Explore and create: Exploratory Creation lab 
Preregistration Required
Backed by neuroscience, Universal Design for Learning guides educators in increasing access for all learners. Why limit this research backed framework to student learning? In this session, participants receive an overview of the UDL framework, experience UDL as a learner, and hear stories of proven ways Tulare County Office of Education infuse UDL principles into professional learning experiences offered to educators to maximize effectiveness and promote an inclusive environment for adult learners.
Participants explore each portion of the UDL framework based on their choice of varied multimedia options. These include the affective network (providing multiple means of engagement), the recognition networks (providing multiple means of representation), and the strategic networks (providing multiple means of action and expression). Each of the aforementioned brain networks will be activated during the session, with tips for replicating this in professional learning sessions regarding any topic.
Participants will have the opportunity to consider the varying needs of an upcoming professional learning experience they are designing, and develop a plan to infuse UDL principles into this experience. Feedback from participants in workshops I have led at my county office reveals the success of infusing UDL into professional learning sessions. Participants have thanked me for including closed captioning during the presentation, offering choice and individual exploration time, and promoting multiple means of action and expression in demonstrating understanding. In my follow-up job embedded coaching, I have seen educators and coaches alike implement these UDL strategies into their lessons for adult learners and/or students.
Topics addressed/agenda includes:
The Why:
Variability and the Myth of Average (10 minutes)
Research regarding Adult Learning (5 minutes)
Activity - Mapping the Edges (Considering the Variability of our Adult Learners) (15 minutes)
The What:
UDL Framework/Research - Choice Based Exploration Opportunities for Learning (20 minutes)
The How:
UDL in PL Examples/Learning from our Experience (15 minutes)
Apply Learning:
Activity:
Predict, Overcome, Plan (Participants plan ways to infuse UDL principles into an upcoming PL session) (20 minutes)
Represent Learning:
Participants Share Learning in Collaborative Setting (20 minutes)
According to Todd Rose, director of the Mind, Brain, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, science reveals that the "average" learner is a myth. If each human being is an individual, with varying needs, it follows that we must reject a one-size fits all approach to designing learning experiences.
The research based Universal Design for Learning guidelines, based on a foundation of neuroscience, gives leaders and coaches strategies for preparing professional learning experiences that celebrate variability and increase access by providing multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. In their book "Universally Designed Leadership: Applying UDL to Systems and Schools", Katie Novak and Kristan Rodriguez reveal the importance of utilizing UDL principles in professional learning experiences for educators.
UDL also supports Knowles' theory of andragogy (adult learning). Knowle indicates that adult learners learn best when they: know why they are learning something (UDL principles that activate the affective networks), learn experientially, approach learning as problem solving, and see immediate value (UDL calls for relevance, value, and authenticity).
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