Being in nature returns us to the environments where as humans we feel most at ease, and it reconnects us to our innate sense of creativity. What if classrooms could feel more like natural environments, helping to make us happier, more connected, and kinder learners and educators?  What if going back to our roots, connecting with nature and biophilic elements, could redefine what learning spaces could be?

Kate Rancourt discusses the idea of an ecosystem of ‘regions’ within a classroom designed to inspire diversity and mimic what we encounter in the natural environment. Starting from a place where learners are seen as humans first, we can understand the needs of the individual at a biological and psychological level and tap into our powerful relationships to nature. 

Session Video Recording
Slide Deck
Interactive Notes Document

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a set of principles and techniques for creating inclusive classroom instruction and accessible course materials. At its core is the assertion that allstudents benefit when they are given multiples ways to take in new information, express their comprehension, and become engaged in learning.

The usual process for making existing curricula more accessible is adaptation of curricula so that they are more accessible to all learners. Often, teachers themselves are forced to make difficult attempts at adapting inflexible “one-size-fits-all” curricular elements that were not designed to meet the variability of individual learners. The term Universal Design for Learning is often mistakenly applied to such after-the-fact adaptations.

CAST Professional Learning web page offers written UDL tips and resources related to developing goals, assessments, fostering engagement and expert learners, designing a learning environment and reducing stereotype threat.

A link to a website article describing three ways in which Assistive Technology can support students with disabilities.