Implementing Universal Design for Learning

It seems as if incorporating Universal Design in your classroom may be too daunting a task with all of the material you already need to introduce to your students.  However, it can be small, simple changes to your classroom environment that can make all the difference to keep your students engaged and learning.

Consider the problem of distractions...I for one am a bit ADD when I am trying to learn something.  I am easily distracted by random noises.  Even the sound of someone typing on a keyboard is often just enough to derail my train of thought.  How about adding a few rugs to your room (if you have linoleum floors) or sound dampening panels around your room to soak up extraneous noises?  That is typically enough to deaden the distracting noises in a room.  This will help students become more comfortable within the classroom and help them to concentrate on what they are learning.

Students also have anxiety when they do not know what is expected of them.  Provide your students with a syllabus for each consecutive week.  It does not necessarily need to be a full semester syllabus, just 1 or 2 weeks in advance so they are aware of what is coming up.  If there is a film or project that they will be engaged in, they may become excited for that event taking place if they know it is coming.  It is a great hook for their interest through anticipation.

The UDL guidelines website is a great tool to gain ideas for your classroom environment and to help you build effective lessons to keep your students engaged.

What is Plagiarism is to Me?

Simply put, it is failing to cite sources of information in your writings.  If you put a quote or even paraphrase a thought or example from someone, you must give credit to that person for their work.  They took the time to do their research, they took the time to write or say it so you should give them their due.  Failing to cite someone else's work is theft.  If you plagiarize other's works then you lose credibility and that can lead to failing courses, lost job opportunities, or expulsion from school.  What if it your own work (i.e. something you have written before)?  Yes, self-plagiarism is a thing.  Cite your own work as if you were citing an outside writer's work.

Digital Assessment of Google Expeditions and Creating a Digital Lesson

In class, we took a virtual tour using Google's app, Google Expeditions.  It is a fascinating little app where you can use your smartphone along with a cardboard VR lens holder to explore sites.  I chose World War II's Normandy invasions as my destination.  Students can see the beaches of Normandy where you can still see evidence of the Allied invasions which took place on June 6, 1944.

I then created a Quizlet to allow students to test their ability to recall information that they gathered from their exploration.  This offers the student the opportunity to "virtually" stand on an historical site without having to incur the expense of actually traveling to Normandy, France.  It is advantageous to allow students to look around and see how enormous the battlefield was to give them scope and scale where mere photographs can only offer vignettes of the battle.  They can see the enormous obstacles the soldiers who fought and died on those beaches had to endure and overcome.  Google Expeditions is far more immersive to the learner than flat 2D textbooks and photos.

This little app is convenient and the cardboard glasses are very inexpensive, but the benefits for students, teachers, and virtually anyone who just likes to see or explore new things are endless.  This is a must have app for any classroom.  If you do not use this app yet, then take the time to check it out.  You will be so impressed and quickly imagine the possibilities for your classes as I did.

VR Could Bring a New Era of Immersive Learning. But Ethical and Technical Challenges Remain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsT3yZ7pq2w&t=17s

Augmented Reality in the Classroom

As an historian, I have often wondered how augmented reality can be effectively used in my classroom.  Textbooks can be seen as too sterile and you cannot be expected to show videos or lecture every day.  There are ways to engage students in novel ways that many teachers are too afraid or technologically impaired to implement.  I was perusing some apps and found Popar Interactive Smart Puzzles.  This gave me an idea.  How about those static bulletin boards teachers place in their classrooms?  What can teachers do to bring them alive?  How about an interactive map?  A student can aim the camera from their smartphone or tablet at the map and zoom in on it and bring up pictures and information that the teacher incorporates into it about a particular subject that the students are studying?  This can change from lesson to lesson, keeping it fresh.  If the teacher has pictures of famous people, then the teacher can place web links for students to explore to find out more information about them.

EdSurge has a number of apps that would be useful in a number of different classroom settings from elementary school to high school.  Take a look at this site and you may get some novel ideas for incorporating augmented reality in your classroom.

Gamification in the Classroom.

https://www.wired.com/story/ar-toys-the-future-of-play/?mbid=social_twitter_onsiteshare

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/virtual-reality-change-way-students-learn/

https://platform.breakoutedu.com/game/decoding-the-war

https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world/transcript?language=en#t-285549

After viewing Jane McGonigal's TedTalk on Gaming Can Make a Better World at TED2010, I have had time to think about what she said and how it can equate to immersive learning in a virtual classroom environment.  Myself, having been a gamer in World of Warcraft and having an in-world personality in the virtual world of Secondlife, I fully understand the opportunities that virtual communities offer for effective learning.  Jane McGonigal that gaming encourages "urgent optimism", or the immediate desire to tackle obstacles with a positive mental attitude just as gamers do when attempting to achieve goals within a game.  It also encourages collaboration to achieve them.  Gamers are always in anticipation of the "epic win."  It is a really good feeling to work hard and in the end to get that big reward at the end of a difficult quest and that is where gamification in the classroom can be extremely useful.


"We are optimized as human beings, to do hard work and meaningful work.  And gamers are willing to work hard all the time, if they're given the right work." - Jane McGonigal


Matthew Lynch writes in The Tech Advocate, "Because students feel as if they are being entertained with VR technology, they are more likely to immerse themselves into curriculum concepts. They can take a journey into parts of the body, for example, in ways that make the systems and their functions real life."  In Secondlife, there are some universities, albeit fewer today than in previous years, who have utilized the virtual world as a way to immerse students into their studies in a 3D environment.  Imagine being able to conduct a lesson on how to dissect a frog without destructive testing.  No dead frogs reeking of fermaldehyde, no icky feeling when having to make the incision, and no students retching in the corner.  The students can work around the 3D model, manipulate the different parts while the teacher, as a facilitator works with the students to identify them.  They can text speak or voice chat within the environment.  People love to talk while in virtual worlds so even the more introverted of students would be encouraged to engage in the conversation.


 "Students are more likely to remember experiences where more than one sense is involved. Therefore, more concepts can be branched together while new connections are formed in the brain through different senses." -Matthew Lynch


“There's a certain satisfaction with touching something and physically manipulating it.  I don't think that's going to go away.  But those physical objects are going to become a lot more interesting.” - Andrew Trickett co-founder and CFO of Merge


"AR (augmented reality) experiences can be beneficial for kids, especially when the apps help kids learn something or indulge in their own fantasy play. But research also warns that these types of games, toys, and apps can fail to engage kids meaningfully, or worse, mess with a child's sense of “reality testing”—understanding what's real, and what's not. It all depends on how the AR experience is designed."  -Jackie Marsh, University of Sheffield


These are all good points.  Jackie Marsh's point that it depends on how the AR experience is designed is the key to being successful in implementing an AR/VR learning program in the classroom.  Students will retain useful knowledge if there is proper standards planning involved.  If you build into the experience around the academic goals of the core knowledge they must learn then it will become an advantage instead of a distraction.


I came across a non-AR/VR game on BreakoutEDU, the website URL is above, this particular game is a fantastic group activity.  The game is entitled, "Decoding the War."


The war is at its peak and Nazi Germany is continuing to bomb London. The only way for Great Britain to get an idea of what’s going to happen next is for the team of codebreakers to decipher the encrypted messages from Germany. Your mission is to decode the war and save the world in the next 45 minutes. Can you do it?


In this game the class must break up into groups to solve riddles.  Students are tasked to solve the riddles using clues about Alan Turing and the Blechley Park codebreakers who broke the Nazi Enigma code to stop the U-boat assault on American and British convoys during WWII.  Students are then asked at the end to answer some reflective questions about what they learned.  I have played such a game and it encourages group think, innovative problem solving skills, our class won some candy as our prize for solving the problem, and is fun to boot.


Gamification in the classroom is innovative and as time progresses will become more advanced as technology advances.  It is advantageous to incorporate games into the learning environment.  More schools and teachers should be encouraged to study this trend carefully and plan to incorporate them into their curriculum.  Their students will find enjoyment in engaging their lessons when they know that they will receive rewards for solving the problems.