EDUC 6714 - Wk. 8 - Reflection Blog Post

Throughout this course I have learned about the Universal Design for Learning, Differentiated Instruction, and how to use technology in the classroom to support and adapt instruction to meet student's needs.  The goal of Universal Design for Learning, as Dr. Rose (2009) states, is "to provide every student with the maximum opportunity to learn" (UDL - dvd).  It is about changing the environment and instructional methods to support and help every child succeed.  It is all about offering students choices and options.  Every student learns content in a different way.  We need to be aware of that as teachers and present information in multiple ways.  I learned that with Differentiated Instruction, from Dr. Tomlinson (2009), that "Teachers can differentiate content, process, product, affect, and learning environment according to students' readiness, interests, and learning profile" (Intro. to DI- dvd). 

I will use the resources that my peers in the Differentiation Station social network (Group 3) provided to help me implement the principles of UDL and DI.  My peers provided many DI links to many good internet resources such as Google Videos, IKNOWTHAT.com, knowitall.org, many learning profile sites, brainpop.com, and http://tech4di.wikispaces.com/.  I will use the survey sites provided in the Differentiation Station to get a better feel of who my students are, their interests, favorites, and learning styles.  I feel that to truly provide the best instruction to your students, you need to find out the most you can about them and how they learn. 

As far as immediate adjustments I will make to my instructional practice regarding the use of technology integration, I will allow my students to have more options in their research and reflection projects using technology (such as podcast, blogging, VoiceThread, and PowerPoint) and continue using the Jumpstart Artist program which differentiates content learning for students and uses levels of readiness in many of the program's games.  Computer simulations and virtual learning is one area that I want to look at better over the summer to see where I can integrate this next school year.  I want to look at Virtual Art museums and how I can use these resources to differentiate instruction in my classroom.  It is best to give students multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas. 

Overall, this class has provided me with much information on helping me use technology to differentiate instruction and make my classroom a better learning environment.  I have gained many online resources from my peers that I will use to support student learning and engage students.  I have enjoyed the online chat with my Walden peers that took place during this course and also enjoyed the discussion boards each week, where we could support, challenge, motivate, encourage, and give suggestions to our Walden peers.    I feel more confident in my knowledge of DI and UDL and providing a better learning environment for my students.  This course has opened my eyes to the importance of looking at the various learning styles and multiple intelligences and using many different resources to help support my students' learning of content.