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Project Team: Who’s involved

Lauren Butler

[Learning Designer]

Widad Sirkhotte

[Learning Designer]

Janet Small

[Project Lead]

A/Prof Judith McKenzie

[Director: IDEA]

Nokuthula Vilakati

[EdTech Advisor Training & Advocacy]

Dr Amani Karisa

[Postdoctoral research fellow, IDEA]

Chantal Samuels

[Research Coordinator, IDEA]

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Background of South Africa Higher Education

University of Cape Town two pivotal moments:

Student protests (Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall movements)
Demands for equitable education - a)access and participation of previously disadvantaged and b) curriculum change to reflect priorities and knowledge of the global South
Impact of the COVID19 pandemic on teaching and learning.
Implementation of emergency remote teaching (ERT) and exacerbation of disadvantage

Desmond Bowles, CC BY-NC-SA

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How does UDL fit in?

Moving beyond ERT toward intentional design
Range of in-person, blended, and online modes create opportunity for inclusive learning design
UCT’s Vision 2030 - ‘unleash human potential for a just and fair society’
Inclusive and accessible digital learning infrastructure that promotes equity of access, participation, and success.
Redesigning Blended Courses Project is to contribute to Vision 2030 by applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for development of inclusive digitally enabled education at UCT.
Moving away from deficit characteristics of unsuccessful learners
Focusing on the learning environment

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Developing learning expertise at UCT

Develop students to become experts in productively navigating learning pathway:

Strategic and goal-directed,
Monitor own progress
Bring prior knowledge to new learning and to integrate new information to make it meaningful

An asset pedagogy, UDL resists and counters deficit ways of thinking that are applied to students based on ability, gender, race, language or class
UDL can be part of strategic alliances against exclusion by disrupting the normative centre of what education is supposed to look like and create spaces for diverse ways of learning and teaching

By Adrian Frith - CC BY-SA 3.0,

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Specific challenges in UDL in HE in Africa

Decolonial project at UCT calls for a critical engagement with UDL to explore how it could potentially privilege knowledges of the Global North and devalue and misrecognize African forms of knowing.
Language use is critical to the conversation about decolonial practices and the need to address cultural dispossession and powerlessness.

How does learning expertise contribute to social justice?
UDL is particularly invoked to address the systemic inequality faced by students with disabilities.
Perception of educators that the implementation of UDL will add yet another element to their workload.

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2. The Redesigning Blended Learning Project

Janet Small

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3-year institutionally supported project

“promotion of inclusive digitally-enabled education through the redesign of blended courses project”

http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za/cilt/projects/udl

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Teaching and learning context

Vision 2030

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First year - Research

Research

Design models;

Identify pilot courses;

Develop minimum standards;

LMS specifications

Blended course models, with course site templates
Audit and review of blended courses
Minimum standards for inclusive blended course design
Accessibility guidelines for LMS

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First year - Training

Training

For Edtech Advisors;

For academic staff;

For Teaching Assistants

Recruitment and training of Edtech Advisors
Webinars for teaching staff
Workshops for Teaching Assistants

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First year - Advocacy

Advocacy

Materials

Presentations

Policy change

Website with resources
Course design checklists & templates
Lobbying and presentations

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Sharing your experiences on implementing UDL

We would love to hear about what you are doing

and learn from you!

If you are willing to share, please write a few words about your work and provide a url or email address on the Jamboard or in the chat.

https://jamboard.google.com/d/1T2X0YAb_pQZIkGxdbz_PFce_XxpEEoy9-ScVppCqviI/viewer?f=0

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How to use a Jamboard

Access the link in the chat

Add a Sticky note on left hand menu

Write your message and click Save

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4. Redesigning courses: Examples of work done so far

Chantal Samuels, Lauren Butler, Widad Sirkhotte

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PGDip: Disability Studies in Education

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT AT A GLANCE

“South Africa has adopted an inclusive education policy in order to address barriers to learning in the education system. However, the implementation of this policy is hampered by the lack of teachers’ skills and knowledge in differentiating the curriculum to address a wide range of learning needs” (Dalton, Mckenzie, Kahonde, 2012:1)

A report on a one-day workshop conducted with teachers and therapists in South Africa demonstrated that:

Knowledge of UDL was appropriate and useful in the South African context as a strategy for curriculum differentiation in inclusive classrooms
Provided a relatively simple and comprehensive approach for curriculum differentiation
Knowledge of the UDL framework facilitated dialogue between teachers and therapists

Despite potential for this approach, change can only be realized with significant and on-going training and professional development of all professionals involved in the system of education.

Dalton, Mckenzie and Kahonde, 2012

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PGDip: Disability Studies in Education

The course aims to:

Empower educators to reflect critically on their own disability practices
Promote equity, equal access and dignity for learners with disabilities
Participants will explore the use of Universal Design for Learning

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PGDip: Disability Studies in Education

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Analyse how education in the Global South can meet the goal of inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Interpret barriers to learning for people with severe to profound sensory, physical or intellectual disabilities from a Disability Studies in Education (DSE) perspective
Evaluate changes to educational provision, including curriculum development, which address barriers to learning for children with disabilities
Propose instructional strategies that promote disability inclusion by applying principles of Universal Design for Learning

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PGDip: Disability Studies in Education

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The transition from traditional to online

UDL as a theoretical framework

Application of UDL

Impact on participants in their respective areas in education

Reflecting on the process

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PGDip: Disability Studies in Education

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PGDip: Disability Studies in Education

Redesigning Blended Course Process

The Big Idea
Non-negotiables
Your current context (students, teaching method, course)
Your existing design (populate the course design sheet)

Output: Existing course map

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PGDip: Disability Studies in Education

Redesigning Blended Course Process

Review Learning Outcomes
Review LOs, activities, and assessments in terms of constructive alignment
Review the existing learning activities according to the ABC methodology learning types
Review application of UDL principles, guidelines, and checkpoints

Output: Re-designed course map

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PGDip: Disability Studies in Education

Redesigned Course Map for DSE

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Health Science Fundamentals Project

Occupational Therapy

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Physiotherapy

Medicine (MBChB)

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Health Science Fundamentals Project

Snippet of the Lesson Building Guide:

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5. Training EdTech Advisors

EdTech Advisors, led by Thula Vilakati and Widad Sirkhotte

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The need for EdTech Advisors

“ 3. Recruit and Train Edtech Advisors Postgraduate students recruited to serve as a cadre of Edtech Advisors for practically supporting academics to redesign their blended courses through accessible and inclusive digital course materials. The postgraduate students will support the process of redesigning courses by foregrounding the UDL approach to learning design. ” (Extract from project proposal)

Identify student learning and professional needs and skills.	Identify gaps in learning materials and co-create multimedia-rich learning materials based on UDL principles and accessibility protocols.	Select and use technologies to enhance inclusive teaching and learning within various academic disciplines.	Advise and assist in re-organising course features / resources to support the teaching of threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge using UDL principles.	Assist teaching staff with technology-related surveys and data analytics in supporting learning.	Advocate and critically reflect on inclusive learning and teaching in the South African higher education context (attitudes and mindset change.)	Apply problem-solving skills by demonstration awareness of protocols in reporting concerns to the team and for further guidance.

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How we went about training (Part 1)

	(1): Identify student learning and professional needs and skills	LO4
	(2): Identify gaps in learning materials and co-create multimedia-rich learning materials based on UDL principles and that comply with minimum accessibility protocols	LO2
	(3): Select and use technologies to enhance inclusive teaching and learning within various academic disciplines.	LO1
	(4): Advise and assist in re-organising course features / resources to support the teaching of threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge using UDL principles.	LO3
	(5): Assist teaching staff with technology-related surveys and data analytics in supporting learning	LO5
	(6): Advocate and critically reflect on inclusive learning and teaching in the South African higher education context (attitudes and mindset change)	LO6
	(7): Apply problem-solving skills by demonstration awareness of protocols in reporting concerns to the team and for further guidance	LO7

Topic 1: Student diversity and learning needs in higher education

Topic 2: Introduction to Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Topic 3: Introduction to Accessibility and Guidelines (Including Disability)

Topic 4: Tools and Multimedia

Topic 5: Consolidating all knowledge, skills and values

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How we went about training (Part 2)

Snippet of Course Design Plan:

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How we went about training (Part 3)

Asynchronous pre and post activities using Padlet boards, forum discussions and polls.

Synchronous interactive webinars on MS Teams

“You cannot learn effectively until you are connected”

Course Structure on LMS:

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Discussion with EdTech Advisors: Finding comfort in discomfort (themed discussion)

What is your understanding of your role as an EdTech Advisor?
What do you consider as a critical learning incident in your training as an EdTech Advisor?
Can you give examples of how you have applied your cumulative knowledge, skills and values to your practice as an EdTech Advisor?

Aleya Banwari

Benedict Leteane

Philip Dambisya

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6. Discussion

Engaging with the audience

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For more information visit the Redesigning Blended Learning webpage at:

http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za/cilt/projects/udl

University of Cape Town

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References

Dalton, E.M., Mckenzie, J.A., Kahonde, C., 2012, ‘The implementation of inclusive education in South Africa: Reflections arising from a workshop for teachers and therapists to introduce Universal Design for Learning’, African Journal of Disability 1(1), Art. #13, 7 pages. http://dx.doi. org/10.4102/ajod.v1i1.13

#unleash teaching and learning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3gEpt-H7J0