Universal Learning is crucial especially when you get to an older stage in life like university where you really can’t wait time on figuring out the best way to study for something. Over the past two years thought out COVID I have found what personally make my learning skills thrive. First off, doing exams on computer was a major savior. Saving me so much time typing rather than writing by hand and making stupid mistakes due to dyslexia. Secondly, were the classes. Never in my life was I able to listen to a class and lecture of anything without spinning off into my own thoughts. Recorded lectures allowed me to watch them on fast play and skip so much material that was fillers within conversations that lose me. Finally my biggest savior was working from my own room/office. It is unbelievable how much more is accomplished in a comfortable environment with right lighting, noise and many other things. Where does Universal Learning fit in this environment. First of all the resources available to download, transcribed and can be accessed on most devices.
However, this is not where I believe the biggest step was taken. For me the biggest step was when UVic was introducing in person classes again and allowed for recorded/live lectures to be required as part of the course structure. Not only did this allow for students to feel safer without fear of missing out, but it also provided with bonus material for students to refer to if they were lost. Articles showed that students from online learning have retain 25-60% more information from the resources and lectures (Li & Lalani, 2020). They also have shown to grasp the material 40-60% faster than in a in person classroom (Li & Lalani, 2020). This also offered a way for international students who were stuck in their respective countries to not fall behind and still participate. However I believe this should continue on as COVID becomes a thing of the past. Clearly it has a minimal strain on the instructors, but a great positive affect on the students. I think this would be a great step in providing a safer environment where students with learning disabilities are able to feel comfortable and truly show off their potential.
Below is a small example of what have universal learning environment allows for during a test, which other wise would be prohibited. However for some students, me included this a great source of tunneling my attention towards the task at hand rather, than random thoughts. As this music does not have lyrics to pay for the brain to process, it just holds enough of your attention so that other distracting thoughts have no space to come in.
Reference:
Li , C., & Lalani, F. (2020, April 29). The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever. this is how. World Economic Forum. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/