# data[].attributes.body
Website: https://padlet.com/

Description: Padlet is an online resource that allows users to create subject-specific walls or boards that they can share with other users. Padlet fosters communication by allowing other users to collaborate or communicate on other users walls via multiple media.

UDL Guidelines and Principles
1. Representation
o  1.1: Offer ways of customizing the display of information

When creating a page, users have many options for backgrounds, text fonts & colors, and display of text (black boxes vs. white boxes for text).  Users can add text, video, audio, and many other media forma to their posts. The variability and ability to customize could be use to ensure that pages are friendly for all viewers, including those with visual impairments or other disabilities.

o  1.2: Offer alternatives to auditory information
o  1.3: Offer alternatives to visual information
2. Action and Expression
o  5.1: Use multiple media for communication

Users can add multiple forms of media to their walls or boards allowing them to be user friendly for a variety of users with different abilities or deficits.  Users can also collaborate and add multiple forms of media to the posts of others allowing for collaboration among students who may struggle with the anxiety of in-class discussions or are better at organizing their thoughts into writing or visuals rather than spoken words.

o  5.2: Use multiple tools for construction and composition
3. Engagement
o  7.1: Optimize individual choice and autonomy (& 8.3)

Padlet offers a variety of options so that users can customize their boards, walls, webpages, documents, etc. Padlet also offers a variety of ways that users can collaborate and interact with the pages and posts of others. This can foster communication skills and give students who struggle with oral communication an opportunity to communicate their thoughts and opinions with others and collaborate on group activities.

o  8.3: Foster collaboration and communication

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Website: www.newslea.com

Description: Newslea is a searchable database of articles on current events categorized by overarching themes in every subject. These articles are student-friendly and can be accessed in different formats by reading level.

UDL Guidelines and Principles
1. Representation
o 2.1: Clarify Vocabulary and Symbols

Power words are words underlined throughout that can be clicked for a definition. Students can test their understanding of these words at the end by taking the Power Words quiz which offers multiple definitions and has students choose the correct one. This can address variability among students' understanding of vocabulary important to comprehension of the article.

o 2.4: Promotes understanding across languages.

Articles can be read in multiple languages. This addresses barriers associated with ESL students who struggle with fluency when reading the English language. Allowing them to read the article in their native language could increase understanding and comprehension.

o 3.2: Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships

Articles feature headings which help to identify the main idea of different sections and allow for the chunking of information. This can address barriers associated wit students who struggle to identify main ideas and can eliminate frustration among students who are overwhelmed when presented with long, continuous pieces of text.

o 3.3: Guide Information processing, visualizations, and manipulations

Articles feature practice writing prompts to help students process the information they've read and make connections between key concepts.

o 3.4: Maximize transfer and generalization

Annotation feature allows for color-coded note taking. Quizzes available with some articles also allow for the ability to demonstrate comprehension and understanding of important concepts within the article.

3. Engagement
o 7.1: Optimize individual choice and autonomy

Ability to search for and choose articles based on subject, etc.

o 8.2: Vary Demands and Resources to Optimize Challenges

Features multiple reading levels and allows for the ability to select the appropriate word count. Addresses variability among student reading abilities allowing all students to read the same articles regardless of reading fluency and skill level

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Website: http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration

Description: From their site: "Kidspiration provides a cross-curricular visual workspace for K-5 learners. Students combine pictures, text, numbers and spoken words to develop vocabulary, word recognition, reading for comprehension, writing and critical thinking skills. "

UDL Guidelines and Principles
1. Representation
o  1.2: Offer alternatives for visual information
o 2.1: Clarify vocabulary and symbols

Word Guide feature increases vocabulary and comprehension by providing definitions to selected words. The feature pairs definitions with images to enhance comprehension and increase word recognition skills. This feature can be particularly useful in increasing comprehension and vocabularies among ESL students and can help overcome barriers associated with students who have limited vocabularies.

o  2.3: Support decoding of text, mathematical notation, and symbols

o  3.2: Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships

o  3.3: Guide information processing, visualization, and manipulation

2. Action and Expression
o  4.2: Optimize access to tools and assistive technologies
o  5.2: Use multiple tools for construction & composition
o  6.2: Support planning & strategy development

o  6.3: Facilitate managing information & resources

Students can use graphic organizers to express their understanding of concepts and relationships between ideas. Organizers are available in many formats including webs, Venn diagrams, and concept maps to foster personal choice and autonomy. These organizers can help students to make important connections and overcome barriers associated with deficits in executive functioning skills to develop critical thinking skills they can apply in the future.

o 6.4: Enhance capacity for monitoring progress

The Step Workspace shows progression of work with a sequential work area to document steps while problem-solving. This can help students to track their progress and build confidence as they make their way towards their end-goals. This can help promote time-management skills among students and can address barriers associated with deficits in executive functioning and self-monitoring.

3. Engagement
o  7.1: Optimize individual choice & autonomy

o  8.1: Heighten salience of goals & objectives.
o  8.2: Vary Demands and resources to optimize challenges

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Website: https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/products/read-write/

Description:
Read and Write by Texthelp is an online literacy tool designed to make documents, files, and even webpages more accessible. With both speech-to-text and text-to-speech features, it can help students gain independence and confidence in both their reading and writing abilities.

UDL Guidelines and Checkpoints supported:

1. Representation
o   1.3: Offer alternatives for visual information

Text-to-speech feature allows text from documents, web pages, etc. to be read aloud to students, eliminating barriers associated with visual impairments or deficits in reading fluency. This could also be eliminate student variability among English as a Second Language (ESL) students who struggle to read English fluently.

o   2.1 Clarify vocabulary and symbols

Offers ability to have any word in the text defined

Offers a picture dictionary which could help students who are more visual learners by adding a non-textual component to their understanding of the word's definition

o   2.4: Promote understanding across languages

Text-to-speech function offered in multiple languages. This can help address learner variability buy allowing students to be read text in their native language.

Speech to text function could help increase writing fluency among ESL students by eliminating the need to compose and correctly spell words. This could also increase student output.

o   2.5: Illustrate through multiple media

Picture dictionary combines textual description with picture to promote understanding. This could be helpful for students who struggle with reading fluently and comprehension. This feature could also help students who are more visual learners to gain a better understanding of the word by pairing the textual description with an image.

2. Action and Expression
o   4.1: Vary methods for response and navigation

Speech-to-text feature overcomes barriers associated with fine motor deficits by eliminating the need to type or put pen to paper thus increasing writing fluency and output.

o   5.1: Use multiple media for communication

Speech-to-text allows students who struggle with getting thoughts into textual words on paper to communicate with their peers and demonstrate understanding of concepts through written language

o   5.2: multiple tools for construction and composition

Spellcheckers and word prediction software may increase writing fluency, output, and vocabulary in students who struggle with spelling, word-finding, etc.

o   6.3: Facilitate managing information and resources

Organizes writing into folders that are easily accessible

Overcomes barriers associated with deficits in executive functioning/organizational skills.

3. Engagement
o   9.3: Develop self-assessment and reflection

This resource allows students to have their words read back to them without the need for teacher staff assistance. This feedback promotes independence in writing and the revision process and builds confidence in writing abilities.

Helps students to overcome barriers associated with writing fluency and forming sentences that flow and are grammatically correct.

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Website: udleditions.cast.org

Description: UDL Editions is an online resource that includes many leveled digital text and e-books free to students and teachers. The site includes a TextHelp toolbar which offers a glossary, text-to-speech options, Spanish to English translations, and even a Google search option. The toolbar also allows students to highlight sections of text and group them by color in a separate window for review.

UDL Guidelines and Principles
1. Representation
o   1.1: Offer ways of customizing the display of information

Allows users to highlight text and change the color. Could help overcome barriers associated with visual impairments.

o   1.3: Offer alternatives for visual information

Offers a text-to-speech feature which can help to address barriers associated with visual impairments and deficits in reading fluency and ability.

o   2.1: Clarify vocabulary and symbols

Offers a glossary feature which defines any word in the text. This helps to supply important background knowledge and addresses variability of students' existing vocabularies.

o   2.4: Promote understanding across languages

Features a Spanish-to-English translation tool which addresses barriers associated with ESL students

2. Action and Expression
o   4.2 Optimize access to tools and assistive technology

TextHelp toolbar includes many assistive technology features including text-to-speech and translation

o   5.3: Build fluencies with graduated levels of supports

Offers varying levels of support (minimal, maximal, and moderate) that vary the level of difficulty of the "stop and think" prompts included throughout the reading. This feature addresses variability of the comprehension levels  and abilities of students.

o   6.3: Facilitate managing information and resources

TextHelp Toolbar includes a feature which allows users to highlight and group segments of text by color in a separate window. This helps overcome barriers associated with deficits in executive functioning skills and allows users to chunk information into segments for better understanding.

3. Engagement
o   7.1: Optimize individual choice and autonomy

Students can choose the readings they're interested in from dozens of options available.

o   8.2: Vary demands and resources to optimize challenge

Offers varying levels of support (minimal, maximal, and moderate) that vary the level of difficulty of the "stop and think" prompts included throughout the reading. This feature addresses variability of the comprehension levels  and abilities of students.

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Website: https://jr.brainpop.com/

Description: BrainPop Jr. is a web-based educational program designed for students aged K-3. It offers curriculum-based lessons from six main subjects which include; Science, Math, Health, Social Studies, Art, and Engineering Technology> Lessons include videos, worksheets, experimental activities, interactive quizzes, comic strips, and so much more! BrainPop Jr. is a great way for teachers to introduce concepts in a kid-friendly manner and lessons even align with state standards.

UDL Guidelines and Principles
1. Representation

o  2.1: Clarify Vocabulary and Symbols

o  2.5 Illustrate through multiple media

Interactive lessons provide multiple media for representation of content including videos, worksheets, graphic organizers, and interactive quizzes and games. Providing multiple options for students to interact with the material increases students' ability to attend to tasks for longer periods of time by sustaining interests. Introducing materials and concepts through multiple mediums also addresses variability among student preferences of learning styles/mediums.

o  3.1: Activate or supply background knowledge

Videos provided cover background knowledge needed to understand the concepts being taught in each lesson. This addresses the variability of students' prior knowledge and ensures that all learners are "on the same page"

o  3.3: Guide information processing, visualization, and manipulation

2. Action and Expression
o  4.1: Vary Methods for Response and Navigation
o  5.1: Use multiple media for communication
o  5.3: Build fluencies with graduated levels of supports for practice and performance
o  6.1: Guide appropriate goal-setting
o  6.2: Support planning and strategy development
o  6.3: Facilitate managing information and resources

Lessons included graphic organizers, fill-in-the blank sheets, comic strips, etc. for note-taking. This helps to foster important study habits for future learning and addresses barriers associated with deficits in executive functioning skills.

3. Engagement
o  7.1: Optimize individual choice and autonomy
o  8.2: Vary demands and resources to optimize challenge
Each lesson includes an interactive quiz which is available in three different difficulty levels. This feature addresses the variability of students' comprehension skills and abilities and allows all students to test their knowledge of the concepts learned, regardless of their ability levels.

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Website: http://www.gosur.com/google-earth/

Description: A free website (also available as an application) which allows users to virtually explore a 3D representation of the Earth. It allows users to navigate a virtual Earth to explore different geographical locations and features.
UDL Guidelines:
1. Representation
o   1.1: Offer ways of customizing the display of information

Offers the ability to change the layers of information you’d like to see so that students can focus on as many (or as few) aspects as they'd like at once. This feature can help to overcome variability of learners' ability to focus on multiple features at once.

Can choose to view 3D buildings, panoramic photos, street view, ocean, roads, etc.

o   2.5:Illustrate through multiple media

Offers the ability to zoom into locations and explore them visually which allows for a better understanding through imagery rather than simple text descriptions. Addresses variability among students preferred styles of learning and promotes a deeper understanding by pairing descriptions with detailed images.

o   3.3: Guide information processing, visualization, and manipulation

Provides an interactive model that guides exploration of geography. Interactive features promote a deeper understanding of geographical features and helps to maintain the attention of students who may struggle with attending to static information (i.e. worksheets with textual descriptions that cannot be manipulated)

2. Action and Expression
o   4.1: Vary methods for response and navigation

Offers the ability to use the mouse to navigate or keyboard shortcuts. This could address variability among students' fine motor abilities by providing options for the way they navigate the resource.

3. Engagement
o   7.2: Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity
Brings relevance and authenticity to lessons on geographical locations by allowing students to explore a simulation that emulates real life views of these locations. This can address barriers associated with difficulties with reading and comprehension by providing a graphic visual to promote a deeper understanding of lessons on geographical locations

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Website: http://www.learner.org/interactives/geometry/

Description: This interactive site demonstrates the main components of geometric shapes and rules through text, images, models, and simulations.

UDL Guidelines and Checkpoints
1. Representation
o   2.1: Clarify vocabulary and symbol

Includes a glossary which defines key terms used in textual explanation of geometric shapes to promote a deeper understanding of geometrical concepts.  Helps to address variability among learners who have more or less background knowledge of fundamental concepts.

o   2.5: Illustrate through multiple media

Textual explanations of geometric shapes as well as models and simulations. Pairing textual descriptions with visual manipulative helps overcome student variability among students who struggle with reading and comprehension skills.

o   3.2: Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships

Models and simulations highlight identifying features described in text. Pairing a visual with textual descriptions helps overcome variability among students who struggle with reading comprehension and vocabulary.

Underlines key vocabulary with links to a glossary which defines each term

o   3.3: Guide information processing, visualization, and manipulation

Interactive models to guide exploration. Interactive features helps to maintain student attention and could help overcome barriers associated with students who struggle to attend to static tasks.

Ability to highlight features such as faces, vertices, and edges of geometric shapes helps student to visualize concepts individually to address barriers associated with learners who struggle to focus on specific aspects one at a time.

o   3.4: Maximize transfer and generalization

Incorporates opportunities to review and practice concepts to help students who struggle with the ability to transfer and apply the concepts they've learned.

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Website: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Science-CAD/Big-Simple-Talking-Calculator.shtml

Description
The Big Simple Talking Calculator is a free downloadable calculator application offered by Softpedia. It features a large display that covers the entire screen and supports various functions including: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square root, half the sum or take a particular percentage. The calculator's upper field can be displayed in multiple colors (yellow, blue, cyan, green, magenta, yellow, red or white) , and the application has a text-to-speech feature which is available in multiple languages (·Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch, and more)

UDL Guidelines and Checkpoints Supported:
1. Representation
o   1.1: Offers ways of customizing information

Option to change the size & color (yellow, blue, cyan, green, magenta, red, or white) of the upper field .

This can address barriers associated with visual impairments.

Users can also select an option for the presence or absence of separators (commas, decimals, etc.) to simplify the display.

o   1.3: Offer alternatives for visual information

Text-to-speech feature allows the numbers and functions to be read aloud which could help overcome barriers associated with visual impairments or dyslexia.

o   2.3: Support decoding text, mathematical notation, and symbols

Text-to-speech function reads mathematical functions and numbers aloud addressing barriers  associated with visual impairments or dyslexia.

o   2.4: Promote understanding across languages

Reads numbers/functions in multiple languages. This could address barriers associated with ESL students or students with dyslexia.

2. Action and Expression
o   4.1: Vary methods for response and navigation

Offers the option to click numbers on screen or use keyboard. This addresses barriers associated with deficits in fine motor control by eliminating the need to click or press keys.

o   5.2: Use multiple tools for constructions and composition

Provides a calculator to overcome barriers associated with deficits in mathematical abilities and computation skills.

3. Engagement
o   7.3: minimize threats and distractions

Application fills the entire screen. This addresses barriers associated with students who struggle to attend to a task for extended periods of time.

# data[].attributes.body
Website: https://www.naturalreaders.com/

Description: Natural Reader is an intelligent text-to-speech software that is available in both paid and free formats. It converts text-to-speech from multiple formats (PowerPoint, webpages, Microsoft Word, Outlook, etc.) and provides speech in up to 9 different languages. Paid versions even offer Optical Character Recognition (OCR) which converts images to speech and allows users to create MP3 files that can be listened to on practically any device.

UDL Guidelines and Principles
1. Representation
o   1.3: Offer alternatives for visual information

Converts text (and images) from multiple formats to speech to overcome barriers associated with visual impairments, dyslexia, difficulty attending, and deficits in reading fluency. This software can increase the amount of text students with these challenges can read and decrease frustration with reading tasks in any subject.

o   2.3: Support decoding text, mathematical symbols, and notation

Converts symbols and mathematical syntax to speech. Reduces barriers associated with dyslexia and increases ability of students to read any text in any subject.

o   2.4: Promote understanding across languages

Text-to-speech is available in up to 9 languages reducing barriers among students who are not native English speakers.  This increases the ability of students to read texts for any subject whether they speak English fluently or not.

2. Action and Expression
o   4.2: Optimize access to tools and assistive technology

Text-to-speech features work seamlessly with multiple formats, including webpages.

o  5.2: Checkpoint 5.2 Use multiple tools for construction and composition

3. Engagement
o  Checkpoint 7.1 Optimize individual choice and autonomy

Ability to convert text-to-speech from multiple formats, including web pages, provides a variety of options available to learners and allows them to interact with virtually any text increasing autonomy