C.)+UDL+&+Technology

When using technology in UDL, educators are given powerful tools to assist in reaching all students. “UDL uses computer technology to create an educational environment that allows all students, including those with learning disabilities, to succeed in general education classrooms with minimal use of assistive technology” (Mrs. Jeffers, 2010, para 2). When technology is incorporated into UDL curricula, the learning opportunities increase immensely for students to gain mastery over the content. Technology provides tools that are central to teaching students of all learning abilities and levels.

//Example 1 // “Dan is a seven-year-old boy with Down Syndrome. He has very basic reading skills. He knows his alphabet and can decode simple words. But most of his reading instruction has been of the drill-and-practice type and he has never read a story book. Ms. Lindhall, his teacher who has a degree in general education, decides to have Dan try a universally designed Digital Picture Book “ (UDL: National Universal Design for Learning Task Force, (2010), para 6).

//Example 2 // “José, a 5th-grade Spanish-English bilingual student who reads at the third-grade level, is reading the Thinking Reader digital version of “Snake and Eagle,” a Native American legend that is part of his school’s grade-level required curriculum. This universally designed, technology-based approach to reading instruction combines research-based strategy supports, text-to-speech decoding support, and glossary definitions to provide rich reading comprehension supports for different levels of mastery” (UDL: National Universal Design for Learning Task Force, (2010), para 8).

Technology provides the means for activating each of the three networks for learners:
 * Recognition Network – use of video representation, audio representation, graphics, and music,
 * Strategic Network – allowing students to complete a digital storytelling project, record a skit on a Flip camera, or type a paper on a word processor, and
 * Affective Network – provides an authentic audience, anonymity, or simply a variety to lessons (Mrs. Jeffers, 2010).

References Mrs. Jeffers. (2010, June). "What is the Role of Technology in UDL?". //Learning about UDL//. Message posted to [].

UDL: National Universal Design for Learning Task Force. (2010). //Universal Design for Learning classroom scenarios//. Retrieved from []