Universal Design for Learning and Virtual Environments

UDL or Univeral Design for Learning is a simple concept and echoes Don Norman’s point that well-designed things are self-explanatory. Unfortunately our high-tech world is riddled with far more poorly designed widgets than well designed ones. They often frustrate us or make us feel dumb. Few of us recognize them as such, but instead think there’s something wrong with us. Why would they sell such a stupid thing, we think to ourselves instead of saying What a poorly designed widget.

Consider for a moment, a learning situation which makes a learner frustrated or feel dumb. When we design learning with UDL principles, we’re in effect stating that we’re designing learning that is self-explanatory. Feeling dumb because she can’t find the syllabus in the course management system isn’t the fault of the learner but of the course designer. ENACTs UDL Guidelines

Learning that’s designed well, allows for all learners to succeed.

Applying these UDL guidelines when choosing technologies for teaching and learning is important because technology adds layers of richness and complexity to the learning endeavor and can easily muddle it.

Administration- A CMS such as Blackboard centralizes all course related administration. Over the course of their career, students become familiar with BB’s functions and the CMS becomes a utility. Building a course website is nice, when it’s done by a skilled web designer. Websites must be 503 compliant and should be easy to use. Is the time spent on webdesign better spent with something else?

Representation - Provide multiple examples of core concepts in multiple forms. Connect key ideas using varied methods.While technologies facilitate multiple representations, it’s important to consider their properties and enabling surrounding conditions. For example, 2D representations of content have more fidelity in 2D environments. 2D environments are far more accessible than 3D environments.

Expression - Identify and provide tools and scaffolding to accommodate varied entry points and paths to success. Set out clear end goals. Expression and media are intertwined; it’s important to assign the appropriate media to end goals, and have adequate scaffolding. For example, students may need to learn visual literacy in order to work successfully in a visual medium.

Engagement - Allow for alternative levels of challenge and support, and contexts for performance. Articulate long term goals in obtainable objectives. Engagement is connected clearly to course objectives not to technologies. For example, students shouldn’t spend more time dealing with the technology than accomplishing the goal. Tools facilitate not inhibit learning goals.

Assessment - Provide varied forms of assessment which align with course objectives. Use assessments which measure students’ development (knowledge, skill and emotional) accurately. When choosing technologies, consider the alignment of course objectives>assessment>technologies. Measuring students’ satisfaction with a technology doesn’t indicate they have learned.

Alternatives to SL

This blog post was written almost a year ago. Nonetheless, it’s comprehensive and an insightful overview of the immediate terrain of virtual worlds.

John Bransford on SL for learning

Bransford is coauthor of How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School. In late 2006 he hosted a discussion on learning in SL.

“People have asked if multi user virtual environments (MUVES) like Second Life (SL) can support ‘rigorous learning’. Given the right kinds of designs, the answer is ‘yes’ But the yes answer requires ‘effective designs’ Read the transcript from the discussion held in SL.

Updates on the Metaverse

The metaverse is indeed expanding. First is the announcement that Media Grid’s is looking at a 3-5 year timeline for developing an education grid: “a dedicated, not-for-profit grid of computers for educational content, worlds, and learning games that can be used in a classroom. All information would be marked with metadata so educators could build their own virtual experiences from a large distributed database of content. Pre-constructed virtual learning environments will also be available for quick classroom implementation.” Read more.
Second, the New Media Consortium’s Virtual Worlds program announced its plans for 2008. They’ll be adding new services for educators, including live mentors for newbies, space development services, a learning prize for content development, an educational resources repository. Great stuff.
And finally, the German magazine der Spiegel, interviewed SL founder Rosedale on SL. Making it crash less is his first priority, he says. Read more

SL educators events calendar

I wanted to post the calendar here. It’s also under Links. I forget to use it too. It’s however a great, quick glance at all kinds of events. The SL search function works too, but this is much more to the point.

10 Challenges & Solutions to Teaching in SL

Lisa Dawley (Boise State University) and owner of EDTECH Island, has been doing some fine work around teaching and learning in SL. Here graduate students and faculty compiled challenges and solutions as pa,rt of a weekly assignment in EDTECH 597: Teaching & Learning in Second Life, a course offered at Boise State University, EDTECH Island. Topics were chosen by each author. These are SL real world challenges with thoughtful solutions.

Here are SL Guides and Tutorials

Just a reminder that this site has a bunch of resources for novices, newbies and well versed Second Life residents.  For example on our page Guides and Tutorials you’ll find a free unofficial guide to SL in PDF format. For anyone who’s spent only a couple of hours in SL, it makes sense out of the myriad of things you might have experienced but couldn’t  understand as well as the myriad of things you didn’t even notice.
Then there’s the Starter Guide, another PDF, which is shorter, not as pretty or comprehensive, but good to get at the basics.

As one of our workshop participants observed, SL isn’t just another tool but a culture and a complex of technologies. These guides, and the tutorials and resources on our site are all designed to teach and support you in learning about SL. However, without spending time in world and being willing to figure things out as you go, it’s like learning about Russia without ever going there. Hoo!

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