WEEK 5

This week we are focusing on Universal Design for Learning (UDL). According to CAST, the nonprofit education research and development organization that created the UDL framework and UDL Guidelines, the purpose of UDL is to "eliminate barriers so everyone has the opportunity to grow and thrive" (2023).

CAST is an acronym for "Center for Applied Special Technology."  The guidelines provide researchers, parents, educators, and curriculum directors with "suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities" (2023). The UDL Guidelines 3.0 were published on July 30, 2024, and have been updated to respond to a need to "address critical barriers rooted in biases and systems of exclusion" (CAST, 2024).

Part of this week's focus on UDL is to summarize one of several articles related to UDL and its integration into educational platforms. The article that spoke to me is a commentary by Sheri Vasinda of Oklahoma State University and Jodi Pilgrim of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The article can be accessed from the following link: 

                   https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/rrq.484

The article is entitled "Technology Supports in the UDL framework: Removable scaffolds or permanent new literacies?

Summary: Technology Supports in the UDL framework: Removable scaffolds or permanent literacies?

The authors, Vasinda and Pilgrim, aim to convince readers and the world in general to toss the notion that UDL is a scaffolding apparatus. They emphasize that scaffolding is generally something that is removed or fades away, to be accessed when, or if, it is needed (2022, p. 44). 

The authors cite historical CAST attributions to Vygotsky:

    ...Vygotsky emphasized one of the key points of UDL curricula--the importance of graduated  "scaffolds." These are important to the novice, but that can be gradually removed as the individual  acquries expertise. Scaffolding with graduated release is a practice that is as old as human culture  and is relevant to learning in almost any domain, from learning to walk or ride a bike "unaided" to  the long apprenticeships of neurosurgery or aircraft flying (p. 47)

It is this reference towards UDL as a scaffold that may be released gradually that the authors take issue with, as they believe that the technology supports in the UDL are not temporary supports but are instead permanent "new literacies" (p. 50).

This concept of "new literacies" represents the multiliteracies that exist and that allow all learners access to technological supports at all times, just as workers in the real world have access to the resources they need to do their jobs at all times.

FIGURE 2 from Temporary Scaffolds to UDL to Permanent New Literacies from the article:

Permanent New Literacies

• Accessibility: Universal Access for Learning - Teachers provide multiliteracies options (available designs) for learning reflecting current tools and students' wide range of socio-cultural and cognitive diversity.
• Temporality: Permanence - Teachers provide and maintain digital and analogue cultural tools as permanent, always available learning and communication options.
• Agency: Multiliterate Agency: Students participate using their full linguistic repertoires to create their literate identity through access to available multimodal tools and designs to demonstrate a range of valued literate proficiency and authentic artifacts.

These permanent aspects differ from the older, temporary scaffolds model that go away once the immediate need is fulfilled, suggesting that the learner outgrow the need for the scaffolding.

The authors recognize that much work must be done to support this permanent change, especially in respect to ensuring equity by having the infrastructure and resources available to school districts and communities to support technological supports (p. 54).  They also support the U.S. Department of Education (2017) and its use of the term support instead of scaffolds:  Supports to make learning accessible should be built into learning software and hardware by default" (p.54). Their last recommendation is for states to use UDL for assessments (p.54).

Vasinda and Pilgrim make strong arguments to support the use of New Literacies in education and eliminating the so-called "scaffold" connotation that has historically been applied to technological supports. I concur. 

The lesson that I am designing for my final project utilizes a LMS that provides access and a place for assignments to reside in an organized manner via Google Classroom. My lesson also includes the use of DESMOS online graphing calculator, which provides students with the opportunity to create graphs that can be labeled and shared versus the more limited use of the TI84C graphing calculators. The TI84C's will still be used to stimulate prior knowledge and provide students with a touchstone that they are familiar with using. The added component of DESMOS will allow students to copy their graphs into a Google Slides presentation where they can express themselves and share their more personalized interests as they find applicable videos or images to correspond to their final submission.

CAST Universal Design for Learning website

 https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl#.Xzx0BZNKjFM

Identify strategies that can be integrated into my final project lesson:

Engagement: Students will connect learning to experiences that are meaningful and valuable (Consideration 7.2) when they search for a parabolic shape in the real world that has meaning or can be understood as a real world connection. For example, basketball players may find the path of the shot on goal to be interesting as it could help improve their free throw percentages. An art lover may appreciate the architecture of the parabolic bridges they see. By giving students choice regarding their quadratic function/parabolic real world shape, they are accomplishing more than had they only solved quadratic equations on a contrived worksheet.

Representation: Students will create a unique quadratic function graph that aligns to the chosen shape they have selected by exploring DESMOS graphing calculator and its capabilities for labeling and sharing outputs. Students will create a 3-5 slide presentation in which they present their graph, reflect upon their experience, and create or insert a design that relates to their graph. (Consideration 5.2 Use Multiple tools for construction, composition, and creativity and Consideration 5.1 Use multiple media for communication).

2024 NETP Guidance Reflection

The NETP (U.S. Department of Education, 2024), identifies three key divides limiting the transformational potential of educational technology to support teaching and learning, including:

• The Digital Use Divide
• The Digital Design Divide
• The Digital Access Divide

For this assignment, consideration of the integration of UDL strategies to address the digital use divide is to be given. Integrating UDL gives society the mandate to provide all learners with access to the technological/digital resources needed to be successful. Eight key recommendations were identified that can be addressed by states, districts, building level administrators, and schools:

    1. Develop competencies students should have as they progress between grade levels (States, Districts).

    2. Design and sustain systems and evaluation processes that support the development of competencies (States, Districts, Schools).

    3. Implement feedback mechanisms that empower students to become co-designers of learning experiences (Districts, Building-Level Administrators).

    4. Develop rubrics for selected tools to ensure support of UDL principles and that they can be customized in response to accommodation or modification needs of learners with disabilities (States, Districts, Building-Level Administrators).

    5. Review subject area curricula to ensure age-appropriate digital literacy skills are experiences by students through active technology use for learning (States, Districts).

    6. Build partnerships with outside agencies and businesses to help students access edtech-enable hands-on learning and work-based learning experiences (States, Districts).

    7. Provide professional development and technical assistance to appropriate staff to support use of evidence to inform edtech use (States, Districts).

    8. Develop guidelines to protect data privacy and ensure alignment with shared educational vision and learning principles (States, Districts).

These recommendations highlight the need for ample infrastructure, resources, money, time, and commitment towards implementation of adequate UDL. Considerable coordination should be made between all parties and the special education educators. We are at a historical moment in time--the transition to a digital, technologically advanced society, and we need to transition to the educational systems that support this new, exciting world. It starts with educating the educators, legislators, and curricula developers. We all want our future generations to be successful and contributors to the best world we can achieve.

References:

 About Universal Design for Learning - CAST. (2020, May 27). CAST.  

             http://www.cast.org/our-work/about-udl.html#.XGn5889Kho4    

  

‌Vasinda, S. and Pilgrim, J. (2021). Technology supports in the UDL framework:

Removable scaffolds or permanent new literacies? Reading Research Quarterly,

                58(1), 44 - 58.

 WEEK 4

This week we are exploring the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) via Magic School AI (https://magicschool.ai/tools) to generate a lesson plan for our grade level/content area using my state standards--Oklahoma Academic Standards/Mathematics, and ISTE Student Standards.

Part 1: 

    1) Evaluate the quality of the lesson. Is it well aligned with the standard that you provided? Is the lesson sufficiently rigorous? Are assessments aligned with the objective and the lesson procedure/content?

     The quality of the lesson is excellent. It is well aligned with the standards that I provided, including both Oklahoma Academic Standards for Mathematics and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). The standards I submitted were: 

•  Oklahoma Academic Standards: A2.F.1.3 Graph a quadratic function; identify the domain, range, x- and y-intercepts, maximum or minimum value, axis of symmetry, and vertex.
• ISTE Standards for Students: 5a – Students use digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information; 6a – Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication

    

    The lesson generated is sufficiently rigorous. The assessment is aligned with the objective and the lesson procedure/content. The lesson is named "Exploring Quadratic Functions: Graphing and Analysis." The opening begins with a real-world scenario "Imagine you're designing a parabolic arch for a bridge. What information would you need to create this shape?"  

    The lesson assessment includes a literary element requiring students to "explain their findings in a short paragraph." The lesson requires the use of technology. It is suggested to use a video clip of a "parabolic structure in action to capture interest." The technology integration involves utilizing graphing calculators or software to visualize quadratic functions. 

2) What improvements might you suggest?

    The only improvement that I would love to see is that it automatically finds a video clip and creates a worksheet for the homework and assessment sections. The Extension Activity suggests an activity, but it is not included in the lesson plan. The lesson plan is excellent, however, those inclusions would make them perfect!

3) In your expert opinion, is the tool useful for the creation of rigorous lesson plans? Support your answer with evidence.

    I will definitely use this tool for the creation of rigorous lesson plans. The sections follow the 5E lesson structure:

•     Engage: The opening begins with a real-world scenario and engages students "by asking them how they think parabolas are used in architecture and engineering.
•     Explore: The introduction to new material and use of technology to see graphs of quadratic functions allows students to see the shape and patterns involved in parabolic shapes.
•     Explain: The guided and independent practice sections allow students to formalize their understanding of parabolic/quadratic functions and how to identify the key components of the graphs, including identifying domain, range, x- and y-intercepts, vertex, and axis of symmetry.
•     Extend:  An extension activity is included that suggests providing "a challenge problem involving a real-world application of quadratic functions, such as a projectile motion."
•     Evaluate: The assessment activity is relevant and includes a literary component and suggests a worksheet requiring graphing a quadratic function and identifying the key features.

4) Share the lesson plan that was provided and include it with your post.

The lesson can be found at https://app.magicschool.ai/tools/lesson-plan-generator?share=28f8cb94-9d49-47f5-bf4c-3aa761c47dca. You will need to sign in or sign up in order to view the lesson. This is free!

Part 2: Interact with at least one AI powered tool of your choosing on the Magic School page.

1) Which tool did you choose? What does it do?

    I chose "Math Story Word Problems" to generate some real-world questions for use with the lesson plan. 

2) Is it useful? Justify your answer.

Yes, the tool was extremely useful. I asked the AI powered tool to create real-world scenario problems related to parabolic structures. The tool created 3 real-world contextual word problems that relate to parabolic shapes.

This feature alleviates one of my suggested improvements, as this was so quick and accurately provided me with real-world scenarios that could be used as extension or even assessment. The AI tool created the following:

Parabolic Shapes in Real-World Contexts: Quadratic Functions

1. The Golden Gate Bridge's iconic suspension cables form a parabolic shape. An engineer is studying the main cable, which can be modeled by the quadratic function h(x) = -0.005x^2 + 4x + 150, where h(x) represents the height of the cable in feet, and x is the horizontal distance from the tower in feet. What is the maximum height of the cable, and how far from the tower does this maximum height occur?

2. A local amusement park is designing a new roller coaster. The track for one section follows a parabolic path described by the function y = -0.02x^2 + 4x + 25, where y is the height in meters and x is the horizontal distance in meters. The engineers need to know the highest point of this section for safety regulations. What is the maximum height of the track, and at what horizontal distance does it occur?

3. A water fountain in a city park shoots water in a parabolic arc. The path of a water droplet can be modeled by the equation h(t) = -16t^2 + 40t, where h(t) is the height of the water in feet, and t is the time in seconds since the droplet left the nozzle. How long does it take for the water droplet to reach its maximum height, and what is this maximum height?

Were this a Word document the mathematical symbols would be preserved. 

3) Would you use it to deliver instruction or assess learning with your students? Tell about how you might use it.

    I could use this AI tool to generate story problems for the different concepts that we address in my Algebra II classes. I already have the lesson plan and story word problems saved for use in the near future when we cover quadratic functions. There is also a worksheet generator so I could easily create a worksheet for the independent practice section.

 Part 3: Reflection

1) What are your thought? Is Magic School a resource you would use with your students? Would you share it with colleagues? Why or why not?

    

    I wish I had known about this AI resource sooner! There are quite a few tools that I want to explore such as "Make it Relevant," "Math Spiral Review," and "Real World Connections." All of these sound excellent for review and engaging students with interesting scenarios that connect to life.

    I would definitely share it with colleagues, and I hope any Algebra II instructors in EDUC 5313 see this blog. I am the only teacher at my school that teaches Algebra II, so there is not anyone to share this specific lesson with. However, the entire site includes other content areas, so I will be sharing the Magic School site with my entire high school. I want all students and teachers to have access to this resource.

2) What challenges do you see that would discourage you from using Magic School, if any? What concerns do you have, if any?

    There is nothing about this online AI resource that would discourage me from using this resource. The lesson plan was excellent, and the AI tools are fantastic tools that will save teachers time and provide students with quality lesson plans/activities. I do not have any concerns at this time.

3) What benefits do you see in the Magic School, if any?

    The site really does appear to work magically, as it is simple to navigate and generates responses immediately. Teachers can create lessons to follow a 5E lesson plan format, which is research based best practice.

4) Do you have experience using other AI tools in the classroom? If so, describe.

    I do not have any other experience using AI tools, but this product has me highly interested and motivated to explore other potential AI tools and to not be afraid to utilize AI.  I have used AI on the internet to generate ideas for class projects, but nothing that comes close to the Magic School! 

References:

1. Students. (2023, March 15). ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/students

(2023, October 17). MagicSchool.ai - AI for teachers - lesson planning and more!. https://www.magicschool.ai/

Oklahoma academic standards. (n.d.). Oklahoma State Department of Education. https://sde.ok.gov/oklahoma-academic-standards