In a heterogeneous society like Nigeria, a rich and rewarding education is often hard to find especially among the public sector rank of providers even more so for the basic education cadre. This reality is even more difficult in a nation where education has suffered obvious setbacks and neglect for decades.
The failure of education to provide more widespread options for students and their families undoubtedly has many causes. Schools were designed based on the assumption that an average student possesses average learning ability and therefore should be able to learn like every other one forgetting that ability is not limited to physical traits and that learners differ in their mental, emotional and psychological make-up.
Even for those physically challenged learners, the concept of ableism and its assumptions cause harm when the educational and developmental services provided to them focus inordinately on the peculiarity of their challenges. These narratives speak to the deep cultural prejudices against people with unique abilities in general.
| Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|
| Face-to-Face | Starts April 25, 2023 | 5 days |
| LMS: Asynchronous | Starts April 11, 2023 | 4 weeks |
This principle of UDL addresses diverse learning styles and provides multiple opportunities for students to grasp key concepts.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a contemporary teaching approach that works to accommodate the needs and abilities of all learners and eliminate unnecessary hurdles in the learning process. This means developing a flexible learning environment in which information is presented in multiple ways, students engage in learning in a variety of ways, and students are provided options when demonstrating their learning. Inclusion of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) model as a guiding set of principles for curriculum development in basic, secondary and tertiary education is the focus of this course. Fundamentally, UDL provides the student with multiple means of accessing their courses based on three overarching principles: presentation; action and expression; and engagement and interaction, based on Rose & Mayer (2008). As part of the important learning on this course, guidelines are also provided for incorporating UDL into the curriculum for teaching both general and diverse populations of students with or without any disabilities.
Presenting information and ideas in multiple ways is an essential part of good teaching. This principle of UDL addresses diverse learning styles and provides multiple opportunities for students to grasp key concepts. This professional teachers’ training course teaches participants how to apply UDL principles by breaking up long lectures and reading assignments into activities that engage students in listening, watching, reflecting, and doing.
This professional teaching course on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is supplementary to a larger training program for faculty and teaching assistants about working with students of different backgrounds talents and abilities. While it is designed to be a stand-alone course, the participants may also want to consider examining additional learning opportunities available with the Hezekiah Academy for Teachers (HAT); a teacher training and development project of the ISM Lagos.
