Blog Post #5

The Importance of Accessibility, Inclusion, and Adaptation

Inclusion of all students is extremely important, especially when it comes to learning. When it comes to learning, resources should be accessible and beneficial for ALL students, including those with extra needs or disabilities. This means that often schools and teachers must adapt their typical style of education for preparation of these students with alternative needs, to ensure they will be successful as well. British Columbia’s A guide to adaptations and modifications (2009) states examples of adaptations such as “alternatives to written assignments to demonstrate knowledge and understanding”. By providing options for the student to choose from, the student will then be able to demonstrate their understanding of a topic in the best way they know how to. For example, if you give options for assignments such as a writing assignment, a creative assignment, or a verbal assignment, students now have 3 options which they could use to demonstrate what they have learned to you. By creating these options, it also allows students to choose their assignment based on the resources that they have accessibility to at home. This is important because not all students have access to a computer at home. Therefore, if schools were to assign an online assignment it would be extremely important for them to provide access to school computers; this way all students have the resources required to complete the assignment.

Backward Design

In this video “What is Universal Design for Learning (UDL), they breakdown that not everyone learns the same and gives the example that it is like asking everyone to fit into one size of clothing. This is clearly not how life works. Then they describe UDL as an “education framework that guides the design of learning goals, materials, methods, and assessments”. By allowing options for learners, we can help to increase the success of all students. Similarly to the video “Backward Design“, they state the three main steps: identification, evidence, and planning. As a camp leader, I can vouch that these steps are incredibly helpful to guiding my campers to success. For example, in camp, if we are having behavioural issues with a child, we will use this backward design method to teach what is considered “good behaviour” and prevent the “bad behaviour” from happening in the first place. As a camp leader, I recognize that just saying “no” does not work for everyone. This is due to the fact that everyone learns and adjusts to situations differently. Therefore, I use a Positive Behaviour Support System (PBS) to model what I want to see. The backward design method is actually inherited into the PBS system that I follow. First, I will identify the goal I have for the child/the behaviour I want to change. Second, I will use evidence (such as encouraging what I want to see) to ensure the camper has understood what I want ; I know this when they continue to model the behaviour that I am encouraging. Third, I will plan ahead to prevent the behaviour from happening in the first place. For example, by using gentle reminders such as “before we go inside, remember to use walking feet” or such, therefore the camper knows my expectations of them. Another option I often use is providing visuals. Many people, especially children, do not respond well to verbal cues or direction and require visuals. Therefore, by having images with my rules and expectations, campers can see exactly what they are supposed to do. By providing these visuals, it demonstrates the utilization of UDL because it gives all my campers who learn differently different ways to try to understand the expectations. For those who are verbal learners, they will get verbal reminders and also for those who are visual learners they can see exactly what is meant by my verbal direction with the images provided.

Resources

Adaptations and modifications guide – burnaby schools. (n.d.). Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://burnabyschools.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/adaptations_and_modifications.pdf

BC Ministry of Education http://udlresource.ca/2017/12/backward-design/

Promoting accessible classroom – ascension wheelchair lifts. Ascension Wheelchair Lifts – ADA Compliant Wheelchair Lifts. (2021, June 4). Retrieved June 18, 2022, from https://www.ascension-lift.com/blog/schools/3-steps-accessible-classroom/

What is Universal Design for Learning (UDL)? YouTube. (2017, November 2). Retrieved June 18, 2022, from https://youtu.be/AGQ_7K35ysA