Category: Assignment 2 – Blog Feedback

Hi Yashvi, 

Thank you for your week 5 blog post on inclusion and its importance in education. I liked how you structured your blog post this week by beginning with a quick overview of inclusion before providing an extensive list of the importance of inclusion. Further, I found your personal experience of you and your friend very moving and well-articulated why including everyone is critical.

After completing this course, I am curious if there are any ways (based on your personal experience) that you can think of that could be done in your school to create a more inclusive environment for your friend? I too knew people who were excluded from the classroom because of disabilities and felt that not enough was done to make the environment more accommodating and welcoming for them. Furthermore, I very much agree with including all from a very young age at the elementary level; this way students are not “outcasted” from their peers. 

Thanks,

Katie

Hi Grace,

Thank you for your week 5 blog post on inclusion and differentiated learning. I enjoyed that at the start of your post you begin by identifying other barriers not addressed in this week’s materials such as a lack of devices, connectivity issues, and a lack of confidence with digital tools. As someone who is fortunate enough to not face these barriers, I never even considered these so I really appreciated your acknowledgment of them.

I also liked how you broke your post into the four learning styles: visual, auditory, tactile, and text. I enjoyed your overview of these different learning styles and the pictures you selected for them. Additionally, I liked how you tied your personal experience to your post as you identified yourself as a visual learner.

In addition to the information you addressed in the four topics, I would be interested in seeing how these learning styles can be combined to improve learning and memory. Do you think it is possible that some people are not just one type of learner but multiple types? Additionally, do you find that there are other learning styles you use in your own learning, or is it strictly visual?

Thanks,

Katie

Hi Xinh,

Thank you for your blog post! I enjoyed how first you identified and explained multimedia learning before relating it to your experience. I also appreciated how you broke down the different principles, defined them, and then provided videos for each to further add to your explanation. As someone new to these principles, I found this formatting approach very effective in introducing and understanding the topic. Further, as someone who is also within the Health Information Science program, it was very neat to read about someone else’s experiences in the program and how it relates to this topic. However, regardless of one’s program (or educational background), this story-telling technique is another effective way to promote learning.

From this blog post, I am curious to know if you were familiar with this topic (or any of its’ principles) before the course? If not, were there any principles that you struggled to understand, or did they all make sense in terms of how they contribute to learning?

Cheers,
Katie

Hi Xinh,

Thank you for your week 6 blog post that compared the SAMR model and the SECTIONS model. In your post, you provided a comprehensive overview of both models which I really enjoyed. I believe that your post clearly explains the similarities and differences of both models, while not getting overly complex. Further, as a reader, I really appreciated how you carefully selected a figure for each model to provide a visual that supported your writing. I found that these visuals were also well placed within the post (underneath the writing), and acted as a nice closing to the end of each idea. 

I am curious however about your thoughts and ideas surrounding these models? Can you draw on any personal experiences where it was evident that these models were being used? Or are there any personal experiences where it was evident that these models were not being used? For me, I have come to appreciate all the effort that must go into carefully creating the best learning opportunities for students. These two models are not quick to complete and take time, effort, and thought to make the best learning experience possible.

Thanks,

Katie

Hi Xinh,

Thank you for your Week 5 – Universal Design for Learning blog post. I appreciated how you explained each of the three guidelines and provided personal examples. However, what I enjoyed the most about your post, was how you critically analyzed your personal experiences and how the teachings could have been improved to become more inclusive. For the engagement guideline example, I liked how you acknowledged both the success and limitations of the reflective question activity mentioned. Further, I enjoyed reading your suggestions for improvement to make the activity more inclusive (i.e., by giving an alternative such as writing).

Your blog post has made me think critically about my experiences in the classroom setting and activities of this nature. For myself, I have engaged in many reflective activities without struggle. However, this may not be the same experience for everyone involved. Because of this, I am begging to appreciate all that must be done to make an activity inclusive.

Based on this, due you think that the other two examples that you provided could have been made more inclusive? I was thinking of your second example in which individuals the professor enabled closed captioning for the student who was hard of hearing. Instead of providing closed captioning because of this student, would it not just be easier to always provide captioning regardless of all student abilities? This way the professor is removing barriers and eliminating the need to be asked to.

Thanks,

Katie