Think UDL

Reflection, Curiosity and Psychological Safety with Liz Norell

Dr. Liz Norell is the Associate Director of Instructional Support at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss. In this conversation, Liz and I discuss several important UDL ideas including reflection and how to incorporate that into our classes and how beneficial it is for our own learning. We also discuss how to create psychological safety even within a course that could have many “hot-button” type issues, how to create choice and flexibility in your course, and what to do if there are too many choices for some students. We also discuss how students can essentially choose their own grade for a course based on their interests and efforts. Tune in for a very enlightening conversation with so many great ideas about how to infuse your course with UDL principles.

The Double Empathy Problem with Aaron Lanou and Colin Ozeki

Welcome to Episode 120 of the Think UDL podcast: The Double Empathy Problem with Aaron Lanou and Colin Ozeki. Aaron Lanou is an educational consultant supporting schools and organizations to reach all kids with inclusive, strengths-based practices. Through the lens of Universal Design for Learning, he coaches teachers to support autistic students and all kids with a variety of academic, executive functioning, and social support needs. Aaron is also a member of Carol Gray’s Team Social Stories and was previously a special education teacher in the New York City Public Schools and Executive Director of ASD Nest at NYU, leading the nation’s largest inclusion program for autistic students. Colin Ozeki is currently a special education teacher at Urban Assembly Media Studies High School supporting the autism inclusion program ASD Nest. Growing up as an autistic student, he noticed the significant lack of autistic teachers and role models. Taking this observation into adulthood, Colin stepped up to become the teacher, role model, and inspiration autistic students deserve. He uses his unique position as an autistic teacher to promote neurodivergent inclusion, acceptance, and understanding of different neurotypes across school environments as a living example of success. Today’s episode focuses on a mindset and technique that Aaron and Colin introduced to me that is helpful when dealing with the Double Empathy problem, which is essentially what we have when a heterogenous group of neurotypical and neurodivergent, specifically autistic, people communicate with each other. Who do we expect to bend more or less, and how can we best communicate together? Stay tuned for some fantastic insights from Colin and Aaron along with how this all relates to UDL, and thank you for listening to this conversation on the Think UDL podcast.

Contextual Pathways with Lee Dale

Welcome to Episode 119 of the Think UDL podcast: Contextual Pathways with Lee Dale. Lee Dale is the founder and CEO of Say Yeah!, an educational tech company based in Toronto, Canada. Lee saw the accessibility gaps in online education and decided to do something about it, he created his company Say Yeah! to help unlock the potential in everyone. In this conversation, we discuss instructional design, using technology thoughtfully, and creating contextual pathways in online learning. If you have wondered how complicated teaching itself is, we discuss the various roles that are needed for online learning to be successful which include the subject matter expert, the educator, and the role of technology in online learning.

Badges, Modules and Praxis with Thomas O’Shaughnessy

Welcome to Episode 118 of the Think UDL podcast: Badges, Modules and Praxis with Thomas O’Shaughnessy. Thomas O’Shaughnessy is an Assistive Technology Officer and UDL Project lead at the University of Limerick in Ireland. I thought I might introduce him and this episode with a poem:

In Limerick, Tom's praxis did shine,

Inclusive practice, his paradigm fine.

With UDL's broad scope,

And tech breaking trope,

Access for all, his constant line!

In this episode, Thomas outlines how UDL has bloomed at the University of Limerick with a national UDL badge, faculty and staff training, and large-scale awareness and implementation of UDL. Thomas has been championing the implementation of UDL and creating more accessible and inclusive educational spaces for all and shares his great work with us today. Thank you for listening to this conversation on the Think UDL podcast.

Accessible Library and Information Science with Rachel Combs

Rachel Combs is a Disabilities Accommodations Consultant and Professor in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. In this conversation, Rachel and I discuss her work with Project ENABLE which stands for Expanding Non-discriminatory Access By Librarians Everywhere and which seeks to raise librarians’ understanding of the library and information needs of disabled students and develop programs, services, resources, and technologies to meet those needs. We also discuss what she is doing at the University of Kentucky to reach all students and patrons and decrease barriers to access for all. You’ll find resources associated with this conversation on the ThinkUDL.org website and thank you for listening to this conversation on the Think UDL podcast.

The UDL Gears with Loui Lord Nelson

Welcome to Episode 116 of the Think UDL podcast: The UDL Gears with Loui Lord Nelson. Loui Lord Nelson is an author, leader, consultant, and educator in  Universal Design for Learning in a global context. She is also my esteemed friend and colleague as well as the host of two podcasts on UDL, UDL in 15 minutes and UDL Research in 15 minutes, both of which cover a multitude of subjects focussing on UDL around the world mostly but not entirely focussed on K-12 . Together we cover a lot of UDL ground and I am so happy to have her on the Think UDL podcast today! In this episode we discuss a fabulous new resource Loui has created to help all of us understand and implement Universal Design for Learning a little better called the UDL gears. Through this tool, Loui has created an accessible visual representation of the mindsets, skills, and practices of UDL practitioners. And in this conversation we discuss how these three things are related and how we can dig a little deeper into them together. You’ll find a link to the UDL gears and some supporting materials on the resources page for this episode on the ThinkUDL.org website. Thank you for joining us to learn more about UDL.

UDL at Scale with Thomas J. Tobin

Welcome to Episode 115 of the Think UDL podcast: UDL at Scale with Tom Tobin. Thomas J. Tobin is a founding member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Teaching, Learning and Mentoring as well as an author, speaker, and consultant on UDL, evaluating online teaching, copyright, academic integrity, and alt-ac careers (non-traditional and non-faculty career paths). Not only that, Tom is my long standing UDL friend whom I have already once interviewed in episode 3 of the Think UDL podcast. And he is back on the show again to move us far forward from that conversation way back in 2018. In fact, this conversation is about how to systematically implement UDL at scale. Tom has been doing a lot of research and work on how universities and systems can be successful in implementing UDL at large, not just in classrooms or in departments, and he has some sage advice and actual real evidence of what has already worked, and what we all might be able to do to accomplish this goal. It is an incredibly helpful and enlightening conversation based on so many conversations that Tom has had with UDL practitioners around the world! And let me also say now, too, that Tom says by the end of this episode that he wants to hear from you and your strategies and successes in implementing UDL at scale. So please look over the resources for this episode and reach out to Tom, too!

HEQCO’s Key Recommendations with Rachel Courts and Ken Chatoor

 Welcome to Episode 114 of the Think UDL podcast: HEQCO’s Key Recommendations with Rachel Courts and Ken Chatoor. Rachel Courts is a Researcher at HEQCO, the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario and Ken Chatoor is a Senior Researcher at HEQCO as well. Together with their co-authors Jackie Pichette, Ofure Okujie and Ryan Tischoff, they have extensively researched UDL in Higher Education in Ontario and written a fantastic and extremely helpful work for any UDL practitioner entitled, HEQCO’s Dialogues on Universal Design for Learning: Finding Common Ground and Key Recommendations from the Sector. In this episode, Rachel and Ken outline how they and their colleagues assembled the ideas for this practical work. We discuss the thoughtful ways that the authors and collaborators researched and collected stories and information from their colleagues about the use and implementation of UDL in Ontario’s higher education institutions including their challenges, opportunities and successes. And from this they have produced recommended strategies for others to implement and institutionalize UDL in their universities. You can view HEQCO’s full report in the resources section on the Think UDL web page for this episode along with the other resources that we mention throughout the episode. Thank you for tuning in to hear how you can implement UDL successfully in your institution with the help of my guests Rachel Courts and Ken Chatoor.

Equity Frameworks in a UDL Course in Context with Joanna Friend

Welcome to Episode 113 of the Think UDL podcast: Equity Frameworks in a UDL Course in Context with Joanna Friend. Joana Friend is a Professor in the School of Early Childhood and Faculty Facilitator in the Teaching and Learning Exchange at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Over the last several years, she and her colleagues have put together a fantastic course on Universal Design for Learning that is couched within their own context and within larger equity frameworks. In today’s episode, we discuss the context surrounding the impetus and creation of the course as well as what has been learned through various iterations of the course in the last several years. If you are interested in creating a course for your college or university, you will be enriched by this discussion which provides a step by step process including questions to ask, ways to facilitate the learning experience, stakeholders to consult, and general advice on how to attempt something in your particular area. Everything is context specific, so we will delve into George Brown College in particular, but this discussion is helpful to replicate in any context. You’ll find several resources about this course, Universal Design for Learning: Inspiring Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education, on our web page for this episode.

Simplified, Authentic and Engaging Library Science with Amanda Nichols Hess

Welcome to Episode 112 of the Think UDL podcast: Simplified, Authentic and Engaging Library Science with Amanda Nichols Hess. Amanda Nichols Hess is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Instruction and Research Help, as well as the Liaison Librarian to the School of Education and Human Services at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. She has researched, written about and created many resources for library science that focus on UDL. In today’s conversation, we will look at the role of the librarian on campus and how she has incorporated UDL into many different areas, from small projects to campus-wide initiatives. Even if you are not in library science, you’ll benefit as an instructor to hear how collaboration with librarians on your campus can bring benefits to both you and your students. Amanda has supplied her work as resources and you can find them on our website ThinkUDL.org for this episode. Thank you for listening!