Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning: Two Sides of the Same Coin

         Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning: Two Sides of the Same Coin, was written by, David H. Rose, Ted S. Hasselbring, Skip Stahl, and Joy Zabala. It is about the similarities and differences of AT and UDL.  These two terms are not the same.  Yet the authors argue that they are quite compatible.
          Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a method of planning to optimize learning for all students.  Using UDL teachers start with what they want the students to know and then carefully plan the assessments that may be used to demonstrate this knowledge or skill with all of their students' needs in mind.  That way each lesson will be differentiated, and our mindset will be flexible, in pacing, materials, grouping and presentation of information. Rose, et. al argues that Assistive Technology (AT) is individualized, in that it targets the barriers in inividuals.  UDL is general, in that it is designed to reduce barriers to learning for all students.
             Designing for the individual, will mean excluding a lot of other people, "creating a need for AT that is prohibitively and extensive and expensive." Yet, building for everyone, will not make sufficient adaptations for individuals. "Assistive Technologies make Universal Designs more effective." The AT solution to learning disabilities are to remediate or compensate for individual needs. The UDL approach is that there are inadequacies in our curriculum. "Imagine a multimedia curriculum, that provides digital, universally designed media that offer diverse options for viewing and manipulating content and expressing knowledge." I found it very interesting to learn that copyright laws have made it difficult for many students to access textbooks. "...only students with qualifying print disabilities may be provided with accessible braille,  audio, or digital text versions of print materials..." I know that Apple has many apps that can be used to change text to speech(such as Claro), and vice versa (such as Dragon Dictation).
             The National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) set to work on making texts more accessible. They succeeded in getting students access to textbooks at the same time as the publisher put the books out. So now we have many options for the PC and iPad devices, such as Ibooks.
               Let's take a look at UDL.

http://barbarabray.net/2012/01/20/udl-and-personalized-learning/