Category: Blog Comments

Hi Zoe!

I wanted to respond to your blog post because I noticed that we had the same video, and also similar critiques of the video, such as how this video would work very well as an EdPuzzle activity.

Something you mentioned in your post, that I did not, was the drawbacks of using EdPuzzle activities. While this is a really excellent resource, you are right to bring up the barriers presented with these activities. While it is common to think of online tools and resources as being more accessible and inclusive, those barriers are still in place. While considering various barriers such as students who are visually impaired or hard of hearing, or simply struggle with reading, it is important to address ways that we can adapt the EdPuzzle to meet the accessibility needs of all students. Your suggestions of how we can make EdPuzzle more accessible are fantastic, accessible, but also realistic which is very important. These are adaptations and accommodations that are easy to implement and make the most sense to include in all online activities that students will participate in. Overall this was a great post and I am so glad that you addressed these accessibility requirements!

Hi Catriona,

I appreciate the connections you made between the Universal Design for Learning and the adaptations, adjustments and accessibility surrounding the recent COVID-19 Pandemic. When the pandemic first hit, it was such a dramatic shift of what used to be traditional classroom teaching, and somehow adapting it to work as a fully online process. I remember so clearly wondering about accessibility and inclusion when classes went fully remote, especially for younger students in the k-12 system. I was asking myself questions such as “are all students going to have fair internet and technology access from home?” or “do all students have the knowledge and skills to operate their learning from a home computer?” and many more questions arose during this time. I applaud teachers and educators who did what they could during that sharp and swift transition between in-person and remote learning, as that was extremely stressful and challenging. Thankfully, two years later, we can see that educators have been able to make more changes to online education to fit into the UDL principles. With time and growth, I believe that online education is slowly becoming more accessible for every student, regardless of their abilities, which is a very impactful and important change to see in education.