- From: Chuck Hitchcock <chitchcock@cast.org>
- Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 11:22:01 -0500
- To: "Scott Luebking" <phoenixl@netcom.com>, <marja@w3.org>, <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Scott and Marja, I have copied the text from our CAST website below to outline what we mean by Universal Design for Learning or UDL (note the learning focus). None of this is fixed and continues to evolve. The text is copied from: http://www.cast.org/concepts/concepts_summary.htm The problem identified as "one size fits all" is referenced twice. UDL requires that digital content be flexible and dynamic or personalized pages seem to hold promise for obtaining that goal for both accessibility and improved learning. "One size fits all" seems desirable to some but we have pretty much set that idea aside since it seems to imply fixed, inflexible and not quite right for anyone. Related pages on our site further the distinction between access and learning. I hope this is somewhat helpful to your discussion. I should also add that we will be releasing a new version of the CAST Website in just a couple of months that is far more dynamic both with regard to the delivery of content and the use of various tools and supports that begin to exemplify UDL. Chuck ===================== Underlying Premises The basic premise of universal design for learning is that a curriculum should include alternatives to make it accessible and applicable to students, teachers, and parents with different backgrounds, learning styles, abilities, and disabilities in widely varied learning contexts. The "universal" in universal design does not imply one optimal solution for everyone, but rather it underscores the need for inherently flexible, customizable content, assignments, and activities. Technological advances in three arenas have made possible CAST's conception of universal design for learning: new tools in cognitive neuroscience, new digital multimedia learning tools, and new network technologies. New Tools in Cognitive Science Powerful imaging technologies such as PET scans provide a window on the learning brain in action and help us understand individual differences in new ways. Involved in learning tasks are three brain systems, each a network of distributed processors: systems for recognizing pattern, systems for generating pattern, and systems for determining priorities. New information about role of these three brain systems in learning and the variations among learners informs CAST's concept of universal design. New Digital Multimedia Learning Tools Two characteristics of digital multimedia are critical for universal design: its versatility and its flexibility. Versatility: With appropriate software, a computer can emulate a book, an audio CD player, a video game, a phone, a VCR, a spreadsheet, a drafting table, an editing studio, or even a battlefield. Through a computer we can control and combine many of these separate tools to create hybrids of great power: books that talk, a database that dials the phone, a video with an audio and a text track, a virtual reality. Flexibility: Teachers know that students vary in the strengths and limitations of their sensory, motor, motivational, and emotional makeup, their amount of exposure to literacy, their languages and cultural backgrounds, and their preferred learning styles. Unlike print, where "one size" is supposed to "fit all," digital media are malleable and can be adjusted for different learners. New Network Technologies Increasingly powerful, fast, and ubiquitous, networks form a third building block for universal design. Like neural networks in the brain, electronic networks comprise distributed information and resources, processed in parallel by individuals who form nodes of related concepts through clusters of links. Networks facilitate "just-in-time" resource selection and delivery; alternative pathways to information and throughout the system; connections to experts and mentors; access to current, continually updated materials; opportunities to publish work on-line and exchange feedback; and placement of widely varying content into structured curricular frameworks. Without a viable electronic network, true universal design would not be economically and practically feasible. __________________________________ Chuck Hitchcock Director, National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum, and Chief Technology Officer, CAST, Inc., 39 Cross Street, Peabody, MA 01960 Email chitchcock@cast.org Voice 978 531-8555 TTY 978 531-3110 Fax 978 531-0192 <http://cast.org/> <http://cast.org/bobby/>
Received on Tuesday, 28 December 1999 11:26:44 UTC