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Providing elementary students with multiple means of action and expression helps ensure that teachers create equitable, valid assessments.

From the moment I first learned about Universal Design for Learning (UDL), I saw limitless potential. Because there is no such thing as an "average" learner, the most effective instructors offer students a variety of ways to access and express information.

The UDL Guidelines offer a research-based variety of effective options for doing so. Below, I focus on two tenets of UDL to show how "multiple means of action and expression" checkpoints can make thinking and learning visible (which is, after all, the heart of assessment).

When we use multiple means of action and expression to design assessments, students can show their depth of understanding and feel successful, agentive, and engaged.

Setting a Strong Foundation through Expectations and Feedback

When designing assessments using UDL, we don't reduce rigor; the goal is meaningful grade-level instruction that moves students toward the same learning objectives in accessible ways.

Incorporating regular opportunities for feedback supports UDL, as it allows students and teachers to tailor their next steps to reach the goal.

In impactful instruction, assessment, feedback, and reflection are embedded throughout learning experiences, not just tacked on at the end. For that reason, teachers, students, and peers should provide actionable, mastery-oriented feedback throughout a unit.

Doing so is essential for growth and for building learners' identities and sense of community. When teachers and peers provide feedback on strategies and on learning behaviors (such as perseverance, focus, or mindset), we model-and provide time in the learning journey-for students to see their progress and to reflect on what is working and what needs revision.

Backward Design

The best advice I received when learning about UDL was to start small, to incorporate one change at a time. Within the multiple means of action and expression checkpoints, this might mean offering students one new tool, or two to three choices, in how they show their learning through assessment.

Begin by unpacking the learning objective/standard to analyze what it is that students need to be able to do in order to show that they have met the standard. This is best done with a teaching or departmental team, if you have one, to enhance your collective depth of understanding through dialogue.

Next, get clear on success criteria, and develop or revise rubrics or checklists, or provide a mentor text/product, to ensure that the choices you offer students use the same criteria for proficiency. Doing so makes assessment more streamlined for you and for students and ensures instructional validity. Share these criteria with students so that they can make informed decisions about their learning and know what they are aiming to achieve.

Choosing Assessment Options

So, you're ready to choose the assessment options you will offer your students and to consider the scaffolds you need to provide to minimize barriers to student engagement. Where should you begin?

If the standard uses the word "identify," as in the second-grade standard "Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text," students might highlight the main topic, turn and tell a partner, or write a response.

In the second-grade math standard "Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes," students might sort with manipulatives, sort on an iPad, or move (you might prompt students, "Walk to the front of the room if this shape is both a square and a quadrilateral and the back of the room if it is a quadrilateral but not a square").

If the word "compose" is used, as in the kindergarten standard that states students should "use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic," students might write and illustrate a how-to book, act out a how-to process, or put pictures of the process in order and describe them orally.

In the spirit of starting small, these examples offer students a few options while holding true to the rigor of the standards.

Incorporating UDL Throughout Instruction

Teachers new to this approach often ask me, "How will I have time to assess all students?" I remind them that assessment doesn't only happen at the end of a learning experience. As students are learning and creating their product, I can go around and check in with them about the rubric, noting what is already present in their work.

If students choose to video- or audio-record their product, I can watch and listen to the files at another time. I can hold a whole class performance or gallery walk at the end of the unit or lesson and assess some of the students at that time, or focus on one aspect of the rubric to home in on.

While performances and gallery walks may feel like added time, if you teach students how to provide meaningful feedback to each other and how to be present as audience members, you expand their collaboration skills-which improves instruction and better positions them to be lifelong learners.

Sometimes, I also have students self-assess and star aspects of the rubric they want my feedback on throughout our unit, then focus my feedback on what they starred. The ultimate goal in incorporating UDL into assessment is to nurture expert learners who feel empowered in their learning, motivated to persist in academic tasks. Katie Novak and Kristan Rodriguez say it well: "The framework has the potential to eliminate opportunity gaps that exclude many learners, especially those who have been historically marginalized. If we want all students to have equal opportunities to learn, we have to be incredibly purposeful, proactive, and flexible," which applies to all instruction-including assessment.

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How to Use Universal Design for Learning to Create Assessments

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Taking a Universal Design for Learning approach to assessment means offering multiple forms of action and expression to ensure equity.

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How Universal Design for Learning Can Help With Lesson Planning This Year

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The core concepts of UDL are particularly helpful for teachers moving between remote, hybrid and in-person teaching.

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Differentiated Instruction

Providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression creates opportunities for all students to learn.

Universal Design for Learning is a powerful framework to operationalize the right to education, supporting educators in maximizing desirable challenges and minimizing unnecessary difficulties (International Disability Alliance, 2021). UDL is a framework for designing learning experiences, so students have options for how they learn, what materials they use, and how they demonstrate their learning. When implemented with a lens of equity in a multi-tiered system, the framework has the potential to eliminate opportunity gaps that exclude many learners, especially those who have been historically marginalized. If we want all students to have equal opportunities to learn, we have to be incredibly purposeful, proactive, and flexible (Novak, 2021). UDL creates a learning environment that is the least restrictive and most culturally responsive and trauma-informed for all students.

Pause and Reflect: What is your familiarity with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework? Differentiated instruction? Consider what you know about the frameworks already, and what questions you have. You can return to these questions at the end of the chapter to determine if your understanding of the frameworks has evolved.

The term "Universal Design" was coined by architect Ronald Mace in 1988 who defined it as the "design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design" (Center for Universal Design, 1997). Buildings where all people could not enter were deemed "architecturally disabling."

In Mace's (1998) last public speech, he shared more about his philosophy on UD. He said: "Universal design broadly defines the user. It's a consumer market driven issue. Its focus is not specifically on people with disabilities, but all people. It actually assumes the idea, that everybody has a disability and I feel strongly that that's the case.We all become disabled as we age and lose ability, whether we want to admit it or not. It is negative in our society to say 'I am disabled' or 'I am old.' We tend to discount people who are less than what we popularly consider to be 'normal.' To be 'normal' is to be perfect, capable, competent, and independent. Unfortunately, designers in our society also mistakenly assume that everyone fits this definition of 'normal.' This just is not the case."

UDL is based on research in cognitive neuroscience that guides the development of flexible learning environments that can accommodate learner variability. UDL is defined by Higher Education Opportunity Act (PL 110-135) as "a scientifically valid framework for guiding educational practice that (a) provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged; and (b) reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate accommodations, supports, and challenges, and maintains high achievement expectations for all students, including students with disabilities." Given that inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings is contingent on teachers' ability to use inclusive instructional strategies, wide-scale commitment to UDL will be critical in creating multitiered systems (Scott, 2018).

Before effectively implementing inclusive practice, we must embrace the concept of variability. As stated in UDL Theory and Practice, a book by two of the founders of UDL, "From one perspective, human brains are remarkably similar. But to neuroscientists, this similarity is an illusion" (Meyer, Rose, and Gordon, 2014, p. 29). All learners learn in ways that are unique to them. This is referred to as variability.

We want to caution that embracing student variability is not the same as designing instruction based on learning styles. An article in the Atlantic, "The Myth of Learning Styles," shares the pervasiveness of the learning styles myth (Khazan, 2018). More than 90% of educators in various countries believe in their presence and use them to design instruction. But spoiler alert-there is no such thing. This is not to say that we do not have a unique mix of strengths and weaknesses, cognitive variability, multiple intelligences, or preferred learning approaches. But our brains are not wired for a single "style" of learning.

If someone says,"I am a visual learner," or "I need to hear it, to learn it," this idea stemmed from the theory of learning styles. There is just one problem: the theory is not grounded in science. Multiple studies have proven that learning "styles" are no more than learning "preferences" and that a preference doesn't lead to better learning outcomes (Nancekivell, Shah, and Gelman, 2019).

If we cater to a student's "learning style" by giving the "visual learner" more visual information and more aural information to the "auditory learner" or more movement to the "kinetic learner," we will shortchange their learning process. This does not mean we can't embrace multiple forms of intelligence and provide numerous scaffolds and supports. We should provide visual, auditory, linguistic, conceptual, and sociocultural scaffolds, but not because of learning styles-because of variability.

Pause and Reflect: Did you ascribe to the theory of learning styles? If so, notice the cognitive dissonance you may be experiencing as you "unfreeze."

In UDL Now! A Teacher's Guide to Applying Universal Design for Learning, third edition (Novak, 2022), variability is unpacked in terms of interpersonal variability and intrapersonal variability. Certainly, as educators, we know that our learners are very different from each other. This is interpersonal variability. There are still models where "struggling readers" are placed in a different classroom than "advanced readers" because the student needs are different, but this doesn't embrace intrapersonal variability. For example, we may be in an "advanced" reader group. It is likely that our group will not receive options to listen to the audio version of the text or access sentence stems because we "do not need them." But what about days when we are exhausted and having a terrible day, or when we forget to wear our glasses, or when the most responsible thing we could do for our mental health is to take a more accessible pathway to find balance? Instructional groups, when they are used for placement, do not embrace intrapersonal variability. Our needs are always changing.

The lack of appreciation of learner variability, especially intrapersonal variability, causes many learning environments to be restrictive and disabling to students. According to Liz Hartmann, an adjunct lecturer on education at Harvard University and an expert in UDL (2015), "When teachers embrace the conceptual shift of the UDL framework and learner variability, they understand that severe disabilities are part of the natural diversity that is to be expected and embraced in classrooms" (p. 58). When this shift occurs, educators are much more likely to provide the options and choices necessary for students with disabilities to thrive in inclusive classrooms.

Once educators embrace variability, inclusion, and the promise of UDL, they adhere to three principles when planning learning experiences: provide multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. Considering these principles removes the barriers that make curriculum and instruction "disabling" to learners, especially students with disabilities (Meyer, Rose, and Gordon, 2014):

Provide multiple means of engagement. Student engagement is equal parts attention and commitment. For students to pay attention, they need learning opportunities that are relevant, authentic, and meaningful. Since students are different from one another, and because they are dynamic and their needs evolve based on context, no one lesson will be authentic to everyone. To be committed to authentic learning, students need to learn how to maintain effort and persistence, cope when learning experiences are challenging, and self-reflect to help guide their learning. In a universally designed classroom, these skills are explicitly taught by providing students with opportunities to practice these skills in meaningful ways as they work toward their goals.

Provide multiple means of representation. When teachers present information, they often use a single representation and provide the same lesson to all students. This is often done in a lecture, by playing a video, conducting a lab, or presenting or demonstrating information, teaching vocabulary, and so on. Because there is significant variability in students, they differ in the information they need to gather before applying it in an authentic assessment. By providing multiple opportunities and options for students to learn information, students are empowered to personalize how they build knowledge and skills.

Provide multiple means of action and expression. Once students are interested in authentic learning outcomes and have learned the information by selecting the options that best meet their needs, they need to express their understanding in an authentic assessment.

When students participate in discussions and complete assessments, they are taking action and expressing their learning. If we want all students to have equal opportunities to communicate their learning, we need to design flexible pathways. To do this, it is critical to unpack our standards and ask, "How can we design opportunities where all students can share their progress toward the standards?"

The three principles of UDL support educators in creating multiple pathways for students to learn and express what they know while empowering students to make choices about their learning. Although this framework does allow students with disabilities to thrive in their classrooms, it also increases the engagement and achievement of all students (Scott, 2018). Understanding the three principles is the foundation for building learning experiences that work for all students and make effective inclusion possible. The three principles of UDL support educators in providing options and choices so students have pathways for how they engage with learning, learn, and share what they know.

Excerpted with permission from the publisher, Wiley, from In Support of Students: A Leader's Guide to Equitable MTSS by Katie Novak, Ed.D. and Kristan Rodriguez, Ph.D. Copyright © 2023 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. This book is available wherever books and eBooks are sold.

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How UDL Creates an Equitable Environment for Students

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Experts on Universal Design for Learning share some details on how this framework promotes equity in the classroom..

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Although many see accessibility features as solely for users with disabilities, a wide variety of students can benefit from them.

Traditionally, accessibility features have been perceived as tools that only benefit specific learners. For example, if you have a student with dyslexia, you might help that student learn how to use the text-to-speech and speech-to-text features of their device when reading and writing. However, accessibility features (while essential for some learners) can also be beneficial to other learners.

If we view accessibility features through the lens of Universal Design for Learning, then we realize that accessibility features are one way to promote access and minimize barriers for the wide variety of learners in our classrooms.

For example, text-to-speech tools are beneficial not only for students with dyslexia but also for students who are learning a new language, students who are proofreading their essays and want to catch errors easily, and students with limited time who want to complete readings while they are in transit. In addition, text-to-speech tools allow for multimodal learning opportunities.

iPad Accessibility Features

In my work with K-12 schools and universities, a key area of focus has been helping educators explore how they can enhance teaching and learning with the iPad. There are dozens of incredible accessibility features built into Apple devices, some of which are listed in the accessibility settings and others that are embedded features of particular apps. Below are seven iPad features that I think are helpful for students.

Spoken Content: Spoken Content is the iPad's text-to-speech feature, and it can read a selection of text or the full screen. Students can also adjust the rate of speech and customize the appearance of the text as it is read. For example, words and sentences can be highlighted in different colors to make tracking easier. Spoken Content also includes a typing feedback feature whereby the iPad can read text aloud as students type.

AssistiveTouch: AssistiveTouch makes it easier to navigate and control the iPad, and students can customize the actions to best fit their needs. For example, students can add a screenshot action that makes it much easier to take screenshots on the device.

Safari Reader: With Safari Reader, students can eliminate distracting content from webpages (such as ads, menu bars, and banners). They can also customize the appearance of the webpage, including the font, font size, and background color.

Magnifier: Magnifier allows students to magnify different objects in their environment. For example, students can magnify a page in a book, a historical artifact in the classroom, an object in nature, or anything else in their environment that they want to examine up close.

Dictation: Dictation is the iPad's speech-to-text feature. As students talk, the iPad will automatically convert their speech into text.

Translate: The iPad has built-in translation capabilities that work across apps. For example, students can highlight text on a webpage and translate it into other languages. There is also a Translate app in iPadOS 14 and higher that allows students to translate text, voice, conversations, and even text on objects in their environment!

Live Captions: Live Captions is a new feature in iPadOS 16 that allows students to caption spoken content. For example, students can enable Live Captions during a lesson so that they can easily follow along with what the teacher is saying, or they can enable Live Captions while listening to a podcast.

Google and Microsoft Accessibility Features

There are helpful accessibility features built into Google and Microsoft tools as well. Below are a few examples.

Students can use Voice Typing in Google Docs and Google Slides to convert their speech into text.

They can translate Google Docs from one language to another.

Students can also enable captions when presenting in Google Slides.

Students can use dictation in Word and PowerPoint to convert their speech into text.

They can enable live captions or subtitles in a different language when giving presentations in PowerPoint.

Students can use Immersive Reader to perform a wide range of helpful tasks. They can have text read aloud as words and sentences are highlighted on the screen, click on words to hear the pronunciation or view an image from the Picture Dictionary, translate text from one language to another, and color-code words based on their parts of speech. Immersive Reader also has tons of customization options. For example, students can adjust the display of the text (e.g., text size, spacing, font, background color) and how many lines of text they focus on at a time. Immersive Reader is built into Office 365. In addition, there is a "Use Immersive Reader on Websites" Chrome extension that will read select text on a website.

Teaching Students About Accessibility Features

There are three important questions we should address when teaching students about accessibility features:

What are the accessibility features of this device/tool?

How do I use them?

When should I use them?

Students also need opportunities to practice using the accessibility features in different contexts; this can not only help them develop greater fluency with the features but also help them transfer their knowledge to new situations.

Teaching students about accessibility features need not be a time-consuming or cumbersome process. In her book Transform Your Teaching with Universal Design for Learning, Jennifer L. Pusateri suggests a strategy called "5-Minute Feature," where each week, you take five minutes to share a helpful feature.

As we work to help students become creators rather than just consumers of technology, teaching them about accessibility features can also help them ensure that the content they create is accessible to others. For example, by learning about the importance of captioning, students can ensure that the presentations they deliver and videos they create are proactively designed with accessibility in mind.

By taking the time to explicitly teach students about accessibility features, we can ensure that our students have the opportunity to personalize their learning and demonstrate their understanding in ways that acknowledge learner variability and promote student agency. We can also equip them with tools to make the content they create more accessible to others.

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The Importance of Teaching All Students About Tech Accessibility Features

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While accessibility features are often seen strictly as tools for those with disabilities, they can be useful for a wide variety of students.

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Digital Accessibility Mistakes Teachers Make

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Digital Accessibility Mistakes Teachers Make

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A former teacher shares how she unknowingly created digital content that was hard for students with disabilities to understand, and what to do instead.

Back when I was in graduate school, I remember hearing a simple yet striking idea, which I recently learned is attributed to Donald Rumsfeld, former U.S. secretary of defense. He said, "There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns-the ones we don't know we don't know."

When it came to creating accessible digital content, I was definitely in the last category. I didn't know that I didn't know.

Although I was a teacher and college professor for 16 years, I had never had any formal training about digital accessibility. Sure, I had learned about accommodations, modifications, and certain assistive technologies, but I was never taught to look critically at my own instructional materials-the slides, handouts, and other digital resources I created on a daily basis-in order to ensure that the content I was creating was proactively designed with accessibility in mind.

And so, I did what you do when you don't know that you don't know.

Digital Accessibility Mistakes

Here are some of the things I was getting wrong (with links to better practices):

1. I would color-code important information on my handouts and slides without ensuring that the information was also conveyed in a different way that would be accessible to color-blind learners.

4. I would share pictures on social media and add pictures to my slides without ensuring that I included alternative text (alt text), which helps those who are blind or have low vision understand what is depicted in the images.

5. I would often use images as the background for my slides without sufficient consideration for appropriate color contrast, thus impacting the legibility of the information.

6. When creating handouts, I would format the titles and headings myself by changing the size or making the text bold (instead of using the built-in heading styles, which clarify the structure of the document and make it easier for learners using screen readers to navigate it).

7. When sharing links with others, I would copy and paste the entire link or write "Click here" (instead of using descriptive links, which make it clear where the link is going and are more accessible to learners using screen readers).

8. I did not ensure that the videos I showed in class, the ones I created myself, or the ones I shared on social media had accurate captions, thus creating barriers for deaf and hard-of-hearing learners and others who benefit from captioning.

9. When using hashtags on social media, I would type everything in lowercase instead of using Pascal or Camel case, which makes it easier to decipher the words in hashtags.

Can you relate to any of these common practices? If so, I want you to know that there's no shame in not knowing any better. In fact, it wasn't until I became more connected to my professional learning network on social media that my education in all things digital accessibility began.

My earliest encounter with the topic of digital accessibility occurred through educational developers like Ann Gagné who frequently posted about the importance of including alt text on images.

Prior to reading her posts, I didn't know what alt text was or why it was necessary. However, the more I listened, the more I learned about how alt text increases accessibility for people who use screen readers and how without it, users can miss out on pivotal information (such as the details of an event or emergency information).

While I am thankful to no longer be in the "unknown unknowns" phase, I am still a work in progress. I still make mistakes, and I still have areas that I'm working on. But by embracing being a lifelong learner, I am making strides in my digital accessibility journey.

Beginning steps

If you are new to digital accessibility, here are some practical ways to get started.

1. Choose one of the common "don't know that you don't know" practices that I listed earlier, and make that an area of focus for one week. Use the linked resources in this article (along with your own additional research) to learn about why that practice is problematic, whom it creates barriers for, and how you can proactively design your content to be more accessible. These accessibility resources from the University of Minnesota and CAST can be helpful places to start.

2. Each week, focus on a new "don't know that you don't know" item and repeat. The more you learn and practice the skills, the more they will become second nature.

3. Follow people, organizations, and other accounts that are experts in digital accessibility, and turn on notifications for their posts so that you'll see them in your feed on a regular basis (e.g., Accessibility Awareness).

4. Attend workshops and listen to podcasts about accessibility (such as Gagné's Accessagogy podcast).

5. Share what you learn about digital accessibility with your students so that they, too, can learn how to create accessible content.

I started this article with a quote, and I'd like to close with one, which is attributed to Maya Angelou: "Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better."

Now that you know more about the importance of digital accessibility and common practices to avoid, what will you do to ensure that the content you create and share is more accessible?

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Mistakes I Used to Make in Digital Accessibility-and How to Fix Them

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A former teacher shares how she unknowingly created digital content that was hard for students with disabilities to understand, and what to do instead.

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

When teachers reflect on their own SEL needs, they can model effective communication and relationship skills in the classroom.

Supporting students' social and emotional learning (SEL) is a high priority for schools. Ten years ago, most organizations invested in SEL focused their efforts on developing resources for students. However, teachers' social and emotional competence matters too, as our modeling is an important source of SEL for students. This post explains why and offers one strategy that educators can use to integrate this self-work into their daily teaching practice.

SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL MODELING

Research shows that when teachers model or embody healthy social and emotional practices like self-awareness and self-management, students' SEL outcomes improve.

What's more, students are learning social and emotional lessons from their teachers all the time-not only when we lecture about the importance of respect or lead the class in a guided meditation, but also when we greet (or do not greet) students as they enter the room and respond patiently (or impatiently) to technological difficulties. As Theodore and Nancy Sizer write in The Students Are Watching, "The people in a school construct its values by the way they address its challenges in ordinary and extraordinary times."

So, how can we ensure that we're modeling healthy social and emotional skills and mindsets for our students to learn from?

SEL INTENTION-SETTING and the WOOP Framework

Enter intention-setting-a practice grounded in contemplative philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience. When we set intentions, we attune our attention to our purpose and desired future state. Psychologist Christophe André compares intentions to "the first steps of a voyage, determining the direction in which we will head."

When we as educators bring awareness and intentionality to our own social and emotional behaviors, we're more likely to respond positively and productively to challenges that arise throughout the school day, and our modeling becomes a powerful force for supporting healthy SEL.

In the Teaching and Leading SEL certificate program that I run at the Penn GSE Center for Professional Learning, I guide educators in using the WOOP framework to set intentions for their own SEL. This process entails asking ourselves the following questions.

Wish: What is one important SEL goal that I have for my students and myself? Perhaps you wish to practice greater self-compassion, intellectual humility, or anti-racism. This is an opportunity to reflect on your values and articulate your priorities. You may have multiple SEL goals, but focus on one at a time.

Outcome: Why is this SEL goal important? What would be the best outcome of fulfilling this wish? This step asks you to identify the "why" behind your values and priorities. For example, practicing intellectual humility may be important to you because you believe it's essential for engaging in meaningful dialogue.

Obstacle: What is the main internal obstacle preventing me from practicing this social and emotional skill or mindset? While there may also be external barriers standing in your way, identify what's within your locus of control. Perhaps you sometimes feel certain that there is one correct way of thinking, which can make it difficult to practice and model intellectual humility.

Plan: What might I do to overcome this obstacle? Make a when-then plan that includes a clear situational trigger and response, such as "When I hear an opinion that I disagree with, then I will ask questions to understand where the other person is coming from before sharing my own opinion."

For example, Abraham, an elementary school teacher in Mexico City, wished to practice greater patience so that he could be more present and receptive when his students raised concerns. However, he recognized that this was particularly difficult for him to do when he was feeling rushed to finish a lesson or activity. Therefore, his plan was "When I notice myself feeling rushed, then I will stop and take three deep breaths."

BENEFITS OF SEL INTENTION-SETTING

Teachers report that this intention-setting process leads to a deeper understanding of themselves, their students, teaching, and learning. Many feel more aware of their thoughts, feelings, and actions, and more cognizant of their own strengths and areas of growth. For example, a high school humanities teacher learned, "I really need to be acknowledged for what I'm doing, which in turn taught me that I should be acknowledging kids for showing up."

Moreover, teachers find themselves better able to manage their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively. As a result, they feel more in control, confident, and present, which can have a positive ripple effect on their relationships with students. Abraham's intention to practice greater patiencehas helped him pause before responding to his students, which he feels has encouraged them to express their thoughts and feelings more freely.

1. Did the obstacles that you expected to arise actually arise?

2. Were you able to respond with intention? If not, why not? If yes, what was the result?

3. What did you learn from this experience?

4. Reset your WOOP. Feel free to adapt or adjust your wish as needed so that it best aligns with your intention and circumstances in this moment.

TIPS FOR SETTING SEL INTENTIONS With the WOOP Framework

Take time to reflect and reset. SEL intentions rarely go exactly as planned. Think of this as a process of tinkering and experimenting. After setting an SEL intention and attempting to live it out, ask yourself these questions:

Create a WOOP group. Collaborating with trusted colleagues throughout the SEL intention-setting, enacting, and reflection process may be especially beneficial for teachers. Such collaboration offers us an opportunity to think out loud and collectively brainstorm plans to turn our SEL goals into action. It can provide a sense of encouragement and accountability as we work toward our SEL goals.
Thank you to Abraham Corona and all of the educators whose experiences and insights contributed to this article.
Remember that intention doesn't equal impact. Activist adrienne maree brown reminds us that while it's important to attend to what we wish to happen, it's also important to move beyond intention and attend to what actually happens. For example, we may intend to collaborate more effectively, but that doesn't mean we'll automatically stop micromanaging others. We can work to better understand the impact of our intentions by asking our students and colleagues how they experience our behaviors.

Make it a habit. Learning social and emotional skills and mindsets isn't like learning how to ride a bike; it's a messy process that requires constant work and reflection. Just because you managed to practice patience in one situation doesn't mean that you'll practice patience in every situation. Abraham found encouragement in reminding himself that it's impossible to change our behaviors immediately because "we're not machines." With practice, SEL intention-setting can become a way of thinking that we integrate into our daily routine.

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When teachers reflect on their own SEL needs, they can model effective communication and relationship skills in the classroom.

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

Touring the halls and other spaces can reveal a lot about your school's climate and culture.

Have you ever entered a school and immediately noticed a positive climate with students and educators who value social-emotional and character development (SECD)? Relatedly, have you had the experience of walking into a school that distinctly did not feel that way? I think it's safe to say that all of us in education have had both sets of experiences.

What did you experience that yielded these impressions? If we can identify the sources of our views, we can see what's missing and what's present, and strengthen what seems to be working well, whether in our school or others'.

Physical appearance

Building tone

Schoolwide SECD

Classroom management and instruction

Adult relationships

Adult-student relationships

Student-to-student relationships

Lunchroom/recess

Justice, equity, diversity, inclusion (JEDI)

Some educators use walk-throughs to identify the extent and depth of presence of SECD in a school building. They focus on artifacts and behaviors that specifically evidence a concentration on social-emotional and character development and its connection to school climate. Information should primarily be obtained by what you can sense as you walk through the school. You may need to look at newsletters, meeting minutes, and other documentation that is not likely to be on display. And of course, you also should go beyond just observation and talk to adults on staff and to students.

Based on the work of the Developing Safe and Civil Schools project and the input of Larry Leverett, Janet Patti, and Marcia Knoll, I have compiled more than 50 points of observation for school/SECD leaders to look into when doing a walk-through, covering nine areas:

Key Walk-Through Points of Observation

The building (physical appearance and tone): Let's start with how the building looks. Is it cared for? Is it clean? Is there obvious disrepair? This contributes to the tone of the building-what is the predominant mood as you walk around? Are people happy? Anxious? Engaged in their tasks? Courteous and caring? How are you greeted?

Schoolwide and classroom SECD: Next is the extent to which you can clearly see and hear SECD instruction in action. You know what's supposed to be happening in SECD-can you see it? Is there evidence that the appropriate SECD-related lessons have been carried out? Is SECD-related terminology being used?

If you ask students about what they should have been learning about SECD or the class/school core values, can they tell you? A favorite tactic of a mentor and colleague, Larry Leverett, as superintendent was to sit in the back of classrooms and ask students about the SECD they were supposed to have received recently.

Classroom management and instruction: The next area refers to the nature of classroom instruction. How are questions asked? What is the process for classroom management? Are students learning and being prompted to use specific self-management skills and mindfulness, as per curriculum guidelines? How much is student voice encouraged?

Relationships (including lunchroom and recess activity): The next three areas are about relationships, so essential to establishing a climate to promote learning. How people treat one another must model the SECD competencies being spoken about and instructed. Are staff mutually supportive? Welcoming to parents and other outsiders? Do they relate to students respectfully, with a growth mindset, and without bias?

Are there clear expectations that all students will treat one another with kindness, care, respect, and support, and can this be seen in their interactions during all parts of the school day? These considerations are not suspended in the last area, lunchroom/recess. Kindness (and not yelling) on the part of adults and welcome acceptance by students of peers should be the norm that's observed.

Support for the JEDI: Of tremendous importance is the extent to which the school aligns itself with the JEDI-justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The idea of a walk-through is not to elicit statements about the JEDI but to see the JEDI in action... to feel the Force, not just hear about it. To what extent do you get a sense of social justice, inclusion, cultural responsiveness, and equity during the school day?

One area you will be looking for is equal opportunity and treatment of all students, in terms of posing higher-order thinking questions, posting of work, opportunities to respond or lead, availability of help, and diversity in small working groups. Be sure to ask about discipline data, disaggregated by gender, ethnic/racial group, and other relevant student categories that have been documented.

Morning announcements

School and district newsletters

Parent organization newsletters

School and district websites

Minutes of faculty, grade-level, administrative, cabinet, and faculty council meetings

You also should see evidence that cultures and traditions represented by students and their families, as well as all staff, are recognized. In some cases, you will have to ask about cultural diversity to get a full picture, as not everything will be in evidence during a given walk-through.

School routines: One area is not part of the enclosed checklist because it's less open to walk-through observation: the extent to which SECD is infused into school routines. Make specific inquiries about how SECD is exemplified in the following:

You should also look to see if you can find SECD-related events on school calendars.

A walk-through is not only informative, it's aerobic. The more you walk, the healthier you will be... and your schools will be. A thoughtful, no-fault review of the findings with school leadership and staff can then yield priorities for improvement with benchmarks that can be monitored in various ways, including another walk-through.

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Using a School Walk-Through to Assess SEL and Character Development

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Teachers and school leaders can learn a lot about a school's climate by using school walk-throughs to assess SEL and character development.

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In "Straight Talk with Rick and Jal," Harvard University's Jal Mehta and I examine some of the reforms and enthusiasms that permeate education. In a field full of buzzwords and jargon, our goal is simple: Tell the truth, in plain English, about what's being proposed and what it might mean for students, teachers, and parents. We may be wrong and will frequently disagree, but we'll try to be candid and ensure that you don't need a Ph.D. in eduspeak to understand us. Today's topic is artificial intelligence.
- Rick

Jal: Is artificial intelligence going to revolutionize education? Or will it go the way of educational radio, the CD-ROM, and the many other technologies that were introduced with great fanfare but ultimately did little to change the fundamental enterprise of schooling?

Since I'm a luddite by nature, I'm going to challenge myself and start by arguing the positive case. What we've seen thus far, despite all the sky is falling jeremiads by newspaper columnists everywhere, is that artificial intelligence can complement but not replace quality human intelligence. ChatGPT synthesizes material from many existing online sources and integrates it into one coherent product. But if you are the one creating original thought-the writer, scholar, or student developing a piece of original work-then you have little to fear in being replaced by ChatGPT. And the more original your thinking, the less replaceable you are.

The problem, then, is not the technology, but the kinds of tasks we ask students to do in school. As generations of research have shown, much of what we give to students asks only for fairly low-level comprehension and rote application. And that's exactly what artificial intelligence can do well. ChatGPT is really good at the five-paragraph essay. And what that tells us is not that we should ban the technology but that we need to change the task.

The world we want to get to, then, is one in which we are equipping students to use ChatGPT and other AI tools in the way that professionals would use them. They may help you with the background research or generate the initial template for a presentation, but, at the end of the day, you are the one who is responsible for producing quality, original work. Just as calculators are efficient tools for those who work with numbers, AI could become a tool for those of us who work with words.

But ... and here is the rub ... this depends on the nature of the education you are purveying and the kind of environment you've created. If you are teaching a 1,000-person college class, and there is an antagonistic relationship between the professor and the students, and the professor assigns the same shopworn essay topics year after year, then students will use ChatGPT to cheat, much as the technophobes fear. But, if students are producing original work, in smaller classes with stronger relationships, the kinds of places where teachers and professors are functioning more as a coach than an opponent, then ChatGPT will be used more as it was intended, as a tool to facilitate the creation of quality product. The freakout over the technology is more revealing of the nature of our educational institutions than it is about the technology itself.

What do you think, Rick-optimist or pessimist about AI?

Rick: A little of each, I guess. For starters, I should say that I'm less troubled than you are, at least in principle, if some instruction entails "low-level synthesis and information." We need to get students grounded and situated. It's like learning to play ball or the guitar, where early learning is low level and pretty rote, and that's fine-so long as it's engaging, vigorous, and intentional. But there has to be a purposeful progression in which learners are consistently challenged and taught to elevate their game.

Too often, instruction doesn't do that. And that's where your point about the five-paragraph essay hits home. Students get a template, mimic the formula, toss off a halfhearted thesis, insert some cut-and-pasted content, and call it a day. This is patently pointless. Add AI to that equation, and the only real change is that the student delegates the cutting and pasting to AI. They learn less-but not a lot less. And that's because they weren't learning much in the first place.

In this sense, AI does less to solve the problem than to illuminate it. How should students learn to write a five-paragraph essay? It's not by filling out a page but by engaging mindfully with each part of the writing process. Identifying and sharpening a thesis should be a conversation with peers or a teacher. The supporting of claims should involve offering ideas, getting feedback, revision, and then more feedback. A conclusion should be presented orally, with attention to coherence and polish. Editing should be done with a pen in hand, over a printout, while students discuss sentence flow and word choice. Pursued this way, the five-paragraph essay is a workshop in good writing.

In this kind of writing process, AI can be a useful tool but not a substitute for wrestling with essential skills and knowledge. It's a lot like the calculator. The calculator is a terrific device for allowing high schoolers in trigonometry or calculus to spend less time on familiar calculations and more mastering new knowledge and concepts. But that presumes that students have already mastered computation. If K-5 teachers just allow students to solve problems by punching the numbers into a calculator, then high schoolers wind up using their devices as a crutch-not a tool. And that means they never really understand what they're doing.

That is decidedly not where we want to be with AI. You started by channeling your techno-optimist self, pal. How else might you think about all this?

Jal: You argue, rightly in my view, that when you are learning a skill, you don't initially want technological help. So I agree no calculators for beginning math students and no ChatGPT as you are first learning to write. But what if the problem is deeper than that?

Consider GPS. This is a technology that was introduced in my early 20s and became ubiquitous in my early 30s. (I'm 45.) Before GPS, it took longer to figure out how to get to places the first time. And it was sometimes a little harrowing: You'd get lost; you'd be trying to read the map and drive at the same time. It wasn't so easy, but once you'd been a place a few times, you knew how to get there.

With GPS, the first ride is smoother. Easier to get there, much less likely to get lost. But, at least if you are like me, you can go places many times and still not really know how to get there. When your brain doesn't have to do the work itself, it doesn't make the needed connections and thus it doesn't develop, perhaps even atrophies.

As AI engines improve, a GPS-style future seems possible. Writing is hard. It has a lot in common with trying to drive someplace new: lots of wrong turns, backtracking, and getting lost on your first few tries. Harrowing. But, like driving, with practice, you get better at it-more able to navigate, less freaked out when you get lost, and maybe (with time) more able to get where you are going the first time. But if you aren't the one piloting the vehicle, the AI is the one learning, and you are just sitting in the passenger's seat.

We haven't even talked about all the other uses of AI-to write songs, to serve as a medical diagnostician, to screen job applicants, and many more. There is much more to unpack here than we can do in one column. But I think we can see one broad lesson from past technologies that is likely to apply: You want to be the one who is using the technology rather than having the technology use you. In other words, we can imagine a world where most kids are listening to AI-developed songs, while some (likely advantaged) kids are learning how to use AI software to write songs, learning editing software to mix together different beats, and so forth. As AI becomes more ubiquitous, education should prepare students to a) learn how to use these tools effectively; and b) how to exercise judgment about why, when, where, and under what circumstances they should be deployed.

Rick: You've flagged two big points here that don't get enough attention. One is how technology insulates us from the larger world. The GPS illustration is a great one. Technology makes things easier, quicker, and more accessible. I remember when getting money out of the bank was a chore. ATMs, debit cards, and e-cash have changed that. That's great. But those benefits do come at a cost. Going to the bank, finding a certain book, or tracking down an album used to require going out, visiting libraries or record stores, and talking to people. Now, we manage money, get books, or find music in a series of transactional, impersonal swipes during which we go nowhere and meet no one.

And then there's the difference between using AI as a tool of learning and the ways in which students will use AI after graduation. When I argue that AI mustn't be a shortcut around essential skills and knowledge, some techno-optimists tell me that I'm worrying unduly and that, "If a student writes a paper collaboratively with AI, that's fine-that's what they'll be doing soon, anyway." Well, for one thing, we've a lousy track record of predicting how technologies will play out or even which skills we'll need to use them effectively. Keep in mind that, less than a decade ago, it was predicted that driverless cars would eradicate three million truck-driving jobs by 2025 or 2030. Now? It seems like those lucrative jobs may be with us for a while yet.

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AI Isn't the Problem. It's How We Use It, Especially in Schools (Opinion)

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The problem is not the technology, but the kinds of tasks we ask students to do.

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Beyond February: Teaching Black History Any Day, Every Day, and All Year Long, K-3(book)
This guide by Dawnavyn James(who also contributed to this resource list)supports elementary educators in their Black history instruction. Because Black history is often taught during February, this book dives into ways that Black history can be taught throughout the school year.

The book includes examples from the classroom and additional resources for educators to use in their classrooms. There are templates for educators, frequently asked questions about elementary Black history instruction, and strategies for reading Black-history-centered picture books.
Black Lives Matter at School, edited by Denisha Jones & Jesse Hagopian (book)
Beyond February gives examples of what Black history can look like in social studies, literacy, math, and science instruction and weaves in personal stories of the author's experience teaching Black history in elementary classrooms.

This text chronicles National Black Lives Matter at School, a movement that began in Seattle in 2016, through interviews, essays, poems, lessons, and depictions of campaigns.

The book includes writings from leading voices in anti-racist education like Bettina Love and Wayne Au but also highlights the work of teachers, community and union activists, and, most importantly, the students who have built this national movement through a variety of activities, events, and its annual week of action in February. (This year, the week of action will occur Feb. 5-9.)

Part activist guide, part autobiographical account, it reveals the struggles and challenges to institutional racism in schools by focusing on the movement's four key demands: 1) ending zero-tolerance discipline practices, 2) mandating Black history and ethnic-studies classes, 3) hiring more Black teachers, and 4) funding counselors, not police officers, for schools.
Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness by Simone Browne (book)
This Netflix documentary was created by MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini to expose the racial bias, sexism, and flaws of artificial intelligence, facial-recognition technology, and software algorithms. This documentary encourages educators to more closely analyze the role of technology, specifically generative artificial intelligence, and to advocate ethical and inclusive technology.
"High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America" (docuseries)
Included are stories of algorithmic discrimination related to policing, surveillance, hiring practices, technology, and housing. Each story gives viewers an in-depth exploration of how data and algorithms can reinforce existing inequalities and harm marginalized communities.

This book examines the intersection of surveillance and race. Browne delves into the history of surveillance technologies and practices, highlighting how Black bodies have been surveilled, controlled, and commodified throughout history, from the era of slavery to modern surveillance technologies.
Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery (online archive)
Dark Matters informs us of the history, strategy, planning, and technologies behind the creation of the slave ship. When it comes to teaching slavery in the United States, we can no longer shy away from the brutal truth of transporting, branding, owning, selling, and tracking Black bodies across land and sea.
Teaching White Supremacy by Donald Yacovone (book)
This Netflix docuseries centers not just on the richness of African American cuisine but also on the richness of Black history. Food journalist Stephen Satterfield and culinary historian Jessica B. Harris trace the origins of different dishes and highlight the history of Black people, their culture, and a variety of cooking techniques and recipes.
Suggested Instagram Pages:

@iamblacklit: a Black, woman-owned bookstore featuring all-Black authors

@HBCUprepschool: a Black-owned shop with books and other instructional and learning materials created for children by founder Claudia Walker

@justice4blackgirls: a Black, women-owned platform to amplify voices of Black girls and women

"High on the Hog" can be used by educators and families alike to educate children and themselves about the people and places that cultivate the culture and meals that nourish the souls of Black people.

Through the two seasons of this docuseries, viewers get to hear stories of resistance and agency, meet historical and modern chefs, and learn innovative recipes.

Histematics, a concept created by former Philadelphia public school teacher Akil Parker, is a combination of history and mathematics. Parker offers a unique approach when encouraging pre- and in-service teachers to combine subjects, specifically history and mathematics. Through the concept of Histematics, he has been able to attract and engage the attention of many as his theory of mathematics education continues to evolve.

After the Civil War, finding family members was a priority for formerly enslaved people. Launched in 2017 as a collaboration between Villanova University's graduate history program and Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Last Seen is an extensive collection of primary-source ads from across the country placed by family members searching to reconnect with loved ones. The ads reveal the perseverance, hope, and problem-solving of the Black community during and after Reconstruction.

The ads can be searched by location, specific term, and name, and a variety of filters can be used to narrow down results. An interactive global map indicates the locations where ads were placed or appeared. Last Seen also includes several lesson plans for elementary through high school on how to use the primary sources to learn about the domestic slave trade, the lives of the enslaved, resistance, and family separation.

This 2022 book chronicles the deliberate creation of a white supremacist narrative that has been pervasive in our country's educational system, especially in K-12 textbooks and curriculum. Yacovone explores how ideologies of white supremacy have deep roots in education starting with the nation's inception and continuing to the present day and have become a major part of our collective national identity.

For teachers, this resource provides an argument to teach diverse perspectives and to critique what (and most importantly who) is considered an American. In these divisive times, this book provides important historical context to current attacks on teachers, books, and school boards teaching about race, racism, and white supremacy in the classroom.

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The Black History That Moves Us: A Resource List for Educators (Opinion)

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Here are some books, documentaries, websites, and social media accounts to help you teach Black history in all its complexity.

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Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

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When the COVID-19 pandemic forced me to move my courses online, I recorded my synchronous online class sessions so students could review them later. However, student feedback and reflection on my course goals revealed collaborative note-taking as an alternative way to provide a record of each class session.

My first indication that recording class sessions might be problematic came halfway through the semester. One of my students, a first-generation student, I'll call Erica, approached me to discuss her performance in the course. I was surprised to hear that Erica felt she was underperforming in class because she was consistently turning in excellent work. However, Erica thought that the class discussion revealed that other students had a deeper understanding of the material than she had. I had noticed that she did not regularly speak up during class discussions and suggested that receiving feedback on her thoughts would improve her confidence. She agreed, but confessed that participating in class was difficult for her because the class was being recorded. She did not like the idea that if she were to say something "stupid," everyone in the class would watch it on the recording.

I had a similar conversation with another student in the course, a Black student who I'll call James. In a previous face-to-face course, James was highly engaged and a regular contributor in class discussions. However, in the online environment, he rarely spoke up during class. I reached out to James to talk about his experience in the course. Like Erica, he shared similar feelings of inadequacy. He recognized that he wasn't speaking up in class as often as usual but admitted that being recorded made him worry about having a "dumb mistake" get recorded.

Erica and James' comments reminded me of Uri Treisman's case study on Black math students that Claude Steele writes about in Whistling Vivaldi. According to Steele, Treisman observed that Black students, unlike their white and Asian peers, were intensely private about their work. They tended to study alone and did not talk about coursework outside of the course. This lack of feedback from other students often led students to feeling inadequate and made them rethink their fit in the university environment. Other researchers have reported these same feelings of isolation in first generation students of all races (Terenzini, Springer, Yaeger, Pascarella, and Amaury, 1996). Online learning environments can naturally increase students' feelings of aloneness and isolation (Palloff & Pratt, 1999). What Erica and James told me was that, for them, being recorded increased their feelings of isolation and inadequacy.

Erica and James revealed the potential harm recording class sessions could have. Importantly, this potential harm was not outweighed by any benefit: Students indicated that they rarely, if ever, watched the recorded sessions. I searched for alternatives to providing a recorded session and instead, implemented collaborative note-taking (Harbin, 2020), which I am now using for the second semester.

In collaborative note-taking, students work together to provide a set of notes to share with the entire class. For each class session, I assign two students the task of taking notes. During class, note takers record their notes in a Google doc that I create ahead of time. After class, they are given an additional 24 hours to clean up the notes before the document is posted to our LMS. I assign note-taking pairs based on students' assessments of their own ability to take notes during class. The rest of the students in the course are expected to continue taking their own notes during class and are allowed to make suggestions for additions to the notes.

In addition to providing a written record of the class session, collaborative note-taking better supports my goal of creating a learning community. Collaborative note-taking signals that students should take an active role in their peers' successes as well as their own. Additionally, because I monitor the document during class, collaborative note-taking provides me with a mechanism for checking in on students' understanding, something that I've found challenging in the online-learning environment. Finally, collaborative note-taking better supports my goal of creating an inclusive learning environment. Adopting this practice requires that I spend more time talking about note-taking strategies than I typically do. This supports students who come in with less developed note-taking skills than other students.

Initially, I was worried that students might be overwhelmed by the task, however, they reported that being a note taker was not disruptive. They enjoyed the task and took ownership over the activity. Each of my classes developed their own ways to ensure the process was useful and manageable. For example, one class chose to use different font colors for the things that I said and things that other students said. To make following along more manageable, they decided that one of the note takers would be responsible for tracking me, while the other would record student comments.

A few students could not take notes during class for various reasons (e.g., some devices make toggling between a document and Zoom difficult). However, the class decided that those students could act as the "editor" and be responsible for cleaning up the notes after class ended.

Collaborative note-taking might not work for all course types and some material does benefit from repeated viewings. For example, when I present skill-based material, such as APA formatting or computing statistics, I record those sessions.

As a final note, all of the students appreciated having a set of class notes and reported referring to the class notes often. A few students admitted to being especially appreciative because they rarely asked their peers for a copy of their notes if they missed class. Importantly, because the notes were posted after class and did not record participants' names, students were not discouraged to participate in class. Given the many benefits, I will be bringing collaborative note-taking back to my face-to-face courses when this pandemic finally ends.
Nikole Patson is an associate professor of psychology at the Ohio State University at Marion. She teaches courses in memory and cognition, language processing and development, cognitive neuroscience, and general psychology. References:
Harbin, M. Brielle. "Collaborative Note-Taking: A Tool for Creating a More Inclusive College Classroom." College Teaching, 68, no. 4 (2020): 214-220.

Palloff, Rena M., and Keith Pratt. Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

Steele, Claude M. Whistling Vivaldi: And other clues to how stereotypes affect us (issues of our time). WW Norton & Company, 2011.

Terenzini, Patrick T., Leonard Springer, Patricia M. Yaeger, Ernest T. Pascarella, and Amaury Nora. "First-generation college students: Characteristics, experiences, and cognitive development." Research in Higher education, 37, no. 1 (1996): 1-22.

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Collaborative Note-taking as an Alternative to Recording Online Sessions | Faculty Focus

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When the COVID-19 pandemic forced me to move my courses online, I recorded my synchronous online class sessions so students could review them later. However, student feedback and reflection on my course goals revealed collaborative note-taking as an alternative way to provide a record of each class session.

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The semantic elements through which information is presented-the words, symbols, numbers, and icons-are differentially accessible to learners with varying backgrounds, languages, and lexical knowledge. To ensure accessibility for all, key vocabulary, labels, icons, and symbols should be linked to, or associated with, alternate representations of their meaning (e.g., an embedded glossary or definition, a graphic equivalent, a chart or map). Idioms, archaic expressions, culturally exclusive phrases, and slang, should be translated.

Pre-teach vocabulary and symbols, especially in ways that promote connection to the learners' experience and prior knowledge

Provide graphic symbols with alternative text descriptions

Highlight how complex terms, expressions, or equations are composed of simpler words or symbols

Embed support for vocabulary and symbols within the text (e.g., hyperlinks or footnotes to definitions, explanations, illustrations, previous coverage, translations)

Embed support for unfamiliar references within the text (e.g., domain specific notation, lesser known properties and theorems, idioms, academic language, figurative language, mathematical language, jargon, archaic language, colloquialism, and dialect)

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The semantic elements through which information is presented-the words, symbols, numbers, and icons-are differentially accessible to learners with varying backgrounds, languages, and lexical knowledge. To ensure accessibility for all, key vocabulary, labels, icons, and symbols should be linked to, or associated with, alternate representations of their meaning (e.g., an embedded glossary or definition, a graphic equivalent, a chart or map).

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Authors: Jess Schomberg & Elizabeth Harsma

Many thanks to Maria-Reneé Grigsby, Kerrigan Mahoney, & Brooke Burk for your peer review and feedback on this article.

Introduction

This guide shares ideas for applying both the Universal Design for Learning framework and antiracist teaching methods to courses in higher education. The introduction provides definitions of key concepts related to these frameworks followed by 10 strategies.

Key Concepts

Universal Design for Learning

Neuroscience and education research suggest that all students can be expert learners if barriers are removed. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to help instructors address these barriers to learning. The framework is organized around three principles that correspond to three learning networks in the brain with the goal of students becoming expert learners:

"UDL is a framework to guide the design of learning environments that are accessible and challenging for all. Ultimately, the goal of UDL is to support learners to become "expert learners" who are, each in their own way, purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, and strategic and goal driven. UDL aims to change the design of the environment rather than to change the learner. When environments are intentionally designed to reduce barriers, all learners can engage in rigorous, meaningful learning." (CAST, 2018)

See also CAST.org Universal Design for Learning Guidelines

Antiracist teaching

Antiracist teaching begins with the instructor engaging in and committing to ongoing self-inquiry and personal antiracism work. Antiracist teaching:

Identifies and addresses racism directly through curriculum, course design, and instructional methods,

Builds students' and instructors' race literacy through collaborative examination of systems of oppression at individual, institutional, and systemic levels,

Provides opportunities to create real world solutions to address oppressive systems,

Acknowledges that the classroom and the campus community are part of the real world,

Guides students in creating plans of action to challenge and dismantle racism, and

Advocates for antiracist policies and practices at the institutional level (Bell 2020; Darling-Hammond, 2017; Kehoe, 1994; Kendi, 2019; Kishimoto, 2018; Knowles & Hawkman, 2020).

"Anti-racist teaching addresses racism directly and focuses on the cognitive aspects. Anti-racist teaching confronts prejudice through the discussion of past and present racism, stereotyping and discrimination in society. It teaches the economic, structural and historical roots of inequality (McGregor 1993, 2)." ( Kehoe 1994)

See also CETL (Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning) Anti-Racist Pedagogy Resources, Talking About Race, Antiracist Teaching Methods

White supremacy

White supremacy is often understood in connection to overtly racist hate groups. Using Frances Lee Ansley's definition, white supremacy also "refers to a political, economic, and cultural system in which:

whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources,

conscious and unconscious ideas of white superiority and entitlement are widespread, and

relations of white dominance and non-white subordination are daily reenacted across a broad array of institutions and social settings" (Ansley, 1989, p. 1024).

Social construct

A social construct is an idea that exists because humans agree that it exists and means what humans say it means; this meaning can change over time and is not based in objective reality. Some examples of social constructs that influence the world we live in include time, law, languages, and gender roles. In this document, the social construct under discussion is race (Kang et al., 2017).

Intersectionality

Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989) coined the term intersectionality to describe the overlapping identities, such as race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and class, that shape experiences of privilege and oppression. These intersecting identities do not work in isolation (Center for the Study of Social Policy, 2019). Intersectionality also "provides a critical analytic lens to interrogate racial, ethnic, class, ability, age, sexuality, and gender disparities and to contest existing ways of looking at these structures of inequality, transforming knowledges as well as the social institutions in which they have found themselves" (Dill & Zambrana, 2009).

"[Intersectionality] describe[s] the ways in which race, class, gender, and other aspects of our identity 'intersect,' overlap and interact with one another, informing the way in which individuals simultaneously experience oppression and privilege in their daily lives interpersonally and systemically. Intersectionality promotes the idea that aspects of our identity do not work in a silo" (Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), 2019, p. 1).

Strategies for Engaging Learners with Universal Design for Learning and Antiracism

Strategy #1: Start Small, Keep Building

The basics: Getting started tips for designing with UDL include:

Start small: Engage in critical reflection. Choose one strategy, apply it to one learning activity or one assessment. Observe the results and engage in critical reflection to determine next steps.

Keep going: Continue to update, refine, and apply additional strategies to your course design and delivery. Be curious, be compassionate, be critical.

Let students lead: Get regular and ongoing feedback from students about their learning experiences to inform changes and updates. Remember that students accustomed to white supremacy may have a hard time letting go of that internalized dominance and their feedback may be a sign that they need additional interventions, while at the same time they may be creating an unsafe learning environment for students of color.

For example, request feedback in anonymous surveys or class session reflections. Consider doing this at semester start and 1 - 2 during the semester.

Considerations for feedback questions:

AVOID mandating/requiring disclosure: Be mindful of requiring disclosure of any information where students are required to 'out' part of their identity they do not wish to. Examples: socioeconomic status/class, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship status, etc.

INSTEAD use invitational language to request sharing and create online surveys that do not force responses. Some ideas for anonymous feedback questions include:

Do you feel welcome in this class?

Do you think your contributions are valued in class?

Do you feel comfortable reaching out to me (the instructor)?

Do you see yourself represented in the class materials and content?

Have you experienced or witnessed any behavior, including things I might have done, such as microaggressions or other forms of harm?

What ideas do you have for creating more welcoming learning community? (ACUE Inclusive Teaching Toolkit)

Another way to get student feedback is to request a Students Consulting on Teaching observation through CETL.

Be in community: Connect with colleagues who are engaged in equity, UDL, and antiracist teaching. Support each other in this work, share ideas, and collaborate. This can include reviewing student feedback with a partner who shares your antiracist goals and can help you identify meaningful improvements to make.

Connection to antiracism: Engaging with others in a community of practice supports continuous self-inquiry and critical reflection on identity and practice. Both self-inquiry and critical reflection are important components of antiracist teaching methods (Kishimoto, 2018).

Technology: There are many technologies that allow you to gather feedback and build community with colleagues, such as:

Strategy #2: Use Identity Safety Cues

The basics: Use identity safety cues that address multiple intersecting identities. Identity safety cues are environmental or social cues that signal to people that their identities are valued and that they will face less discrimination in that setting than they may elsewhere, so they can focus more attention on learning. Identity safety cues can take many forms, such as when you:

Add a diversity and/or inclusive teaching statement in your syllabi.

Share your personal pronouns on your syllabi and in the learning management system.

Use students preferred names and pronouns, learn to pronounce your students names,

Use rainbow flags in the classroom and learning management system,

Include multicultural and multigender representation in examples, scholars, sources, perspectives, and discussion prompts to combat negative stereotypes.

Variation: Reconsider your relationship with your field of study as you develop your antiracism skills. If, for example, you want to add a land acknowledgement on your syllabus or course introduction to indicate to Indigenous students that you respect and welcome them, make sure that your course content is not perpetuating settler-colonialism. In this example, the steps you follow might be:

Connection to antiracism: Higher education has a history of exclusion. Racialized students and students with other marginalized identities are harmed when faculty lack cultural competence. Because of this, students with marginalized identities may be more vigilant about their safety in the classroom than other students, and that vigilance may make it more difficult for them to give their full attention to course content. Identity safety cues tell students that they belong (Howansky, Maimon, & Sanchez, 2021).

Add personal pronouns to your syllabus, D2L Brightspace, and Zoom

Use Creative Commons Image Search to add diverse images and examples

Add a CETL Inclusive Teaching Statement to your syllabus or course introduction

Be attentive to the disparate social impacts of technology tools when developing assignments, particularly the risks of race- and gender-based bullying when giving social media assignments, facial recognition algorithms that misrecognize people of color, proctoring software that mischaracterizes the engagement of neurodiverse students, the anxiety that surveillance systems create for many people with marginalized identities, and uneven availability of high speed internet and other tools.

Review important considerations for online proctoring, including considerations for bias in these softwares.

Strategy #3: Reflect on Values and Goals

The basics: Help students to make connections between course learning goals and their own core values and learning goals to increase the salience and engagement with the course.

Disclose your own reflection process and share how your values are aligned with the course (modeling the behavior you want to see in students)

Ask students to identify a few of their core values.

Engage students in reviewing the course learning goals or in identifying their own learning goals.

Ask students to share a reflection on how the learning goals support their values.

Offer students the option to share in a podcast, blog/discussion post, short video, or infographic (Novak, 2022).

Some example reflection questions might be:

What are your core values?

What does this core value mean?

How did you come to have this core value? (School, family, friends, etc.)

How does this core value influence your study habits and/or beliefs about learning?

How do you see your core value connecting to the learning goals in this course?

Strategy #4: Support Agency in Discussions

The basics: Provide multiple opportunities to engage in robust discussion on topics of social justice, antiracism, and envisioning an antiracist future. Build scaffolds into the course to reduce barriers and ensure that students have the tools they need to participate effectively in challenging discussion without reproducing inequities through denial and defensiveness, demanding to be comforted, or oversimplifying complex realities.

Provide guidelines or collaboratively create community agreements for engaging in challenging conversations. Engage the community in managing potential conflicts and barriers to difficult conversations.

Browse these resources from the National Equity Project for more ideas:

Support students in engaging in conversation and/or writing effective discussion posts and questions.

Share class agendas, learning goals/essential questions, study guides, review sheets to focus learners on key topics.

Provide multiple opportunities for low or no-stakes practice with feedback that supports effective discussion.

Provide models and examples of expected behavior or learning products.

Engage students in self-assessment or peer review of discussion posts or contributions to improve metacognition. After a first draft, ask students to consult a handout like this one: Revised Blooms Handout (iastate.edu) and edit to incorporate new ideas or language.

Provide a comprehensive list of emotions from which students would select their emotional reactions rather than rely on open-ended questions, such as an emotion wheel

Connection to antiracism: Part of white supremacy culture (Okun, 2021) is the phenomenon of maintaining white power through white right to comfort and fear of conflict. Antiracist education disrupts this right to comfort by engaging in difficult conversations to prevent whiteness from claiming innocence, looking away from injustice, and not taking responsibility. Students need to be taught how to engage in authentic class discussions and self-reflective critical thinking about race and other emotionally challenging topics (Boatright-Horowitz, Marraccini, & Harps-Logan, 2012; Evans-Winters & Hines, 2019).

Technology: Shared Word Online document

Strategy #5: Incorporate Diverse Representation

The basics: Infuse diverse representation of scholars, perspectives, images, examples, etc. throughout your course curriculum. Depict Black, Brown, and Indigenous people through an asset- and strengths-based lens. Answer these questions to help you reflect and change:

Who is depicted through images in your course? Select most of the pictures and images in your curriculum of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. Assure you are using contemporary, contextual images that counteract stereotypes.

What authors, scholars, or experts are represented in your content? Whose perspectives? Who is missing? Review your curriculum. Does it counteract white supremacy culture? Is there a multitude of people of color? How are they depicted? Be aware of stereotypes and tokenism.

Strategy #6: Empower Students with a Class Digest

The basics: Engage students in creating a collective class digest of vocabulary or key topics. Or provide your own digest of vocabulary or key topics that students can collaboratively annotate and/or comment with questions or additions. Provide structure to support student agency and creativity and provide feedback to correct or clarify as needed. Options include:

Cooperative online note taking to support multiple forms of class participation

Cooperative word maps, concept maps, flow charts or other graphic organizers to support vocabulary development and a deeper understanding of sequences and relationships (examples for various subject areas)

The Frayer model, or four-square mind map, in another type of graphic organizer, to support conceptual thinking

Variation: Build a foundation for critical reflection by engaging learners with Strategy #3: Discussions to Support Agency. Then use the class digest to engage students in critical reflection to:

Contextualize your discipline: Incorporate the historical, political, and economic context of your discipline into the course to set the stage for discussions of race, racism, power, and privilege (Baker-Bell, 2020; Bell, 2020; Kishimoto, 2018).

Analyze race: Guide students in deconstructing myths and analyzing race as a systemic and social construct to identify impacts and root causes (Bell, 2020; Kishimoto, 2018) and

Explore intersectionality: Analyze the diversity of individual experiences within and between racial groups without 'flattening out the differences' (Davis & Livingstone, 2016; Kishimoto, 2018, p. 545)

Strategy #7: Make it Accessible

The basics: Engage learners with accessible curriculum, course design, and instructional methods.

Variation: Browse the resource below for ideas on using accessible language/rhetoric, adopting accessible class policies, and more:

Strategy #8: Support Information Processing

The basics: In asynchronous modules and/or synchronous classes use an instructional model that supports information processing (Hammond, 2015).

Help students build cognitive routines to process and review learning - As they process new content, review, or study material, teach students to ask and answer these four questions:

Open educational resources and online videos can provide music or pose questions that can gain learners' attention.

Writing tools ranging from paper & pencil to Word Online, or Media Space audio recording for students to record and share their thoughts.

Strategy #9: Try Ungrading

The basics: Ungrading is a set of practices designed to encourage compassionate critical thinking about the process of grading and evaluation. Ungrading encourages us to ask questions about who benefits from grading, what purpose grading serves, and whether grading supports learning as well as other processes might. Some elements of ungrading suggest that instructors:

Contact CETL if you are interested in pursuing an Un-grading certificate.

Connection to antiracism: Talking with students about their goals and supporting their agency in the learning process provides a more humanizing environment than efficiency approaches like automated grading calculations, which treat students as objects to be normed and put into a hierarchy based on how well they comply with instruction (Stommel, 2020a). However, for ungrading to be an antiracist practice rather than another "hidden curriculum" it needs to be done in conjunction with intersectional antiracist teaching methods (Stommel, 2020b).

One Note class notebook can be used to create portfolios or to support students in monitoring and tracking their learning progress.

D2L Brightspace Grades: Consider flexible qualitative (no points) feedback options, such as using Text or Selectbox Grade Items or creating a qualitative Grade Scheme.

D2L Brightspace Rubrics: Try a no points evaluation option in rubrics to provide individualized feedback that does not require rating or ranking student work.

D2L Brightspace Discussions: Use small group discussions for peer grading/feedback; Or create individual private discussions to turn evaluation into a conversation with a student.

D2L Brightspace Quizzes: Use Quiz Results Display to hide scores from students but display feedback. Use un-graded quizzes to collect student responses for negotiated self-grading or contract grading.

Strategy #10: Big Ideas, Real World Thinking

The basics: Social justice issues are embedded in all disciplines. Allowing students to investigate the social justice implications embedded in, for example, environmental science, statistics, or management can help students see how the numbers we collect have human implications. It can also help us guide students in challenging some of the ideology we absorbed during our own educational experiences.

First, model various examples of how to analyze and apply learning to social justice issues. This includes identifying the problem and proposing possible solutions. Then allow students to choose a social justice problem they would like to explore with an antiracism lens. Some examples include:

Geology/Ecology: Evaluation of groundwater quality could invite analysis of the systemic racial disparities in access to clean water, both historically and currently.

World Languages: Studying history and culture of target languages offers space to examine racialized stereotypes and the impact of colonialism in the past and present.

Agriculture: Legacy of land theft, broken treaties, and genocide that foreground land currently used in agricultural business. Learn from, celebrate, and understand Indigenous histories and present practices of land management, supply chains, and food production processes, etc.

Mathematics/Statistics: Analysis of ableism/racism inherent in stereotypes related to mathematics ability, representation of Black, Brown, Indigenous scholars in the field, misuse of statistics to support racially biased claims, critiques of Galton/history of statistics.

Education: Critical analysis of systemic issues of racism, including laws, public policy, instructional practice, that lead to racial opportunity gaps and the perpetuation of the school to prison pipeline.

Nursing/Psychology/Health science: Critique historical and ongoing practices of pathologizing non-normative bodyminds by learning about the social contexts in which categories are created and applied (e.g., drapetomania, hysteria, overdiagnosis of schizophrenia among Black populations, undertreatment of Black patients in pain).

Connection to antiracism: Antiracist teaching methods incorporate power sharing and mutually supportive learning environments. This includes decentralizing authority and empowering students (Kishimoto, 2018).

Technology: There are many technologies that could support this strategy including:

Flip video discussions - Consider for modeling analysis, brainstorming,

One Note class notebook - Create graphic organizers with analysis prompts you can provide to each student to support their work, use the collaboration space for peer review

Media Space for creating video and audio to share analysis

Free online graphic design software

Ansley, F.L. (1989). "Stirring the ashes: Race, class and the future of civil rights scholarship." Cornell Law Review, 74(6): 994-1077.

Crenshaw, Kimberle (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 1989, Article 8. Retrieved from: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8

Fritzgerald, A. (2020). Antiracism and universal design for learning: Building expressways to success. CAST Professional Publishing.

Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Corwin, a SAGE Company.

Kishimoto, K. (2018) Anti-racist pedagogy: From faculty's self-reflection to organizing within and beyond the classroom. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(4), 540-554. DOI:10.1080/13613324.2016.1248824

Knowles, R. T., & Hawkman, A. M. (2020). Anti-racist Quantitative Research: Developing, Validating, and Implementing Racialized Teaching Efficacy and Racial Fragility Scales. The Urban Review, 52(2), 238-262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-019-00526-1

Novak, K. (2022). UDL Now!: A Teacher's Guide to Applying Universal Design for Learning in Today's Classrooms. Wakefield, Mass.: CAST.

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10 Strategies for Engaging Learners with Universal Design for Learning and Antiracism

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Authors: Jess Schomberg & Elizabeth Harsma Many thanks to Maria-Reneé Grigsby, Kerrigan Mahoney, & Brooke Burk for your peer review and feedback on this article. Introduction This guide shares ideas for applying both the Universal Design for Learning framework and antiracist teaching methods to courses in higher education.