#1

Reflecting back on my own experiences as a learner, one instance that comes to mind is the most recent opportunity (outside of GW) that was offered by my school district. In this particular experience, my colleagues and I felt that the content was as delivered was like drinking water through a firehose. The material itself was on a subject many of us had previously studied, multi-sensory reading, however it was way too in depth for the time allotted for the three day course, therefore meaning that most of us tuned out or it went over our heads. Because of this, in my experience I had zero desire to learn more. While some of the material was new, it was not necessarily relevant to my practice, making my engagement personally challenging. The material was delivered by two outside of the district professionals who mostly lectured for the duration of three days. Occasionally, these women offered hands on learning opportunities, which absolutely increased my engagement, interest, and understanding. In these experiences, you often had to find a partner to collaboratively engage in the materials, which also increased understanding of the content. Due to the nature of the course, there was no opportunity for choice. Considering universal design, this three day learning experience included equitable use, perceptible use, tolerance for error, low physical effort, and size and space for appropriate use. Where UDL was not necessarily considered or evident were in the areas of simple and intuitive use and flexibility in use.