(This is the first in a series on Universal Design for Learning)
Universal Design for Learning
Principle of Representation - Guideline 1 - Perception
The first principle of Universal Design for Learning, ‘provide multiple
means of representation”, help promote an inclusive learning environments on
many levels.When developing a course
and focusing on this principle, there are three guidelines to follow.
They are:
Perception:
Language and Symbols
Comprehension.
We are now going to take a deeper
look.
The first guideline, Perception,
in many ways overlaps with creating accessible content.When creating content, be sure that
interaction is flexible and does not solely depend on one sense for its
delivery.As you develop the material be
sure that you can meet the following criteria state that you should offer:
The option to customize the display of information.
Alternatives to auditory information.
Alternatives to visual content. (I picture can state a thousand words, but not if you cannot see it)
Meeting these criteria will reduce barriers to learning. Key information will be equally perceptible to all learners by:
providing the same information through different modalities, and
providing information in a format that will allow for adjustability by the user
Multiple representations not only ensure that information is accessible to learners with disabilities, but also easier to access for other learners from varying backgrounds.
You are putting together a test for your online course in
Blackboard.As you scroll down to look
at the different options after the timing options, you see “Force Completion”. If a student navigates away from a Test, and
the Force Completion option is turned on, the Test is automatically submitted
for them by the system.
This test you are creating is online, and we cannot be too
careful.This tool will ensure that
students cannot cheat, like a proctor, right?
No.
While this feature is often wrongly attributed to making
online examinations more effective by dissuading academic dishonesty, Forced
Completion creates more harm than whatever good it is intended to do.Problems with Internet providers or browsers
are more often the culprit than students attempting to abuse the testing time. On
countless occasions help desks get calls from distraught students because their
system lost the connection and their test was submitted – incomplete. Worse
still, there is nothing they can do to help. This has motivated multiple universities to recommend not using, ”Force Completion”
If your goal is to punish students who have unreliable internet,
browser, then "Force Completion" is a great tool. However there is no pedagogical value in this
and it creates serious issues of equity in your course. The unreliability of Force Completion and the
technical issues it creates makes it ineffective at what it was designed for at
best, and discriminatory at worst.
If an assessment requires forced completion to be effective, it wasn’t much of an assessment to begin with. Forced Completion offers arbitrary criteria in evaluating students and burdens support services. Effective online assessments allow students to demonstrate their mastery of the subject.
This can be done without forcing student to recite answers
in a short period of time with arbitrary punishments divvied out.The key to online learning is to focus on
constructivist techniques for learning, and not passive learning
activities.This is not to say that
online tests are not effective, but to suggest how they are used, such as a
tool to help students self-assess their understanding, is key to using test
successfully.While this can be
difficult to navigate, minimally it means that you should not use Force
Completion.
