#UDLchat: #UDLrising to Equity
April 7, 2021 | 6:00-6:30pm PT / 9:00-9:30pm ET (UTC-4)
#UDLchat Question Preview
Guest Moderators: Nicole Tucker-Smith & Jenna Gravel
#UDLchat Mentor: Mindy Johnson
Tonight’s #UDLchat is a fantastic opportunity to share your ideas and perspectives on updating the UDL Guidelines through an equity lens with the two co-chairs of the UDL Rising to Equity initiative at CAST, Nicole Tucker-Smith & Jenna Gravel.
Questions:
Q1: What does an equitable learning environment look like, feel like, and sound like to you?
Q2: What are some systemic barriers to learning that are present in your context?
Q3: What is missing from the UDL Guidelines that could address the systemic barriers to learning you just described?
Background Information
At the 6th Annual CAST UDL Symposium, CAST announced the launch of UDL Rising to Equity—a transparent, inclusive, and community-driven process to reenvision the UDL Guidelines. This update focuses specifically on addressing systemic barriers that create inequitable learning opportunities and result in inequitable outcomes. Example systemic barriers include disproportionality in special education identification and placement, biased educator expectations, and discriminatory disciplinary practices.
Part of our process has been to review the research referenced in the UDL Guidelines. In Guideline 7: Provide Options for Recruiting Interest, of the 175 references used to inform the development of the Guideline, 11 speak to race, ethnicity, nationality, culture, or gender. In that same list of 175 references, 21 focus on behavior management. What might this suggest in terms of the focus of the research base used to create the UDL Guidelines?
CAST is committed to seeking feedback from a diversity of stakeholders throughout this updating process. We invite you to complete a brief survey and join the conversation with your questions, ideas, and wonders after the chat tonight by using our hashtag, #UDLrising.
So what's this #UDLchat all about?
#UDLchat is a bi-monthly Twitter chat focused on Universal Design for Learning (UDL). We are a virtual community of practitioners, enthusiasts, and evangelists eager to discuss resources, successes, and challenges in implementing UDL in a wide variety of environments and contexts.
Join us every 1st & 3rd Wednesday from 6-6:30 pm PT / 9-9:30 pm ET (GMT-4) for a rapid-fire learning-focused chat, and build your PLN!
#UDLchat Norms
- Tag your answers with #UDLchat to participate in the conversation. If you're feeling brave, throw in some other hashtags such as #UDL, #UDLfam, or add the handles (@names) for your school, university, organization, or other people you want to invite to the conversation.
- Questions from the moderator begin with Q1, Q2, Q3... Your responses should begin with A1, A2, A3... corresponding with the question number.
- If using images, don't forget to include image descriptions for accessibility. Extra tip: GIFs are the only type of images that cannot be described using Twitter's image description feature. For GIFs, include the description in your tweet in brackets. Here's an example from the UDL Center.
- #UDLchat is about the power of the group. Don't forget to follow new people and raise/love others up.
- Use any part of tonight's questions in your own chats or conversations.
- Find the archives of past #UDLchat conversations on the UDL Center blog.
- Have fun and feel the love!
New to Twitter Chats?
Here are some great resources to help you get started!
- Edublogs Teacher Challenges: Participate in Twitter Chats [blog post]
- The Social Media Coach: How to Participate in a Twitter Chat [blog post]
- Twitter Chat Basics [video 3:24] from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. It's a great intro for those new to the format.
- Twubs: #UDLchat [tool] Lots of #UDLchat participants use Twubs to keep track of the fast-paced conversation. Twubs has great tools to speed up or slow down the pace of the tweets, and if you log in using your Twitter account, it adds the hashtag to your tweets for you!
Want text alerts to remind you before each #UDLchat?
Pick a way to receive messages for #UDLchat:
- If you have a smartphone, get push notifications.
On your iPhone or Android phone, open your web browser and go to the following link: rmd.at/udlchat
Follow the instructions to sign up for Remind. You'll be prompted to download the mobile app. - If you don't have a smartphone, get text notifications.
Text the message @udlchat to the number 81010.
If you're having trouble with 81010, try texting @udlchat to (781) 916-9648.
* Standard text message rates apply. - Don't have a mobile phone? Go to rmd.at/udlchat on a desktop computer to sign up for email notifications.