Jeffrey Zeidel’s Portfolio
Prior to joining the Dawson 2019 UDL Cohort, I had limited knowledge to what Universal Design for Learning was.聽It was my first full-time post during the聽day聽and I wanted to get my toes wet. I decided that I聽had nothing to lose and I entered the world of UDL.
In physical education, like many聽other disciplines, we聽have students that are entering into Dawson with a wide range of knowledge. Students graduating from聽high school are not entering into CEGEP with the same base knowledge as they聽would have for聽mathematics, sciences,聽French聽or聽English. There are no聽provincial or standardized tests that students must complete before entering the college.聽聽The result聽is, a box of chocolate,聽鈥測ou never know what you鈥檙e聽gonna聽get鈥�.
With all groups being so unique I found myself teaching to only a portion of the student body leaving the rest behind. It was either you pick up the pace or you will fall behind. This was not聽fair to my students nor was it fair to me.聽聽
I decided to聽take action聽and focus my attention towards UDL to build a more inclusive environment and pedagogy for my students.聽Rather than beginning with one specific course title, I decided to focus on implementing聽various strategies and teaching tools to all my courses.
The objective of said tools and聽strategies were to:聽
- Reduce the obstacles in learning
- Increase student engagement
- Provide more options to students
With an interest in technology I聽began reformatting my courses to be:
- Easily accessible
- More engaging
- More inclusive
I cannot say for certain due to the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic but I believe聽my strategies implemented into my courses have leveled the playing field and will聽continue聽to do so as there is so much work we can do. This project聽is only one stage of the journey, there are plenty of more stages to reach before I get to the end.
Read more:
UDL Project: one stage of the journey
