Official UMW Distance and Blended Learning Homepage

Are you looking for the official university website on Distance and Blended Learning? If so, please visit: http://www.umw.edu/distance/.

Office Chat: Universal Design for Instruction

Dr. Christofer Foss, Associate Professor of English, took a few minutes the other day to talk with me about Universal Design for Instruction (UDI). He has been incorporating this philosophy of course design in his classes. This spring, Chris will be developing a course in Disabilities in Literature, sponsored in part by the UMW Teaching Center.

There is a wealth of information on UDI available on the Internet but what appeals to me in these office chats is to see how a particular professor interprets and applies a teaching concept in their own courses. Here, Chris tells how he has developed an interest in accessibility and studied to be able to improve his ability to reach out to students of all learning styles.

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Office Chat: The 21st Century Learning Model

We know students’ learning styles are changing with the easy availability of electronic communication, real-time multi-player gaming, and access to incredible stores of information on the Internet. We also know that employers are looking for a new range of skills from our graduates. But the question for educators is how can we adapt our teaching styles to create meaningful and meaning-making learning environments for our students.

Here, Jane Huffman of the University of Mary Washington, talks about an intentional model for teaching that addresses these requirements, not by adding to an already overloaded curriculum but by incorporating teaching strategies throughout the existing curriculum. This model is known as the 21st Century Learning Model.

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