The future lies in the young generation since they currently benefit from the developing technology. Their education will help create a better future for themselves and generations to come. However, technology changes every day, and what seems relevant now, will lose value with time. Hence, it would be a great deal for children to interact with technology when they are young, for them to understand and grow into it. As the district educator, I noted a great concern on the old ways of teaching the young ones and the struggles they have coping with it in their later years. An opportunity arose for schools and community centers to receive monies for upgrading the current education system. However, the decision lies in the hands of voters, who I seek to impress with the research done on existing technology in other education centers.
Station 1: Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
One thing to note is that each child harbors a unique gift; some are good in sciences, arts, literature among other disciplines. However, most of them lose these gifts because they learn other things that might not be of value to their career. In the end, most of the graduates end up working poorly in industries or organizations since they do not have a passion towards their profession. The Universal Design for Learning is a framework developed by Ronald L. Mace, from North Carolina State University, to assist in developing flexible learning environments, which will accommodate the individual’s learning preferences. The system allows for institutions to identify the skills of young ones and nurture them at their tender age.
David H. Rose from the Center for Applied Special Technology and Harvard Graduate School of Education department, advanced the UDL framework to create a curriculum that will help learners possess various methods of acquiring knowledge and information (UDL and Technology, 2015). Another objective was to help learners come up with ways to showcase their skills and what they currently know. Lastly, it helped in tapping into the learners’ interests, challenges, and motivated them to advance further. The framework shows promising returns in the kind of graduates who will join the job market in a few decades. Implementing at the current time will guarantee a better future sooner than later. Apart from that, institutions and parents or guardians will minimize their resources spent on teaching children what they cannot comprehend. It will be easier to channel their resources towards their specific skills.
The UDL’s curriculum has four parts: assessments, materials, methods, and instructional goals (UDL and Technology, 2015). The curriculum aims to increase the student’s access to learning materials but reducing organizational intellectual, cognitive, and physical barriers. The UDL’s principles focus on implementing several inclusionary practices in learning institutions. Currently, the system is effective in many institutions across the country especially special schools, for instance, Elizabeth McAra-Crawford, which uses it to expand its student’s ability in choosing post-secondary options. The system would be effective in the district’s schools and educational centers, especially for the kindergarten schools. The community will be the one to benefit greatly from its adoption in a few years to come.
Capturing the mindsets of audiences will entail using attractive slides and diagram elaborating the stages of UDL development. The first station is purely theory, and most people do not like to listen to such presentations for a long time. Hence, the diagrams will be effective in capturing their attention and guide them through the various stages of the cycle. The second approach would be providing an analysis of the old and new system, but focusing on the advantages of implementing the new system. One should understand the variances from a distant and connect with them. The variation will show the existent of UDL in established institutions by providing a brief bio of each level. It will require research on the ground, which is already there, and images. Visuals help in demonstrating an overview of a certain subject.
The last discussion in Station one will be outlining a possible outcome of the UDL in the system. One of the major benefits is its effectiveness in helping the kindergarten children to realize their strengths. It will apply to the children in grade one to six. For children in grade seven to twelve, the UDL system will help alter their mindsets to focus on their career choices once they reach junior high school. Their current system provides a general outlook of different subjects and by using the UDL system; the children will be open to the kind of study that lays ahead. The old system does not fully equip the young ones to what lays ahead, implicating their decisions on picking subjects they excel best.
Station 2. Technology and UDL
The combination of UDL and technology will be a great fusion for the learners as they will integrate with the current equipment and techniques to further their skills (UDL and Technology, 2015). Apart from that, the institutions will be in a position to analyze the children skills in a faster and effective way than previous methods. It will be effective for adult learners as they will discover some of their hidden talents and work towards improving on them. It is never too late to work towards changing the perspective of a person and their future. At times, it would be better if people managed their choices of a career instead of the community weighing in their opinions. The pressure around people leads to them choosing the wrong choices in their future careers and work poorly in their stations.
The district’s mission is to ensure quality and effective education to the students by nurturing their skills and strengths. It is a high time for people to understand that not everyone will fall under one bracket or career. The external pressure by people only makes it worse for the students as they will work poorly in their respective areas. It is the district’s belief that it will affect the changes immediately to cater for the students who will join various institutions at the beginning of the next academic year. One major goal is to run UDL system in ten major schools and institutions in the forthcoming academic year. It will set the pace for implementing the second goal, which is to ensure that it assists all the students within that year and help them realize their true selves.
Station 3. 21st Century Skills
A good example of a course that used the framework to modify its curriculum is music (Focus Areas, 2015). Most of the time, music might be put aside as a hobby and not career by the society. People have the notion that it is something inborn, and one can eventually work through the industry to make it in life. However, there are different ways one can fail if they do not have the education and skills to implement their talent. Apart from that, those taking the course might view it as a waste of time as it does not seem to help them much. Dr. Dan Guberman, a music teacher in College Star, noted the lack of concern by most of the students (UDL Examples, 2015). They seem eager to be in the market and exploit it since most of them do not integrate with the teachers. Others felt out of place in most instances. Guberman identified the difficulty in helping the students improve in some sections of their paper after discussing with them in class. There was redundancy in most errors, which was quite a discouragement on his part. The lack of feedback from the students was quite low, implying that most of them preferred to keep their thoughts and queries to themselves.
Guberman adopted the system to provide multiple ways for students to express themselves and participate in action. He ensured most of his notes were in harmony with the videos used for demonstration. It enabled the students to move along with the teachings and understand most of the material (UDL Examples, 2015). Another area of improvement was the means of representation, which he worked on by providing weekly videos that focused on the course topic. The outcome of adopting the UDL framework was a significant improvement in the grades and participation of students. The students were enjoying the course material, as they could easily comprehend the teacher’s notes. In conclusion, the adoption of UDL in schools will be beneficial to the institutions and individuals, as it will guarantee better participation in the course.
References
Focus Areas. (2015). Retrieved from Boston College: http://www.bc.edu/schools/lsoe/academics/departments/teseci/graduate/medcurric/focus_areas.html
UDL and Technology. (2015). Retrieved from National Center on Universal Design for Learning: http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udltechnology
UDL Examples. (2015). Retrieved from UDL on Campus: http://udloncampus.cast.org/page/udl_examples#.Vyc-oPl95D8
