measuring and tracking their own progress (e.g., digital badges). Provide templates to guide self-reflection on quality and progress (e.g., an exemplary assignment from previous students).

4.3.1. Activity: Online Learning and Executive Functioning (Case Study)

Kelly is a chemistry major student with ADHD, a neurodevelopmental disorder that makes it difficult for her to concentrate. Some of the skills that Kelly may struggle with include: working memory, flexible thinking, managing emotions, self-regulation and organization and planning. She uses a text-to-speech technology on her laptop and finds that reading and listening to text at the same time really help her learning. She often meets with her instructors to clarify concepts and receive feedback on her understanding of the material covered in her face-to-face classrooms. This term, Kelly has taken two online courses and is facing new challenges. Similar to other online learners, she is overwhelmed and anxious about participating in an online course for the first time. She needs to develop goals, prioritize, plan and achieve those goals with autonomy. Executive functioning can be challenging for many students in an online environment, but it is particularly the case for students with disabilities (e.g. time management). Kelly’s marks are lower in her online courses than in the face-to-face courses she took, and she feels overwhelmed. The content doesn’t seem to be much more difficult than her face-to-face courses; however, a significant difference in Kelly’s performance and attitude is obvious. Some of the challenges Kelly may be facing are:

She might fall behind in the class assignments and activities
She might have problems navigating the course
She may not get the same immediate feedback from her instructor as she was getting in her face-to-face classes
She might have problems monitoring her progress

Identify 2-3 ways in which you can support a learner like Kelly in an online environment.

4.4. UDL in Your Context

Think about one assessment in your course. Download the worksheet and fill out the form.

Universal Design for Learning Worksheet - Assessment (Word) (PDF)

Below are worksheets completed by instructors in different disciplines for your reference:

Example 1 – CPSC 103: Introduction to Systemic Program Design (Megan Allen, Department of Computer Science, UBC) (PDF)

Example 2 - LAW 503E: Tort Law (Robert Russo, Peter A. Allard School of Law, UBC) (PDF)

Example 3 - DHYG 461: Literature Review (Penny Hatzimanolakis, Faculty of Dentistry) (PDF)

Example 4 - WRDS 150: Writing and Research in the Disciplines (Dr. Laila Ferreira, Faculty of Arts, UBC) (PDF)

Resource:

Top 10 UDL Tips for Assessment: http://castprofessionallearning.org/project/top-10-udl-tips-for-assessment/

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