NYC-style UDL

WOW! I just came across the New York City Department of Education’s CC Task Collection on OER Commons. I say WOW because the district used a collaborative professional inquiry process with technical assistance to generate and pilot 28 Common Core Performance Assessment Tasks that are:

• backwards-mapped from Common Core Standards using Understanding by Design (UbD)
• supported with instructional options aligned with the UDL Principles
• validated with assessment annotations of student work samples, AND
• freely shared as Open Education Resources (OER)

That's right, they are CC-UbD-UDL-LASW-OER'ed!

Browsing through the items, this evocative question caught my eye for a middle grades literacy assessment task: CAN ANIMALS THINK?

ABSTRACT: http://www.oercommons.org/courses/can-animals-think

OER Object: http://www.oercommons.org/courses/can-animals-think/view

Check out how educators generated this task on page 2:

“The unit was developed by Kelly Nepogoda (CFN 208), Jaime Zecca (8X101), Mariuxi Luna-Bautista, and Deborah Nasta with input from the Curriculum Designers Alignment Review Team. The tasks were developed by the 2010-2011 NYC DOE Middle School Performance Based Assessment Pilot Design Studio Writers.”

And what did they learn through this process?:

"We have learned through the 2010-2011 Common Core pilots that beginning with rigorous assessments drives significant shifts in curriculum and pedagogy. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) support is included to ensure multiple entry points for all learners, including students with disabilities and English language learners." (p.2)

This is evidence that there are existing organizational supports for collaborative curriculum design work, AND that UDL has been integrated into some curriculum design routines in the district!  In this example, the UDL Principles are noted on page 8. Unfortunately, the downloadable "OER Object" is a non- interactive PDF of a paper and pencil writing response. The UDL review on page 8 is also a bit limited considering the range of instructional supports and options described from page 27 that include options for English Language Learners.

How could this work be remixed as a UDL enhanced exemplar?

• USE THE FULL UDL GUIDELINES: The curriculum design process asks educators to respond to a brief coversheet on UDL. Using the full set of UDL Guidelines or the Educators' Checklist might prompt for a more thorough review and consideration of accessibility and learning design.
• PROVIDE ELL OPTIONS FOR EVERYONE: On page 51 begins a separate section on instructional supports for learners at varying levels of English proficiency. Consider using many of these strategies as options for the whole class.
  
• RE-REPRESENT the actual performance tasks in a more digitally supported format that provides language and comprehension supports built in that are not construct relevant, as well as provides multiple digital options for responding to the task. A digital form for interactive note-taking in text, image, or audio, digital step-back questions to check understanding, and scaffolded supports for constructing a response could be designed in using the forthcoming CAST UDL Studio.  http://udlstudio.cast.org/

• COMMUNITY/EXPERT UDL REVIEW: I wonder if the OER Commons could include a UDL Review tool similar to Achieve’s OER Rubric and Evaluation Tool for Common Core alignment.  The free code also could be embedded into various learning management systems (LMS). “Every resource available on OER Commons contains an "Evaluate Resource" button that will direct users to the evaluation tool. The coding for the tool is freely available online here. Resources rated on OER Commons will create a pool of metadata, and this metadata will be shared through the Learning Registry with other interested repositories.”

Happy Open Education Resource Week! Barney says, "Share-Alike."

-Don