David Evans is from the Sydney School of Education at the University of Sydney and along with Elga Andriana presented at the CAST UDL Symposium 2022. The recorded fifteen minute session was entitled “Building Teacher Capacity Applying the UDL UDL Framework: Stories from Indonesia.” Evans spoke about advances in the use of technology in education. They cited as examples mobile devices, artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things. Citing Nelson 2014, Universal design for learning (UDL) is “a framework that guides the shift from designing learning environments and lessons with potential barriers to designing barrier-free, instructionally rich learning environments and lessons that provide access to all students.” As part of a training initiative, a teacher fro Jakarta, Indonesia visited the University of Sydney and learned about UDL. Teachers from the two schools partnered to share their experiences in UDL. They had workshops to discuss the UDL framework and the guidelines and checkpoints. The project was truly collaborative, and over four months, teachers used the resources they had to practice UDL. Evans spoke about how the teachers enhanced their environments to be barrier free and instruction rich. The teachers interacted more with the learners as a result of the program. Importantly, Evans mentioned that learning was personalized, and students enjoyed the experience. Evans also stressed that “UDL is not a special education thing or initiative, is not a package or product, … and is not just good teaching.” Also, Evans noted that this experience made them realize that UDL does not require technology. The recorded session also included a three-minute video clip of a student in Indonesia talking about the favorite school activities. I think Evans had a clear message: technology while enticing and often helpful, is not the only tool to practice UDL. I need to pay more attention to this!
