Title: Other resources and literature on engagement
Course: UDL & online special education > Section: 3. Propose multiple means of engagement

Insights on the topics covered in the lesson for those interested in expanding knowledge on the subject and recommended bibliography.

Commitment to inclusive education

The social construction of educational discourse unanimously includes the right of all boys and girls to education, to a quality education in which everyone have the opportunity to learn, develop their educational and personal potential, as well as achieve a level of minimum skills to be participatory citizens in society, regardless of their social conditions, personal characteristics, family background, culture, origin, gender or religion. The universalization of education guarantees access to this good for all citizens, but it is necessary to ensure that all students are guaranteed a quality education.

There is great concern at the United Nations (UN), OECD and European Union (EU) levels about high levels of educational failure and inequality social, which translate into processes of exclusion for many citizens. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank (WB) (2011) warn that students with disabilities are less likely to stay in school and pass subsequent courses, as happens with the foreign population, whose results are worse for both early second generation immigrants and second generation immigrants (UNESCO, 2008). One of the causes of failure they indicate is that the schooling of students with disabilities in mainstream centers has not been accompanied by the necessary pedagogical and curricular renewal, so there have been no substantial changes in teaching practices. This lack of renewal and new practices has been repeated in the face of the "irruption" of the immigrant population into the classroom, socio-economic differences or the presence of a greater number of types of diversity among students.

It is a problem that concerns the whole society and requires policies that contribute to carrying out actions in education systems aimed at changing this situation with a complex perspective, in which one intervenes from the class, from the centre, from the family, from the community and from society. The student himself cannot be held responsible for exclusion or failure, neither can the teacher or the centre. It is a shared responsibility that requires policies and actions that allow for the activation of curricular, organizational and educational responses that contribute to ensuring that all students can participate successfully in educational contexts that are inclusive and responsive to diversity.

Inclusive education (IE) has become one of the issues that has received the most attention in EU education policies. A few years ago, the Council of the European Union approved a recommendation (May 22, 2018) concerning the promotion of common values, inclusive education and the European dimension of teaching. By adopting this recommendation, Member States must ensure inclusive education for all students, from an early age and throughout their lives, and provide the necessary support according to their specific needs, 'including those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, those of migrant origin, those with special needs and the most talented” (Council of the European Union, 2018, p.4).

According to UNESCO, inclusive education is understood as "a process that allows addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through greater participation in learning, cultural and community activities and reducing exclusion within and outside the system" (UNESCO 2008, p.7). It requires substantial changes for the school to successfully educate all its students: that all are accepted, recognized in their uniqueness and that they can participate according to their abilities.

It is a change of perspective which, in addition to being reflected in the legislation, must be accompanied by methodological and organizational practices to make it effective. It therefore supposes a paradigm shift to understand that education must be inclusive in all cases and therefore guarantee quality education for all students in a center and for all students in the classroom, in curricular development for all.

This change is not only based on specific assistance measures for students who may need support provided by specialists. It is still possible to recognize the sometimes implicit and hidden normal-special duality in contexts where the discourse speaks of attention to diversity from inclusive approaches but where practices show this dichotomy. The difference is part of a recent history and of the present, of the context in which so many generations of teachers, administrators and politicians were formed who are concretely today. To transform these unique frameworks and practices, it is necessary to identify new models that serve as a reference for building a truly inclusive education, with points of view, approaches, methodological strategies and teaching concepts that are based on inclusive approaches and that understand that all students who are in a classroom are entitled to opportunities to learn, succeed, participate, socialize, and develop as individuals and citizens.

What does it mean that curricula are "disabled"?

Resumes can be "disabled" in the following ways:

1. The curricula are "disabled" in  WHO they can teach. Curricula are often not conceived, designed or validated for use with the different types of students who currently populate our classrooms. Students who are "on the fringes" - those who are gifted, those with special needs or disabilities, those who are language learners, and so on - often suffer the worst blow from curricula designed for a fictitious "average", because such curricula they do not take into account individual variability.
2. The curricula are “disabled” in WHAT they can teach. Curricula are often designed to deliver and evaluate information or content, without considering the development of learning strategies – skills students need to understand, evaluate, synthesize and transform information into marketable knowledge. Traditional curricula remain largely built on written media, which is good for disseminating narrative and descriptive content. However, they are not ideal for information that requires an understanding of dynamic processes and relationships, calculations and procedures.
3. The curricula are “disabled” in HOW they can teach. Typically, curricula have very limited educational options. Not only are they generally ill-equipped to differentiate instruction for different students, or even for the same student at different levels of understanding, but they are "disabled" by their inability to deliver many of the key elements for educational success highlighted from pedagogy, such as the ability to highlight critical features or big ideas, the ability to provide the necessary prior knowledge, the ability to link new skills to previous ones, the ability to build successful skills and strategies, the ability to monitor progress dynamically, the ability to offer a graduated structure. Most current curricula are better at presenting information than teaching it.

Fonte: CAST (2011). Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines version 2.0. Wakefield, MA: Author.  Traduzione in italiano versione 2.0 (2015) a cura di Giovanni Savia e Paolina Mulè.

Webinars | The why of learning: didactic applications of the 1 UDL principle

Is it possible to imagine educational strategies and technological solutions that can really promote student involvement processes?

The webinar aims to illustrate the possible educational applications of the first principle of the UDL, "Provide Multiple means of engagement", through the description of innovative methodologies and the solicitation for the strategic use of highly accessible technological solutions.

This is the second of a series of meetings focused on the educational applications of the three principles of Universal Design for Learning.

This is a recording of a Universal Design for Learning workshop about providing multiple means of engagement  with a special focus on providing students options for self regulation. During the workshop we had an in-depth discussion on promoting expectations & beliefs that optimize motivation, facilitating personal coping skills and strategies, and developing self-assessment and reflection..

Bibliography

Eichhorn, M. S., Lowry, A. E., & Burke, K. (2019). Increasing Engagement of English Learners through Universal Design for Learning. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 9(1), 1-10.

Ghedin, E., & Mazzocut, S. (2017). “Universal Design for Learning per una valorizzazione delle differenze: un’indagine esplorativa sulle percezioni degli insegnanti”. Italian Journal of Educational Research 10 (18), pp. 147-161.

Lohmann, M. J., Hovey, K. A., & Gauvreau, A. N. (2018). Using a Universal Design for Learning Framework to Enhance Engagement in the Early Childhood Classroom. Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship, 7(2), n2.

Montgomery, A. P., Hayward, D. V., Dunn, W., Carbonaro, M., & Amrhein, C. G. (2015). Blending for student engagement: Lessons learned for MOOCs and beyond. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 31(6).

Savia, G. (2018). “Universal Design for Learning nel contesto italiano”. Italian Journal of Special Education for Inclusion, vol. 6, pp. 101-18.

Sengers, P., & Gaver, B. (2006, June). Staying open to interpretation: engaging multiple meanings in design and evaluation. In Proceedings of the 6th conference on Designing Interactive systems (pp. 99-108).