Episode 6: Trees and UDL Representation Perception

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SPEAKERS

Teresa Lee, Deb Matthews

Teresa Lee  00:02

Welcome to the UDL conversation cafe. Universal Design for Learning podcasts where we hear from people who are designing and implementing strategies with the diverse needs of learners in mind. I'm your host Teresa Lee. This episode is the third of four mini episodes where our Centennial College faculty Deb Matthews takes us through the importance of UDL and explores each of the three principles in this episode that focuses on the principle of multiple means of representation. Through an understanding of the uniqueness of trees and our relationships with our environment that highlights the benefits we gained by creating rich, diverse educational ecosystems much in the same way our world creates rich, diverse natural ecosystems. Deb Matthews is a professor in the child and youth care practitioner program at Centennial College.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another podcast in the UDL conversation Cafe series. My name is Deb Matthews. And in this podcast, we're going to focus on the what of learning. This is referring to the UDL principle of perception or representation. And this really means that what students are learning is really impacted by the incredible diversity of the ways in which students perceive information.

And so if you had a chance to listen to the previous podcasts I shared in this series, then you'll understand I have an, a unique fascination with trees. And the reason I'm going to talk a bit about trees again, is I think that this idea of no two trees are the same. And that the richness of that, the unique individuality of each tree is so important as a way to understand UDL principles. So for this session, when we're focusing on the what of learning, the actual content we're sharing, and how students bring that content in, I'm also going to continue to connect that a bit to how we understand trees, because I think that helps to really construct a foundation for the importance of UDL principles.

So in this first in this UDL principle of perception, the what of learning, one of the areas we need to really consider is how do students perceive information. And what we know is that it doesn't depend on a single sense drawing in information. In fact, we know some students may prefer to see information in front of them, maybe in written form or visuals, where other students really need to hear information or to touch it to kind of feel and move with the content that they're experiencing. And so much in the same way that trees will grasp information in different ways. For example, you know, some trees are using their roots, some trees are getting information from light and other trees are using the air to gather what they need to know. Much in the same way, our students will need multiple ways to perceive the information we are sharing. So an example that I'm going to share and again, I'm going to be very honest about my own experience, is for a very long time, I really didn't like podcasts. Personally, I like to see information and hearing it alone didn't really feel that exciting to me, it wasn’t a way that I thought I was going to get a lot of information. And what I realized is I wasn't using podcasts with my students because I didn't like getting, getting information that way. And yet, I realized there are many students who really appreciate the opportunity to hear the information and be able to visualize it themselves. And so just by doing these UDL podcasts, I've actually increased my understanding of perception. And I've gone back to have another go at listening to podcasts. And what I find is for me, there are certain times when a podcast is useful, you know, for example, when I'm driving I might be able to listen to something and not having that visual is helpful. But there are other times where I just don't have the ability to engage with that information if I'm only hearing it. So, much the way I connect with information differently, I know trees connect with information differently. So do our students.

So one of the ways that we can create those rich learning ecosystems we've talked about before is to offer multiple ways for students to engage with the what, the content, the information we are sharing with them. So another thing to consider when we consider perception or representation is the ways that we are communicating information so that all of our students walk away with a shared understanding of that content. And this really refers to the language we use, the symbols we use, how we convey syntax, and structure, and how students are able to decode that information. So I'll give you an example.

In my own practice, as a teacher, I have students who have to examine research using primarily journal articles to create greater understanding of particular topics. And what I began to understand is that journals are written in quite a unique language. And I think I forgot that over time, I had learned how to decode journals, and the very interesting ways that researchers share information. And so for the assignment that I have with students that requires them to explore the content in journals, what I understood I needed to do was also to convey clear language so that all of the students could in fact decode a journal article. And so much of my preparation for that assignment was student focused on communicating the content, the language that's used within research, and how to interpret that in multiple ways. And so again, much in the same way that our students are going to process information differently. For example, many of our students will have had different experiences. So if I use an example, based on my own experience, they may not understand what I'm referring to. And much like our students, trees communicate with each other, very clearly using common language. So for example, trees that are in a forest are all working together in multiple ways to share information and help each other. But we know in fact that our students come from a variety of forests, they come from a variety of lived experiences a variety of understandings of the world. And so we may not all share a common language of things, even beyond the topics that we're exploring in our academic settings, we may have had different lived experiences that will impact our ability to really decode and understand the what of our learning. So the next section that we really want to consider when we're thinking about student perception or representation, the what, is we want to consider comprehension.

So this is that idea that we can take information, and really explore the meaning of that information and generate new ways of understanding that in, that information, so our ability to comprehend information really relies on a few different things. And again, you know, I want to come back to this example of trees, because I just get blown away by the ways in which trees comprehend information. And so I was reading this really cool article about Peter Wohlleben, and I'm not sure I'm saying his name correctly, but he's written a book, and it's called the hidden life of trees, what they feel how they communicate. And he talks about this unbelievable concept that when a deer is in a forest and it's biting the leaves of a tree, the tree actually comprehends this threat on, on them from the saliva that they feel on their leaves. And so once they interpret or perceive this threat, they actually produce a chemical that makes the leaves taste bad. Now, when I started to think about that, I thought that is incredible. This is a remarkable example of comprehension. Right? So who would think that a tree is able to take that bit of information and then process it into a new way of understanding the threat that's around them? And I think that example helps to really understand that each student in our learning ecosystem is going to be comprehending the content in very different ways. And so for example, I have students that, that have been in other classes within our program. And I know that there are concepts they learned in other classes. So when I'm exploring a concept that we're going to use in class, I'll often draw on the prior learning that they received in another class, or maybe prior learning that they may have had in their lives, to help them to make those connections and increase the likelihood that they're going to comprehend the information. And so when you think about this idea of doing, of using UDL, in your classes, the idea of the what of learning is to recognize that students are going to perceive information in very different ways. And so if we're taking a concept, the more ways that we can share that information, for example, audio, books, podcasts, videos, alternative visuals of any sort, the more ways that we can do that, the more that the way, it increases the likelihood that students will actually be able to perceive the information in a real way. And then we know that the language we use, the symbols we use, that students really have to have a common understanding of that language and those symbols.

So the more ways that we can clarify the language we're using, and the symbols that create our understanding, the more likelihood there is that students will all be able to understand the information, and then in turn be able to perceive the content that we're sharing. And finally, that last area comprehension, you know, it's so clear that some of our students are just incredibly quick at comprehending information, they may have that shared language, they may have similar experiences, and they may be able to process information in their brains quickly. But we know that there are so many different ways to perceive that students experience learning and processing information quite uniquely. So the more ways we can create opportunities to comprehend that information and turn it into really meaningful content, and, and ways to understand that content, then, in fact, our students are going to do better. So I've given a few examples of ways that you may be able to increase this idea of perception of information. But in fact, the key to this, again, is to keep it simple. It's really important to understand that whether you've been using UDL practices for a very long time, or whether this is really new to you that there is no rule that says we have to do everything at once, if we can begin to increase just a few ways that we represent information, and that we provide opportunities for students to perceive and comprehend information, then, in fact, we are increasing the likelihood that students will use that content in really meaningful ways.

And so this isn't about having to do all the heavy lifting right at the front. It's about exploring individual ways that work within your courses and, and your discipline that are going to be meaningful to you and to the students that are in your learning ecosystem. So again, I hope this has been useful. And thanks everyone, and have a really enjoyable time exploring these ideas of UDL. Bye bye.

Teresa Lee  14:09

Thank you for joining our UDL conversation cafe. Are you a Centennial faculty or staff? If you would like to join the host of our podcasts episodes and other colleagues for deeper live conversation on UDL, join us at UDL conversation Cafe monthly virtual circles. Find more information in the cold calendar or the upcoming cold Compendium. We invite you to listen and subscribe to the Centennial College podcast on SoundCloud, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts and Spotify.

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