Month: February 2025

It is very helpful that you gave an introduction to your groups project as it provides a good background for readers who are unaware of your topic. Alzheimer’s is a very complex subject that can be very useful to teach, especially in the name of this week’s topic on accessibility. I liked that you mentioned how articles can be hard to focus on for long periods of time, so therefore your suggestion of videos and diagrams will help alleviate this concern. I think it would be interesting if in your assessment you elaborated on the diagram you described and had students draw their own diagram on the stages of Alzheimer’s to asses how well they absorbed what you presented during the learning process. Or possibly a self-reflection from the students reflecting on a combination of elements that you presented and which activities they enjoyed the most. Overall, from your description it seems that your project has a lot of potential for using the accessibility methods we have learned in our course material!

Link to Response: https://bashar.opened.ca/post-3/?unapproved=14&moderation-hash=adf48bfa04f665a7d02a295d352baa52#comment-14

1. How will your interactive learning resource specifically ensure that the needs of all learners can be met?

Our interactive learning resource can ensure universal accessibility by supplying a diversity in activities for learners to use, scaffolds/supports, and principles like UDL, i.e., planning for barriers that learners may encounter. First of all, our learning activities and assessments include a mix of reading, writing, discussion, and self-reflection. Using a diverse number of learning methods will allow all students to be accommodated. Our interactive learning resource also incorporates the use of technology by providing a list of videos for learners to watch in case they want more information on the sub-topics or are confused and need more clarification. Online articles are also linked throughout the introduction and misconceptions section in order to offer even more clarification on the information that is being provided. Reducing barriers can also be applied in the grading scale. As described in the post on Measuring Learning, the less precise the grading scale, the better. Our interactive learning resource can implement a grading scale with approximately four to five broad categories of ratings, such as the one, two, three four scale, with one being the lowest grade, and four being the highest grade. Instead of percentages, this scale will allow for wiggle room with the diversity of students and their work abilities in the classroom.        

2. Choose one (or more) of your planned learning activities from your Blueprint and identify any barriers to student success. How can you alter or adjust your current plan to reduce those barriers?

One of our learning activities involves a jigsaw group activity where students gather into groups and read articles, and are then instructed to articulate the information from their chosen article and teach it to the class. Although this exercise is efficient and a way to increase participation, this activity can be improved by catering to students with disabilities. Such as the fact that the activity solely attains information from articles. The delivery of information to the groups could be broadened beyond articles to include podcasts, slideshows made by the instructor, or even a transcript for deaf students or those who are learning English as a second language, an example mentioned in the Universal Learning Post for this week. In general the suggestion for the jigsaw learning activity can fall under the category of using technology to increase accessibility in the classroom and allow students of all abilities to be equally engaged.

Link: https://dawsoncharles.opened.ca/2025/02/06/blog-post-2/?unapproved=9&moderation-hash=2e2c2d8315394f2376dee636d32bcfc2#comment-9

This is a really great response, not only to learn from and read, but it is also visually stimulating. Separating each component of your post into different sections made it very clear and easy to understand. I liked that you described students in open pedadgogy as “active contributors rather than passive consumers,” which encapsulates what open pedagogy is all about, student participation. It was also helpful that you included hyper links to a website and video, making your blog post in general more engaging as it links to even more information on the subject. As a member of your learning pod I enjoyed your suggestion of using open pedadgogy to encourage learners to make videos of their sleep strategies in the interactive learning resource. Overall, this blog post does a good job at answering the prompts, as well as providing thorough information on the subject of open pedagogy. Good job!

I will describe the design thinking approach to learning. I will first use information from our assigned post on Planning Frameworks, which says that design thinking is an approach to learning that encourages learners to prototype in order to solve a real world problem. Design thinking is also based in the category of the Understanding by Design principles, where instructors plan their courses based on a set of desired outcomes. Design thinking says that learning designers must base their objectives off of the human needs of their learners because empathy and human need are the foundation of design thinking. There are five phases (empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test) which can be incorporated into an outline of a project (once an instructor has grabbed the learner’s attention). During these five phases learning designers may find they need to revisit the phases in order to better cater the design to their learners. Overall, the post Planning Frameworks argues that design thinking uses a group-based approach that motivates students to solve a problem in a creative and pragmatic way (like the constructivist theory), where the thinking process of the designer is catered to the individual who will benefit from the result of the project. I found more information on design thinking in a blog by the Harvard Business School titled What is Design Thinking & Why is it Important? This blog provides the insight of design thinking into work life. For example, the blog suggests that employers should increase employee engagement and not focus on problem-solving (Han 2022). Reading through the rest of the blog provides awareness into design thinking outside the realm of education, such as design thinkings’ benefits in the modern working world.

In my group’s interactive learning resource on the topic of sleep, the learning objectives and activities line up with a constructivists approach and therefore align with design thinking. To incorporate design thinking into our resources, we can find more learning activities that incorporate the needs of the participants in our study of sleep, where learners track their sleep and mood everyday. Asking the learners ways in which they prefer to track their sleep or what is most convenient for them can help the learners feel motivated to participate in tracking their sleep and discussing their experiences. By incorporating the opinions and needs of our learners, my group can integrate design thinking into our interactive learning resource.

Reference

Han, Esther. (2022, Jan. 18). What is Design Thinking and Why is it Important? Harvard Business School Online. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-design-thinking.