“Our Burning Platform” Ed Summers said as we viewed a burning oil rig on the screen at the opening session of POSB “is the conversion of paper classrooms to tech-based classrooms”. He went on to discuss how vital it will be for students with disabilities in the 21st century that technology (both hardware and software) be designed following the principals of Universal Design. When the needs of users with a broad range of characteristics are considered, not only do the students with disabilities benefit but all students benefit. This blog will provide a description of Universal Design and some ideas as to how we, as Teachers of the Visually Impaired, can foster greater Universal Design in our students’ classrooms.
Ron Mace, one of the creators of Universal Design describes it as ” the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design”. This approach does not stigmatize or segregate the student with a disability and allows for all students to utilize the space and equipment in most cases. Universal design was originally conceptualized by a team of working architects and engineers. The following seven principles were established by the CUD (Center for Universal Design) in 1997.
From – Universal Design in Education: Principles and Applications. by Sheryl Burgstahler, PhD.
As Ed Summers and Diane Brauner continued their presentation, they introduced the interactive digital iBook Reach for the Stars. As they described Reach for the Stars, the beauty of Universal Design became evident. Not appropriate ONLY for the student with a visual impairment in the class, but accessible to all, this book has been created so that the student with a visual impairment can utilize the built in accessibility features of the iPAD, while the other students access the same iBook. No specialized equipment is necessary, though a set of tactile overlays are used by the student with a visual impairment to more completely experience some of the content of the book. All students benefit from sonification (the use of non-speech audio to communicate information) which is built into the software. An example of sonification is found in “listening” to the information on a graph.
How can Universal Design benefit your students in the general education classroom? As the vast majority of students in science classes are in their home schools, itinerant TVIs bear the primary responsibility for facilitating the best learning environment possible for their students . By encouraging greater Universal Design within the general education classroom, the TVI will more successfully accomplish this by fostering greater participation by the classroom teacher.
The following ideas are in no way exhaustive and I would welcome comments to this blog as to other ways to incorporate Universal Design into the general education science classroom.
The following general ideas are from the DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) Center at the University of Washington
These are appropriate for any general education classroom.
Encourage the instructor to provide Web access and web pages formatted so as to be accessible to all. This is required according to the No Child Left Behind legislation.
The following link describes in detail how to create accessible web content. Provide this link and info to the instructor and offer to assist as needed: http://www.washington.edu/doit/universal-design-web-pages-class-projects
These instructions are from work by Sheryl Burgstahler, Ph.D.
When models are provided to the instructor for use by the student with a visual impairment, if possible provide several models, so that the sighted students in the class also benefit. The classroom teacher will be more motivated to include them in the lesson and will become more familiar with the use of models for instruction.
Universal Design truly does provide a win-win opportunity for both the student with a visual impairment and his sighted peers in class. Both will benefit from the presentation of information through multiple modalities. As classroom teachers become more familiar with Universal Design and convinced of it’s value, they will more naturally incorporate it into instruction.
By Laura Hospitál
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