How will your interactive learning resource specifically ensure that the needs of all learners can be met? How can you adjust your planned learning activities to meet the needs of your learners if an unexpected event occurs?
Taking all students’ needs into consideration is of great significance since it keeps in line with inclusive learning design and universal design. Inclusive learning design implies that “every person is a learner, and every learner has the right to pursue excellence and achievement” (Inclusive Learning Design – EDCI 335, n.d.). The universal design indicates that “when a design includes improvements for some members of the population, there can be a benefit for other users as well”(Universal Design – EDCI 335, n.d.). Inspired by the two theories, I plan to factor in several potential obstacles to be faced by our students when designing the details of our course about the Nanjing Massacre.
To start with, the lecturing video, audio, and captions are all available, facilitating the understanding of course content for students with hearing or sight difficulties. With regard to international students, captions available for translations can improve their learning efficiency greatly. Besides, such an online teaching approach can be effectively immune to the effect of the frequent reoccurring of the pandemic.
Secondly, a variety of support will be in place to address students’ technical and academic issues. More specifically, we as teachers will provide office hours when students can approach us with any difficulty in understanding the learning content. VPN will be free to download for international students struggling to access the campus website. More importantly, there would be an online operation guiding video where students can learn step-by-step operations concerning how to access lecturing, assignment, and quizzes, and also how to make use of the library. If students are still confused they can turn to a technical team.
Thirdly, a syllabus (including a timetable) and assignment instructions would be posted beforehand. One downside of online teaching is the lack of supervision and constant interaction. Students can easily miss the deadlines with the assignments and requirements from different courses piling up. A syllabus enables them to schedule their tasks in advance. And without assignment instruction, students may be easily confused about where to start when facing a large number of learning materials. Such support can help students to be on the right track as soon as they can.
Fourthly, the final large project will be divided into small tasks to keep students focused and less pressured. According to the selective attention theory, students may be overwhelmed in face of a complicated and time-consuming assignment. Given this, our final project requiring students to give a community lecture about Nanjing Massacre will be divided into a course description, a course plan about content and form, an introduction video, a submission of teaching materials, and final a full video. I believe the division of tasks will be more manageable for students.
The four solutions aim to empower every student whether they have been stuck at home due to COVID or they have physical limitations. They can be relieved of both technical and academic pressure with such a learning design.
References
Inclusive Learning Design – EDCI 335. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/inclusive-learning-design/
Universal Design – EDCI 335. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/universal-design/
Hi Natalie,
I appreciated your connection between universal design and Inclusive learning design! I also agree with your plan on recording your lectures and making sure that captions are available for all students, I also intend to do that with my group’s learning design. I like how you included multiple different components on how your group will support students with different needs. I also liked that you mentioned multiple different ways that you are going to support international students as well. Overall I enjoyed reading your blog post and the multiple different ways you have provided to support students!
Catriona,