Think UDL

Engaging Lilly Conferences with Todd Zakrajsek

Welcome to Episode 33 of the ThinkUDL podcast: Engaging Lilly Conferences with Todd Zakrajsek!  This episode was recorded at the Teaching for Active and Engaged Learning Lilly Conference in San Diego, California, February 27-29, 2020. This conference is just one of the engaging Lilly Conferences organized by the International Teaching and Learning Cooperative and the fabulous ITLC team. This podcast also kicks off a series of four podcasts from the conference that focuses on UDL conversations that were discussed by participants or speakers that I had a chance to interview while the ThinkUDL team was there. We start out this series with the President and Conference Director of the ITLC, Todd Zakrajsek. Todd has been organizing Lilly conferences for years all over the country and the world and he has incorporated so many helpful and engaging tools that showcase the effectiveness of Universal Design for Learning principles in the conference format that I wanted to talk to him and tell our listeners about how different the Lilly conferences are from the traditional academic conferences. He and his team have made so many innovations and improvements to the typical conference of yore. From engaging conference books to concrete learning objectives for each session, and even designated metacognitive exercises throughout the conference, Todd and the ITLC team have set the bar high for conference engagement and innovation! Additionally, I personally have learned so much in my participation in Lilly conferences over the years and have made lasting connections with other colleagues around the country and I wanted to share all of the good things that happen at Lilly Conferences with our listeners. I think you will find our conversation full of insights about how to make a conference both adaptive to and empowering for conference participants and see how thoughtful and UDL-oriented the ITLC team is in organizing and presenting every one of the Lilly Conferences around the world.

UDL and Culturally Responsive Teaching with Adam Nemeroff

Welcome to Episode 32 of the ThinkUDL podcast: UDL and Culturally Responsive Teaching with Adam Nemeroff. Adam is a Learning Designer at Dartmouth College and has created a very innovative way to share his ideas about Culturally Responsive Teaching and inclusive design by using a Trello Board. This episode will investigate the ways culturally responsive teaching and Universal Design for Learning are related to and also inform each other, and Adam has organized this information using what he calls a “vision board” which he created using the Trello tool. If you are unfamiliar with Trello, we have provided links in today’s resources to investigate this tool further, and you will also find Adam’s Trello board there. We think you’ll find this discussion enlightening and full of ideas for how Universal Design for Learning principles and Culturally Responsive Teaching mutually uphold one another.

Inclusive Syllabus Design with Kirsten Helmer

In this episode, we get the chance to discuss Kirsten's presentation on inclusive syllabus design that is based on UDL principles. There are 6 parts to her presentation that we will discuss in detail and she has graciously provided her handout and presentation slides which are included in our resources section on the ThinkUDL.org web page.

UDL for Faculty Development with Sarah Silverman

Sarah is the Program Facilitator at the Delta Program for Research, Teaching and Learning at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. And we had the opportunity to talk about how she incorporates UDL in her role as a faculty developer to help faculty and future faculty improve their teaching and learning.

Multiple Means of UDL with Karrie Morin & Dana Sheehan

This episode was recorded on the campus of Goodwin College in East Hartford, CT, on the eve of the 2nd annual UDL in Higher Education Conference on November 8, 2019, with the theme +1, Transformation by design.

Letting Students Lead with Dody Pelts

Dody is the Director of the Jones Learning Center at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas. Dody came to the CollegeSTAR Student Support Network Retreat where Lillian had the chance to talk to her about what the Jones Center is doing to support a variety of students with learning differences.

Please Pass the SALT! with Laurel Grigg Mason

Today Lillian talks with Laurel Grigg Mason. Laurel came to the campus at East Carolina University for a CollegeSTAR Student Support Summit where Lillian had the chance to talk to her about what she is doing to support a variety of students with learning differences. Laurel is the Director of Bartlett Labs at the SALT (Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques) Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

From “Making Accommodations” to Accommodating All Students with Paula Cocce

Today Lillian talks with Paula Cocce from Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. Paula came to the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, for a CollegeSTAR Student Support Summit where she discussed how she supports a variety of students with learning differences.

From Accessibility into Inclusivity with Jeremy Olguin

Today Lillian talks with Jeremy Olguin, the Accessible Technology Manager at the Office of Accessible Technology and Services at California State University, Chico. Jeremy and Lillian talk about the long 18-month rollout of Ally at Chico State and the mindset shift from Accessibility to Inclusivity on his campus.

Whole campus UDL buy-in with Bryan Berrett

Lillian talks with Bryan Berrett, the Director of the Center for Faculty Excellence at California State University at Fresno. Bryan and Lillian sat down in August 2019 at the 5th Annual CAST Symposium “Becoming Expert Learners” on the campus of Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to talk about how the whole campus is integrating UDL through not just Blackboard Ally for the LMS, but also online teaching, a new academic policy APM 237 for accessible course materials, Mobile DISCOVERe, and open access resources at Fresno State.