- Consider the learning environment for your current design. What potential barriers can be reduced or eliminated to provide more pathways for learner success?
- The current learning environment for our interactive learning design is primarily online. Online learning comes with some barriers, which I learned about during the pandemic. The first barrier that affected many people, was people’s access to an electronic device such as a laptop or tablet. Not every child has access to these devices at home, which creates a barrier for these children to learn. This barrier can be reduced by providing a learning device to each and every student who does not have access to one. Removing this barrier is costly, but it is needed for learner success. Another barrier to online learning is the lack of collaboration between students. From my personal experience, students struggle to collaborate, while in an online course. When we first switched to online during Covid-19, it was like my classmates had never seen or talked to one another. People refused to have their cameras and microphones on. To encourage collaboration, our learning design can include digital meet-up times, which will act as a space for students and instructors to work together. Similar to this week’s reading, our online meetings can be recorded for students who experience difficulty keeping up with the class pace and absences, and those who like to go back and listen to better understand course content.
2. How will your interactive learning resource specifically ensure that the needs of all learners can be met?
- Our learning resource has a variety of learning methods. We have activities and lessons that are physical, visual, and mental, allowing all learners to have an opportunity to thrive. By having diverse lessons, students who may struggle with one type of lesson, still have the opportunity to thrive in another. Once we further decide which activities we are going to include in our final resource, we will be sure that they are accessible to all learners.
3. Choose one (or more) of your planned learning activities from your Blueprint and identify any barriers to student success. How can you alter or adjust your current plan to reduce those barriers?
- For my planned learning activity, I currently have it designed where I show students flash cards of foods, and they respin with thumbs up if it is a healthy option, and thumbs down if it is not. The cards will include an image of the food, as well as what it is underneath. What I did not take into account is that there may be a language barrier for some students, so I am going to include multiple languages underneath the image. This will also help students learn foods in other languages. A student whose first language is English can learn some Spanish and French, and vice versa!
July 3, 2023 at 9:33 am
Hi Katherine! I really appreciate all the fantastic suggestions you’ve shared on how to ensure inclusivity and accessibility. It’s true that access to technology can be a significant barrier, especially for lower-income families. Recent research on the impact of COVID-19 school closures on learning found that 63.0% of these families have access to less than one internet-enabled device per household member. It’s more likely that they’ll use a mobile phone, which may not be the most appropriate device for learning (Frenette, Frank, & Deng, 2020). This can result in less time spent studying and lower academic performance, particularly on standardized tests (Haeck & Lefebvre, 2020). For less privileged students, academic failure can have a detrimental effect on their self-esteem, self-worth, and future prospects (Au, 2016).
I am wondering how would you make the “flashcards” activity accessible for blind students?
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References
Au, W. (2016). Meritocracy 2.0: High-stakes, standardized testing as a racial project of neoliberal multiculturalism. Educational Policy, 30(1), 39-62.
Frenette, M., Frank, K., & Deng, Z. (2020). School closures and the online preparedness of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics Canada= Statistique Canada.
Haeck, C., & Lefebvre, P. (2020). Pandemic school closures may increase inequality in test scores. Canadian Public Policy, 46(S1), S82-S87.
July 5, 2023 at 2:29 pm
Hi Katherine, I really like how you described what you can do to reduce or eliminate potential barriers in your interactive learning resource. I also appreciate how you connected some issues associated with online learning to your own learning during the pandemic. I wonder if encouraging students to join a specific meeting time will have most students join or if you will have a way of enforcing that students join?