Designing Accessible Presentations in PowerPoint Author: Nicholas Hoekstra The PowerPoint presentation is ubiquitous in classrooms around the world, and for good reason. PowerPoint is a powerful multimedia software that allows teachers to present information in dynamic ways, using text, images, art, and videos. But as with any format, PowerPoint can be made more or less accessible depending on the choices made when building your presentation. Fortunately, the same elements that have made PowerPoint so popular -ready to use templates, an easy-to-read format, multimedia capabilities, flexibility to print, and emailing or recording a presentation – also make PowerPoint a perfect candidate…
Digital Books and Universal Design for Learning Author: Nicholas Hoekstra Accessible Textbooks? One of the most quintessential features of any class or course is the textbook: the go-to source for structure, knowledge, and exercises for almost any subject. Unfortunately, traditional print textbooks represent a barrier in the learning environment that can be disabling to a wide range of students who have diverse learning needs (Meyer et al., 2014). In her book entitled Teaching Literacy to Students with Significant Disabilities: Strategies for the K-12 Inclusive Classroom, June Downing argues that we should expand the definition of literacy from traditional concepts of…
Online course accessibility: A single path or multiple pathways to a single destination? Author: Matthew Marino Covid-19 first appeared in the United States last March, colleges and universities across the country scrambled to move courses from face-to-face into online formats. The transition was far from smooth, with many professors and students quickly realizing course content was not as accessible as they thought. This spurred our thinking about accessibility within our own courses. Enter Tom Cavanagh and Kelvin Thompson, from the Center for Online Learning at the University of Central Florida. Each week they deliver the Teaching Online Podcast (TOPcast). Today,…
Designing for Use of Technology and Innovation Author: CIDDL Team Technologies designed based on Universal Design for Learning The power of technology in improving student learning and engagement is contingent on its effective design and innovative use in various learning environments. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework provides guidance on designing and using technology that is accessible and supportive of personalized learning experiences for all students, especially students with disabilities. Studies showed that technologies designed based on UDL, such as digital literacy readers, science notebook, video games, and podcasts for social studies, effectively improved performance and engagement for students with…
Gamify Your Classroom Author: Ling Zhang What is gamification? Game it up! Let’s make learning more engaging and motivating! Gamification has become increasingly popular in non-game contexts. For education, gamification means that we use game thinking and design elements to engage students and encourage them to solve problems when completing learning tasks. To do this, we can leverage feedback and rewarding systems, such as levels, points, badges, leaderboards, and other rewards, to motivate students to achieve their goals. Why gamification? Gamification taps into the rewards and emotion centers that can motivate learning and engagement. Accumulated research has shown that the…
Reimagining Your Syllabus Using Universal Design for Learning Author: Monica Berns; Michelle Patterson; Christine Parsons Gone are the days when the syllabus provided only class expectations and grading criteria. Today, the syllabus can be a living document to provide resources that are accessible and promotes student engagement and agency. The syllabus should work as a communication tool between instructors and learners in a welcoming, collaborative tone. What are better ways to reimagine syllabus? Course management systems are the norm and lend themselves to easily create a syllabus that includes multimedia, descriptions, tasks to complete and yes, grading policies. Universal Design for…
Current State of Affairs: Technology in Preparation Programs Despite innovations in digital technology and instructional design, tools to improve student engagement, and opportunities for digital learning, multiple decades of research in educator preparation and personnel development have identified the lack of technology preparation as a consistent issue throughout the United States (see more information in Lai, 2011; Okolo & Diedrich, 2014; Smith et al., 2016; Zhao & Frank, 2003). Attempts to support technology use and integration of personnel preparation, including developing educator preparation standards, have done little to change the outcomes. A meta-analysis study found that including even one course on…
AI Episode 3: Implications for Thought Leaders and Policy Developers Author: Matthew Marino In Episode 1 and Episode 2, we briefly described Artificial Intelligence in education and discussed how an AI teaching assistant looks like. To continue the conversation, what will the future of education look like as AI interfaces are continually refined? China is leading the world in AI research. The Chinese government is using AI to determine students’ level of focus in class. They gather data using head mounted plastic bands worn around students’ heads. The bands collect electroencephalogram (EEG) data, which is combined with high resolution camera footage, to determine…
AI Episode 2: What Does An AI Teaching Assistant Look Like? Jill Watson, an AI teaching assistant developed at Georgia Tech, turned 5 this year. Jill has been steadily improving since her 2016 rollout in Ashok Goel’s computer science course. The course has more than 350 students each semester. Students participate in online discussion groups with teaching assistants and the professor each week. Jill was designed to respond to questions emerging during the course. To do this, Dr. Goel and his assistants entered multiple semesters of question and answer data into Jill’s AI. They categorized questions and taught Jill to…
My Vision for CIDDL: A Word from Mattew Marino Author: Matthew Marino Colleagues, I have witnessed the positive impact technologies have on students with disabilities for more than two decades. During that time, I used technology as a tool to engage and motivate students, developed educational video games to teach secondary STEM content, and examined differences between student performance during game-based assessments compared to traditional paper and pencil tests. Our research teams consistently found that students with disabilities benefited from technology more than their peers without disabilities. Despite this research’s finding, I continue to see K-12 special education and general…