Angela Zaugg

We are excited to be able to use simulated environments available on-line to enhance learning and outcomes for our therapy students.  Simulated case studies allow students the opportunity to practice hands-on skills in a low risk environment, making learning those skills less intimidating and building confidence in applying those skills before using them in a real-life situation.

This training has highlighted for me the importance of developing critical thinking skills in our students when using new literacy in the classroom.  Although there is unlimited information at our fingertips through the internet, students need to learn how to critically analyze the source of the information to determine the significane of the information and how to apply and use it.

Technology brings a bevy of new opportunities as well as new challenges to literacy and learning.  It definitely provides opportunity for more breadth and depth of learning and access to multiple views at your fingertips.  However, it also requires users of technology for learning to develop and improve their critical thinking skills to determine if the source of the information is reliable and accurate.

Literacy skills include listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and all four of these components are vital to comprehension and understanding.  Effective instructors should build in opportunities for both the instructor and the students to practice using all of these skills to improve comprehension and provide the instructor with opportunites for assessment of learning.

The UDL concept seems overwhelming, at first, but I think it can be achievable with incorporation of a few key concepts; namely, creativity, offering the learning material in multiple formats, stating clear objectives and applying them to the students' lives to improve buy-in and motivation to continue learning, incorporating student goals so they develop further buy-in, and providing timely feedback so students can adapt strategies and internalize what works and what doesn't to make informated decisions about their learning progress.  I think the most time-consuming part for me in regards to lesson planning, wil be ensuring that all of these… >>>

I especially appreciate the information on executive function as it incorporates teaching strategoes that allow the students to become aware of their own strengths and limitations, devlelop learning goals, and formulate a plan to achieve those goals.  All of this would likely require the support and guidance of the instructor, but I believe true learning will occur when students become more responsible for their own learning and teachers/faculty instructors can act more as a guide and a resource.

This module has provided me with some thoughtful ideas for providing class material in multiple ways to improve the perception of materials for all types of learners.  This might mean including descriptions in text, auditorily, and by providing pictures and diagrams to further enhance understanding and comprehension of new concepts.

I am new to the concept of universal design for learning, so I am currently just working to understand the concepts so that I can apply them to my curriculum development and daily lesson plans.  

I am always challenging myself to use technology in the classroom that enhances the learning process and seek out the experts in our program that can help me become proficient and comfortable with the technology before I use it in the classroom.  It can make the instruction more enjoyable and engaging for the students.  I also like to emphasize the improtance of having a notes section on all of my lesson plans so I can reflect on what worked and what didn't and make adjustments in the lesson plan to continually improve course instruction.

Using the A-B-C-D format to determine if an objective is actually clear and measurable, is a great resource.