In this article, author, Bill Wilmot, explores how school leaders can apply UDL to support personalized learning. The article explores ways principals, as instructional leaders, can create school structures and environments that help educators  focus on student learning.

How does it relate to the UDL-SICC?

This article aligns with the Leadership and Management Domain, Element 1 (D3, E1), and it explains how school leaders actively lead, support and monitor UDL Implementation across the school community ensuring systematic, intentional and sustained UDL implementation.

How might you use it?

• School leaders can use the article to reflect on how these elements exist within their school.
• Principals can reflect on how their practices promote conditions for the growth of UDL in supporting new mindsets, envisioning teachers as expert learners, and implementing structural changes.
• School leaders can solicit feedback from educators at their school to discover elements of the three areas discussed in this article, supporting new mindsets, envisioning teachers as expert learners, and implementing structural changes, and how their practices support these ideas.

Moderators
Alise Crossland & Kristin Ruedel, American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Presenters

• Janna Greathouse
  District Special Ed Coordinator for AT at Jenks Public Schools
• Sarah Harris
  Instructional Supervisor of Technology at Wethersfield Public Schools
• Tiffani Brown
  Director of Instructional Technology at Grossmont Union HS District

Audience
All educators and families, technology leaders (InfoTech, EdTech and Assistive Tech)

Level of Expertise
All levels

Description

With unexpected challenges in education around every turn, the need for technology teams to have a resilient plan and collaborate grows more important each day.  What makes the difference between technology planning that consistently meets challenges head-on versus plans and teams that flounder?

This webinar will discuss what the Center on Inclusive Technology & Education Systems (CITES) has learned from our CITES Framework development work with districts across the nation. CITES is building a Framework to bring together education technology (EdTech), information technology (InfoTech), and assistive technology (AT) for the benefit of all students, including students with disabilities.  The ongoing challenges that are facing education has emphasized the importance of inclusive technology planning and the difference leadership and collaboration can make in successful pivoting and resiliency of district technology implementation to meet the needs of students. Join us for a panel discussion with some of our CITES Framework Development districts to discuss technology leadership in practice.

Webinar Recording

Webinar Slides (PowerPoint)

Presenters
Janet Peters from CITES at CAST & Alise Crossland from AIR

Audience
All educators and families, technology leaders (InfoTech, EdTech and Assistive Tech)

Level of Expertise
All levels

Description

The COVID-19 emergency school building closures have highlighted the importance of technology planning and contingency planning.  For districts around the country, the “impossible” had to quickly become “possible”. The rapid shift to remote teaching and learning exposed areas of significant need in schools and districts, such as access to technology and addressing the needs of students with disabilities. In the context of these challenges, building a strong and inclusive technology ecosystem that incorporates assistive technology, educational technology, and information technology is more critical than ever. In this webinar, leaders at the Center for Inclusive Technology and Education Systems (CITES) will discuss identifying the challenges uncovered by the shift to emergency remote learning, and how school systems can use best practices in technology planning to convert the discovery of challenges into an opportunity to develop innovative solutions.

Webinar Recording

Webinar Slides (PowerPoint)

Digital Handout (PDF)

Presenters
Janet Peters and Joy Zabala, CITES

Guest Panelists
Janice Carson, Director, Idaho Assistive Technology Project (IATP)
Susan Hardin, Assistive Technology Consultant and UDL Coordinator, Macomb ISD 
Angela Lindig, Executive Director, Idaho Parents Unlimited

Audience
All educators and families, technology leaders (InfoTech, EdTech and Assistive Tech)

Level of Expertise
All levels

Description

In this webinar, CITES leaders host a conversation with CITES advisors and colleagues in-the-trenches to take a closer look at Coordination. We will discuss services that may be available through school and community organizations. The session will provide examples of services that enable students and families to participate and achieve while learning at a distance. There will be time for questions at the end of the presentation.

Webinar Recording

Webinar Slides (PowerPoint)

Digital Handout (PDF)

The majority of this paper is excerpted from the book Universally Designed Leadership (Novak & Rodriguez, 2016). The paper will focus on two important aspects of the Explore Phase: investigating UDL as a system wide decision making framework and building awareness with key players. This paper will highlight the need for administrators to use a variety of quantitative and qualitative information to identify strengths and needs in the district before preparing for implementation. The importance of completing meaningful research on “best in class” districts to guide appropriate goal setting will also be highlighted.

As educational leaders, we aspire to build great systems in a landscape of barriers. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) allows us to do that, and universally designed leadership allows us to apply proven principles of learning to successful leadership practices in the 21st Century. This resource will cover the basics of Universally Designed Leadership and provide strategies for universally designing professional development.