Month: February 2025

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework designed to cater to the diverse needs of all learners by removing barriers to learning. Rooted in research in cognitive neuroscience, UDL strives to provide multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression, so that every student can access and participate in learning regardless of their abilities or backgrounds. This approach supports learners with disabilities and also benefits the entire classroom by providing a more flexible, adaptive learning environment.

By making diversity a priority in instructional methods, UDL can help create more inclusive learning environments. It can guide educators to design lesson plans that are more accessible, encouraging the use of a variety of teaching strategies and assessment styles. For in-person classrooms, this might include offering a wide range of different activities, using visual aids, and incorporating assistive technologies that cater to different learning styles. In online settings, this could mean offering course materials in multiple formats such as text, audio, and video, ensuring that digital content is compatible with all types of devices, includes closed captions, and alternative navigation tools.

When it comes to accessibility in online learning tools such as screen readers, accessibility-focused websites, alt text for images, and captions for video content are important. Instructors should use accessible document formats and regularly seek feedback to improve digital accessibility. For instance, providing documents that are only available in proprietary software, such as the Microsoft Office Suite, would be considered poor practice in regards to accessibility. Instructors are encouraged to use open source formats.

The move toward digital learning also brings ethical challenges, particularly regarding privacy and data security. Educators and institutions must respect personal information by implementing strict data protection policies, using secure platforms, and ensuring transparent communication about data usage. This practice helps build trust and protect learners’ rights while keeping in mind the increasingly digital education landscape.

To me, pedagogy is about how an individual can contribute to another’s learning experience. The art of teaching is much more than mere instruction—it is about lifting one’s passion and enthusiasm, one’s satisfaction and love for a field, to a willing recipient. (This last point is important; while the student-teacher relationship is certainly a two-way street, i.e., requiring equal input from both sides, I consider it sacrilegious for instructors to force upon their students unmotivated or dull topics.) My pedagogical philosophy has been shaped in large part by my experience in a homeschooling environment. My father quit his career to homeschool brother and I, a decision which made profound impact on, among other things, my views on knowledge and learning. I come from a technical background; I study math at UVic, and am involved in related fields such as software engineering and computer science, and as such, much of my concern with pedagogy is closely related to these fields. With this in mind, it is my belief that there is little replacement for a close student-mentor relationship. (This is quite rare in an undergraduate education, but entirely standard in a graduate education, a notion which I find sort of backwards.) There, the mentor can provide commentary, rich examples, and historical motivation for one’s field of interest. They can act as a humble guide by giving enlightening examples, problems, and thought experiments, aiding the student in uncovering the relevant problem-solving strategies themselves.

Unfortunately, finding a mentor can be a difficult task, especially early in one’s learning path, when the person is of the highest curiousity and the lowest technical ability. It’s hard to ask questions (let alone good ones!), so often a mentor who is not fully invested in you may have a hard time gaining ground. It may be useful, in this case, to look to other sources to fill many of the same roles that a mentor could. For instance, it is often beneficial to join a learning community of some kind. When I was ten, I stumbled across an online forum where others, roughly in their mid-to-late teens, were interested in computer programming as it related to modifying video games. I kept visiting these forums, until I eventually became inspired to install some software and begin writing code myself. Soon, I came in close contact with these other kids, through the internet, and began participating in a lively community, one where we would all help each other with learning how to code and navigating the problem-solving process. This played an instrumental role in fostering my passion for technical problems, computers, coding, and most of all, learning! If it is not already clear: I am advocating for the constructivist approach to learning; I find it is the philosophy that is most cohesive with what I believe is best for the passionate learner. I encourage everybody to pursue what most interests them, to seek out experienced mentors in the field, and foster a network of like-minded individuals who are on the same journey.