Learning Context:
This course is focused on teaching computer programming concepts to high schoolers without prior programming or computer science knowledge. To do this we use a behavioural assessment approach with direct instruction. This is supplemented by an interactive example of a calculator app, which students are able to better identify the topic at hand. This serves as a “storyline” to the learner, giving them a learning context throughout each subtopic.
To further expand on teaching programming concepts, programming itself should first be defined. A concise and well-fitting definition for programming, stated by Sangwin and O’Toole (2017), is “[c]omputer programming (programming) is a process that starts with a problem and ends in an executable computer program, also called software or code.” There are many viewpoints on what constitutes a computational thinking curriculum, but the relevant ones to the topic at hand include the systematic processing of information, symbol systems and representations, and conditional logic (Grover & Pea 2013). These subtopics are examples of the main emphasis of this course and what this course will teach the student to be able to identify and work with.
Inclusive Design:
To ensure that the needs of all learners can be met, we decided it would be good to take a universal design for learning approach.
Within universal learning design (UDL), curriculum designers try to remove barriers from the curriculum rather than trying to create equality for all learners from the learner’s perspective. The core tenet of UDL is “what is essential for some is almost always good for all” (Meyer et al. 2014). Since our resource is offered asynchronously this curriculum design approach reduces as many barriers as possible for all different types of learners.
The two main barriers we identified with our learning resource included: having only one type of resource for learners to learn from, and having difficulty accessing our resource.
Because we use a UDL approach, reducing the barriers outlined above benefits all learners. But we also identified that it disproportionately affects two main groups: learners with loss of hearing, and those without access to a computer at home, but may have a mobile phone with data plan.
To address the barrier of having only one type of resource to learn from for each topic, we decided to provide the learner with a video and a reading which are essentially equivalent content-wise, for each subtopic within our curriculum. We only use videos which have closed captioning enabled. Removing this barrier not only supports those who are hearing impaired but also allows those with different learning styles to also have multiple options for the type of medium they would like to learn from. This change fits in the “providing multiple means of representation” (CAST, 2018) aspect of the three core principles of the UDL, specifically within the perception aspect of the learning guidelines.
Because our learning resource is heavily web browser-based. It could be difficult for users to access it if they don’t have reliable access to a computer. Our resource uses WordPress which is compatible with mobile phones, but as another option to the user we also decided to provide a PDF version which the user can print out and work on as a hard copy. This takes away some of the interactive elements (in terms of learner feedback) but allows users without a reliable internet connection to also use our resource. This eliminates the barrier of needing to have access to a computer. This also fits within the “Providing Multiple Means of Action & Expression” (CAST, 2018) core principle of UDL, especially within the access section of the learning guidelines. Finally, we realize it could be difficult for learners who use screen readers to get the information from the figures and tables within our resource. We plan to add descriptions to each of the figures and images in order to allow for further accessibility. According to Perkins “alt text” describes the image and screen readers are able to read this text out loud to users with vision impairment (How, 2023).
Sources:
CAST (2018). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.2 [graphic organizer]. Wakefield, MA
How to Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the visually impaired – Perkins School for the Blind. (2023, February 23). Perkins School for the Blind. https://www.perkins.org/resource/how-write-alt-text-and-image-descriptions-visually-impaired/
Meyer, Anne, et al. Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice. CAST Professional Publishing, an Imprint of CAST, Inc., 2014, UDL Theory Practice, retrieved from: udltheorypractice.cast.org/