Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Universal Design for Learning
Jun 02, 2022
Universal Design forLearning
Universal Design for Learning: An educational framework that is designed to meet the needs of all students. As methodology and practices in education continue to evolve, it is important for educators to adapt. The mental framework of students has changed. Each year students enter school with more advanced digital literacy skills, and their classrooms offer various technologies for teaching and learning. The needs and expectations of students have always been varied and diverse, even more so in today’s environment. This is where educators are encouraged to readdress and expand their methodology pedagogical approach to ensure that they get the desired results across the board. This includes giving the students the ability to display mastery through a variety of mediums, ensuring that they are provided with the options that suit their individual needs.
Meet the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) model. UDL is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences, including cognitive neuroscience. This framework guides the development of flexible learning environments and learning spaces that can accommodate individual learning differences. The framework is divided into the following:
Multiple Means of Representation
This design feature addresses the inherent differences in how a person perceives and comprehends information. Learning differences (sensory, language, cultural) require content to be provided in ways that adhere to the students’ different ways of acquiring information and knowledge. Software like Snowflake is designed to incorporate written text, audio, video, and graphics into how the content is presented into lesson plans, ensuring that every student has their needs met.
Multiple Means of Action and Expression
Because each student is unique, the way in which they demonstrate mastery is unique as well. Some students may easily write an essay or answer a written question, and some may have physical differences that preclude them from doing so. Language barriers may block understanding of written text, but graphics and imagery may provide a more efficient route to demonstrate mastery. Snowflake gives students the opportunity to display mastery through various forms approved by the teacher, including text, graphics, video, and voice recorded content.
Multiple Means of Engagement
Various factors impact the ways in which students engage with content. Each person comes to a learning process with different background knowledge, culture, subjective understanding, and neurology. The Snowflake software is built to allow for individual or group instruction, loose frameworks that allow for creativity or specific instructions chunked for incremental success.
The implementation of a UDL framework is easier than it has ever been. Technology has given educators the tools to customize, build, and adjust their lessons plans to any student or situation. Most classrooms have made the switch from projectors and blackboard to interactive displays and enhanced software suites. These are crucial tools when it comes to curating a UDL framework. Take us (Clear Touch) for example.
We have engineered our interactive panels to be entirely accessible to all learners. They come in different sizes and with different capabilities. Our stands are entirely versatile and easily accessible to any student regardless of age or disability. These physical adjustments are greatly expanded upon with our software suite and in particular, Snowflake. This software comes with thousands of pre-designed lesson plans and activities that can be entirely customized by the teacher. Snowflake recognizes that each student is unique, the way in which they demonstrate mastery is unique as well. Some students may easily write an essay or answer a written question, and some may have physical differences that preclude them from doing so. Language barriers may block understanding of written text, but graphics and other mediums may provide a route to demonstrate mastery.
Students have the access to create lesson activities using the same templates provided to teachers. This provides a method by which they can include text, video, audio and graphics in order to demonstrate mastery. This allows students to experience success regardless of the barriers (physical, cultural, linguistically, etc) that may block that accomplishment in other platforms. Students turn from consumers of content to creators of content.
Structure matters in a working or learning environment. This is an important idea to explore for student entrepreneurs and educators looking to reinforce productive problem solving practices. The well known term “think outside the box” is one that is often associated with innovation, critical thinking, and problem solving. These traits are commonly exhibited by nearly all successful students and entrepreneurs, and should be rewarded. However, this term is commonly misinterpreted in a way that sometimes devalues the importance of structure and the “box” itself. We have analyzed a collection of data and formed an opinion that seeks to unite “the box” and critical thinking together. Rather than think outside the box, we propose a thought process that encourages individuals to find the right box. “The simple rules of disciplined innovation Constraints aren’t the enemy of creativity— they make it more effective” (Sull, 2015).
Clear Touch Messaging Hello and thank you to those who have supported Clear Touch in our goal to evolve classroom technology and collaboration. We encourage you to share your experiences and help to build our growing community of educators and enthusiasts. Who is Clear Touch? Clear Touch, headquartered in Greenville, SC, is a leading US global manufacturer of interactive touch panels and accessories as well as digital signage displays and solutions for education, government, and business. Clear Digital is our sister brand that specializes in digital signage solutions. We encourage you to document your classroom experiences by taking your own photos and video content. Social media has expanded in recent years. Posts and stories are the easiest and most accessible way to share your experiences. We advise you to always tag us while posting so that we may reshare your message and get it to a wider audience. Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, TikTok: @getcleartouch Hashtags (in order of relevance) #getcleartouch #interactdifferently #bornbrilliant Contact and Resources: We always want to hear from you. Clear Touch isn’t a company that hands you your panel and leaves. We want to stand by you and build upon our relationship. Never be afraid to reach out and ask questions. We also have a wide variety of assets and resources that can be used in your social posts and communication. We will attach an asset folder as well as our contact.
Starpoint Central School District: Case Study Starpoint Central School District consists of Pendleton, Cambria, Lockport, Wheatfield, and Royalton and is located in the Town of Pendleton, New York. The Starpoint CSD services approximately 7,000 families over a 115 square mile area with 2,700 students. Starpoint was no stranger to the use of interactive panels. The district had been outfitted by many leading companies for years. As time went on, the faults and errors of these products became more apparent. District technology liaison, Matt Mariglia, recognized these issues ahead of time and voiced his desire to potentially switch to a better provider of these products. “We just kept hearing the name everywhere we went, Clear Touch, Clear Touch, Clear Touch. We were a bit skeptical at first, until we actually sat down and signed up for a demo. Afterwards, the Network Manager and I were just convinced. From early on, we knew this was the way to go.” The Human Touch Making a switch is never as easy as it sounds. The entire Starpoint staff was trained and familiar with the previous technologies. However, Matt knew that the district had to switch. The inefficiency of their current products was too alarming. Some of the panels the district had were prone to break easily and the turnaround time on the repairs was near “insulting”. It wasn’t until a member of the Clear Touch implementation team named Sarah Lowey showed Matt how things could be done, did he begin to think about switching. “I was so impressed with her, they (district trainers) got to know her like I got to know her. It was more than just about getting the technology in our hands and getting out of our lives. She was there to help in every way that she could, advising us on what to do with the panels (from her education experience) and it was easy to tell that she had spent time in the classroom. She knew what would eventually trip us up, she knew everything down to the power supply. It wasn’t long until the district trainers were smiling. We knew we had found the right partner.” The lasting relationship between Clear Touch and Starpoint has never ceased. Other competitors often treat their buyers as just that, nothing more. Clear Touch puts the extra effort into the experience of engaging students in the classroom. “We even tested out the helpline after hearing that there was a 98% pickup rate. We tried the same number at least five times and every time, Clear Touch answered the phone. Our experience with other companies has been the “heck with us” once the product is bought. Clear Touch has not done that. I always get answered back, and I get answered quickly. It’s an actual relationship, not just a sales relationship.” Best of the Rest Clear Touch isn’t just a reliable partner, we deliver top of the line products that change the way students interact and engage in a classroom or workspace. Awards have been earned, backing our consistency, innovation, and efficiency of our product line. Matt’s take on our products was no different. “The ease of use is easily what separates Clear Touch for me. The 6000K+ panels in particular. They run fast and they run smoothly. The Android 9 toolbar has become a personal favorite of our students. They got the hang of it early on and were even teaching the teachers at one point. The panels also run hand in hand with the software suite and the best part is that it’s free.” The documented efficiency of the Clear Touch panels wasn’t the only factor that had Matt satisfied. Our software suite and its licensing options were a major draw compared to our competitors. “Command was a big reason why we chose Clear Touch, for starters it was included, it was free. It wasn’t like a year of using it before you had to pay for it and re-budget everything. Command allows our systems analyst to manage everything from afar, both updates and power. Other included softwares have drastically helped with hybrid/remote learning. The ability to annotate and save documents is paramount. Clear Touch allows teachers to not only instruct and mark up lessons on their panel in front of kids, but then have the ability to save it and send the files off to kids who aren’t in person.” Clear Touch has based their entire working philosophy around change, adapting to the needs and wants of the user. Matt and his staff saw firsthand, their switch from an industry leading standard developer to Clear Touch has been described as nothing else than a drastic improvement. Streamlining usage and simplifying the formula so that even kindergartners can fluently operate the device, all while being safely optimized and monitored by administrators using ‘Command’. “I would recommend Clear Touch to any school district looking to put an interactive panel up on their wall. From the demo’s, the implementation, to the product themselves, Clear Touch has been everything it has been advertised to be.” More about Clear Touch Clear Touch, headquartered in Greenville, SC, is a leading US global manufacturer of interactive touch panels and accessories as well as digital signage displays and solutions for education, government, and business. Clear Digital is our sister brand that specializes in digital signage solutions. For more information, visit our websites: getcleartouch.com and getcleardigital.com