Web 2.0 use with UDL

Web 2.0 use with UDL style of Teaching

    A classroom utilizing UDL (Universal Design for Learning) can be enhanced through the use of Web 2.0 tools.   The UDL model focuses on education that is available and unique for all learners.  Web 2.0 tools can allow each student to obtain information through a variety of means with teacher guidance.  Some students, including but not limited to those with IEP’s or 504 plans, learn best through seeing, some are auditory learners, others prefer to write it down or remember best when they speak the information they have learned.  Web 2.0 tools open up options that take advantage of these different learning styles.
    As with many students with disabilities, reading and comprehending materials on their own is difficult. One way a teacher can use Web 2.0 is showing a Youtube video to further explain a concept.  Youtube has really opened up the world to “see” everything.  Gone are the days of trying to simply explain in words how something works or looks.  A Youtube video can literally show you.  And there’s a video for just about everything (over 55 000 videos on how to tie your shoe)! Students will also show more interest as Youtube is within their comfort level, it’s what they already like to do on their own.  A student led project creating a video and posting it to Youtube can give them the opportunity to be involved and truly dig deeper into understanding the lesson. Plus, what student wouldn’t want to post a video to Youtube to share with friends? These Digital Natives want everything in their lives “out there” for all to see. As stated by Dina Rosen and Charles Nelson in the article Web 2.0: A New Generation of Learners and Education, “the term Web 2.0 students identifies a new generation of learners who are comfortable with and enthusiastic about using collaborative technologies to participate in theWorldWideWeb as creators rather than consumers” (220). These are memorable experiences that can really help learning, especially for individuals with disabilities as it allows them to learn in a way that works for them, be it visual, auditory, or tactile.
    Along with the many positive possibilities digital teaching has to truly differentiate teaching, there are drawbacks.  “As a social revolution more than as a technical revolution, Web 2.0 tools’ greatest power is that it can change the nature of student learning and lead to Education 2.0” (Rosen, Nelson 221).  In order to lead to an education revolution with Web 2.0 tools teachers need to get involved. This can’t be used as a stand by teaching style.  Web 2.0 has easily transitioned youngsters to engage socially by sharing and receiving information via the World Wide Web.  This can also be a drawback.  Right now they are very social tools that students many times don’t even understand the power of what they are posting.  Teachers need to turn it to an educational tool as a means of not only teaching safe internet practices but how they can learn and share their knowledge through the use of the vast amount of Web 2.0 tools.

Take a look at a Youtube song video explaining that teen numbers are a group of ten and extra ones.  This visual and auditory representation can really help young children understand place value in a fun way.  Warning, this song does get stuck in your head, but you can be sure to remember that 17 is a group of 10 and 7 extra ones!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGa2cVluGnU