LECTURER: Hi, everybody. My name is Jennifer Lynch
and I'm a teacher in Marino College of Further Education.
So, just a little bit of background about myself,
I have a background in the dental sector and the medical sector.
And I also have a background in the disability sector.
So at the moment, I'm currently doing a postgraduate course in UCD
at the Innovation Academy in UCD.
And I'm studying entrepreneurship and innovation.
And I suppose this course along with UDL course that I did
really complimented my teaching practice
throughout the year.
I really saw the skills that I could implement throughout the year.
So, just to give you a little bit of background about Marino College
'cause it would be unfair if I didn't.
Marino college is a further education college,
and we cater for a diverse range of students
and students that are,
mature students that are coming back to education
and students who would like to transition
onto furthering their education in the future.
Actually students who have been to third level education,
and it wasn't for them often to come back to Marino as well.
And also students who English isn't their first language.
And so we've a wide variety of courses from a level four back
to education course, up to level five
and we've recently developed a higher level six
dental nursing traineeship,
which we hope to run out it in September 2020.
So, it's really exciting for us at Marino.
So, just a little bit about the course.
So, the course that I chose to implement the UDL into,
was a health service management level six course.
The module that I chose was the Disability Awareness Module.
So, according to the module descriptor,
the students have to design five learning activities
and they have to work with a person
or a group of people with disabilities.
And then at the end of this,
they have to produce a 3500 word essay.
So, the reason that I chose this module was that the class
was a very diverse group, 50% of the class English
was not their first language.
Some students had print disabilities
or mild general learning disabilities.
So, I just thought that I could implement this
really well into the program.
So, I just love this slide and we all think differently,
why should we all learn the same way
and this is what I loved about incorporate the UDL framework
in the philosophy into my teaching.
So, it's about removing any barriers to learning
and to give the students equal opportunities to succeed.
So, the way of learning,
so this really interested me, and as an educator
and as a student myself, 'cause I'm a constant learner.
I really wanted to reflect on why students learn,
why students learn, like what makes them walk
outside your classroom after 50 minutes,
and be encouraged enough or interested enough
to go on and look at a TED talk video
or to have a look at a YouTube video?
So, what motivates students to become,
you know, more independent and motivated students?
So, when I started the UDL course,
in September, I explained to the students about the UDL framework,
and they were really interested,
and I told them that I wanted to integrate it,
into the Disability Awareness Module.
So, we actually looked at the framework together,
I asked the question, why we learn about disabilities,
and what do we want to learn?
So, the feedback from the students was that,
you know, they wanted to understand difficult concepts,
they wanted to know about the words diversity,
inclusion, advocacy, you know,
they didn't just want to see as words on a page,
and they had heard the words but they just didn't understand
what they were, and they wanted to eliminate preconceived ideas
about the disability.
Preconceived ideas that they had themselves
of what the disability sector was, and what society have as well.
And also they want an authentic student experience as well.
So, what I did was I contacted Roslyn Park College,
now for those of you who don't know about Roslyn Park College,
it's part of the National Learning Network.
It's an amazing college, it teaches different courses
from level three to level five.
So, and all these all the students in Roslyn Park have different,
different disabilities.
So, the Culinary Students agreed to work with us,
we're really lucky and they were about to do a team working module.
And it was important for me that not only my students benefit,
but also the students from Roslyn Park College benefited.
And I wanted us all to achieve different learning outcomes together.
So, you know, it was a little bit of an experiment as well.
So, straightaway well after a few icebreaker games,
we were able to apply the UDL principles.
So the students, you know, straightaway,
they started learning through a collaboration.
They were fostering, you know,
really good community spirit together.
The students themselves came off with multiple means
in engagement.
They were the ones that decided on the weekly meeting.
They had interactive, they wanted interactive collaborative workshops,
and luckily, the Culinary Students offers to facilitate that
and they did lots of different cookery demonstrations for us.
But the ultimate goal at the end of the five weeks
or activities was to raise money for a charity
and they both decided to come together
and choose a charity themselves,
so you know, without any input from me.
So, I have to say I can really attest the fact
that this framework works.
We had full attendance every single week.
And that is not easy to do, from both sides of students,
like so both sets of students always came every single week.
And in fact, some of my students asked,
could they do extra hours, they wanted to work
with the students and do extra hours,
which was great because they can incorporate that
into their work experience module.
So really, they did become purposeful students
and really, really motivated.
So for like, it was an authentic experience for both students.
The Culinary Students were assessed
on their team working module.
So, they got the opportunity to, you know, showcase their skills
and they were a talented bunch.
And my students, the supervisory students,
they were able to organise their five different activities.
They could also use the arrows
and cross module as part of their work experience.
So really, the why of learning,
I think was with covert here.
So, the next part of the UDL framework was the how of learning
and how could the students translate this,
this experience that they gained into a written piece of work
and show evidence for the purpose of their assessment.
So, what I did was I created a poll online
and as part of the action expression,
I asked the students would you prefer a different
method of assessment with regards to writing the journal,
a lot of students do struggle with sitting down and writing.
So, 73% surprise, surprise, said there was like
an alternative assessment method.
And then from... I also asked them as well,
if you were offered a different assessment method,
what would you choose?
So, I offered them one the use of the PowerPoint
and voiceover presentation done through a video,
or a portfolio with pictures, videos and text.
So, 73% of the students said that they would love to do a portfolio
and a video.
So I suppose, after reflecting on the feedback
from what the students gave me,
I gave them the option of submitting their assignments
through creating a portfolio of images and videos.
So, the majority of students reached their word count
without even realising it, and with a lot less pressure,
because they had that visual cues that they can go by.
So, what impact did the incorporation UDL have on the students?
So it did have a big impact.
So, the students thought that the experience was really relevant
and added to the value of their careers that they wanted to pursue.
So, a lot of the students do want to go into to disability factor.
So, by engaging in peer to peer feedback during sessions,
enable them to then reflect on their journal and implement
that into their portfolio.
So, at the beginning of both sets,
the students did find it challenging standing up in front
of people who don't know and doing a presentation
or doing it online.
And it really did take them out of their comfort zone.
But they felt that through collaboration together,
they formed a sense of community together.
And it made both of their modules seem a little bit more relevant.
So, the students did become very resourceful and knowledgeable.
There was very little input from myself or the other students.
It was a very module student led approach.
And the supervisory students learnt new skills,
and some of them had never even baked a cake or baked a scone.
So, the Culinary Students taught them how to do that.
They taught each other about budgets and planning,
that was really important for the bake sale
and they taught each other new ways of learning through doing.
So, they really did become experiential learners
by learning by doing.
So another principle of UDL is how the learning has become strategic,
strategically driven.
So, the ultimate goal for the students really was to complete the assignment,
but it definitely became much more than that.
The students really wanted to raise money for charity,
and they managed to raise 350 euro for Pieta House,
that was their charity of choice.
And they were really, really proud of that.
So, I think that like engaging in this course has taught me
that UDL is more than offering information in different formats.
It's about the student centred approach,
making material accessible and interesting.
And understanding that like,
technology can be a really wonderful tool.
But if you combine that word and authentic student experience
it can be really powerful for both the teacher and the student,
and really make the student motivators and interested.
So, just a quick bit of feedback.
So, this is the feedback that I got from some of the students.
"The students of Roslyn Park College really showcase the skills
they learned regardless of their disabilities,
and the stereotypes society put upon them.
I'm so grateful to have collaborated with them."
And another student said, "In planning
and working with the students from Roslyn Park College,
I've learnt a lot about working in a team, inclusion,
and the acceptance of people with disabilities.
When I think of students from NLN,
the words that come to mind are listening, community,
self direction and talent."
So, like I think that you'll all agree that the students involved
learned more than just words on a page.
So, just briefly, how I'm gonna incorporate UDL
into Marino College and into my teaching practice.
So, I also did the facilitation badges,
and for anyone from Marino who's watching,
a lot of them have expressed interest.
So, we're going to roll it's facilitation badge.
I would love to do another postgraduate
or further education on UDL,
'cause I just think it's just so powerful.
And the final thing is, which is really exciting,
I mentioned it earlier on.
Because I was involved in the creation of the dental nursing traineeship,
I was one of the people involved, and we did raise UDL
into the fabric of the curriculum.
So, going forward in September, UDL really will feature heavily,
for the new Dental Nursing and Traineeship programme.
So, that'll be really exciting.
And it's something very tangible.
So, I just want to say thanks to Dara and AHEAD for putting
on like a really wonderful online course.
It's actually one of the best online courses I've ever done.
So, if you're thinking about doing it, do it
and get involved in it. So thanks a million.