The Cornavirus pandemic has shed a new spotlight on the power of UDL. In this new landscape, the need for digital materials has risen to the level of an imperative. Teachers have a new motivation to leverage UDL tools and strategies.
Teachers have to consider how to instruct students in a whole new way. Because they cannot see the students interact with the lessons and activities in real time, they need to plan much more strategically. Even where virtual meetings are being used, those meetings represent a fraction of the face time that teachers had with students before.
Teachers who embraced UDL prior to this change are at an advantage. Accessible materials, which once meant accessible to those with disabilities, now means accessible to everyone - in other words - it begins with the very existence of the materials in a digital format. Teachers who already knew how to provision these materials, whether they be worksheets, books, or teacher presentations, are able to continue with barely a hitch.
Distance learning has also highlighted the UDL principle that students must be taught to be strategic in their learning. Now, there is no paraeductaor to prompt children who had difficulties with attention, executive functioning. Teachers cannot rely on a specialist to notice when students are struggling with a concepts and address it on the fly.
In the next few days, I plan to highlight specific strategies I see teachers using during distance learning that illuminate UDL strategies.
