Challenges and Accomplishments
Faculty Resistance to UDL
The initial UDL-informed discussion did not go well. Members of the faculty team said, “This is backward.” We understood that adopting a UDL approach required us to start with course outcomes and objectives before moving to assessment measures and then course content material. We were experienced university teachers who had taught the course for many years and resisted this starting point. It was hard for us to think about course material last. We believed that there was only one way to use UDL. Our initial focus was on the course narrative and the material that we wanted to use in helping students to engage in the narrative. After we had a sense of the narrative and materials, we discussed assignments that would enable students to make their learning personal, to make a connection to their own lived experiences, and to demonstrate their understanding of the story.
We learned that the UDL process, which made visible the links between learning outcomes, student assessments, and course material, was helpful. If we consider this as a circular process, it doesn’t matter where we start as long as we discuss the links between these elements. UDL principles, which ask us to review our curriculum through the lens of “multiplicity,” aided us in ensuring that we presented the material in a variety of formats, created different ways for students to demonstrate their learning and connect it to their personal lives, and acknowledged diverse ways of learning. UDL principles assisted us in creating assignments that were challenging, potentially transformative, and supportive of narrative and analytical skill development.
We saw UDL as an interactive, analytical/evaluative, and reflexive approach to curriculum design. The theme of “multiplicity” provided us with a frame that we could use to evaluate our course elements: material, lecture content and delivery, seminar, and assessment design. It helped to prevent us from being stuck in a single mode for all course elements.
*Click on the heading below to reveal more information.*
The Playlist
“I loved the unique teaching style of culminating videos of knowledge from around the world to teach the lesson. I liked that the class was broken into weekly segments, it keeps the sections of knowledge manageable and reminds one to check on the class regularly, which can sometimes be something that’s easily forgotten with online classes. I enjoyed learning from different teachers that all had their own specialties to share, they were all so interesting… The media was great as well.”
For each class, we developed a playlist of materials. We shared the playlist after the class, along with the week’s PowerPoint Slides. Here’s one that we put together for the second class of the term. It focuses on the opening Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving address and highlights Indigenous film-maker Alanis Obomsawin, who has been honoured at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF):
*Click on the heading below to reveal more information about the playlist.*
The Use of IK in the Design and Delivery of the Course
“The Indigenous knowledge section was filled with such a wealth of knowledge. I thought I knew about Indigenous history and culture before this class, but it was really the tip of the iceberg, I see the world and my home in a new way.”
We also endeavoured to ensure that our course was informed by Indigenous Knowledge (IK). Our course syllabus reflects this desire:
Indigenous peoples are now seen through the lens of knowledge creators and holders. Indigenous knowledge and world views are now being openly discussed in academic settings, are viewed as legitimate, and are being used as the basis of everyday life. In 2010 the Trent University Senate and Board of Governors adopted the following vision statement:
We foster an environment where Indigenous knowledges are respected and recognized as a valid means by which to understand the world. Accordingly, this course also presents a basic introduction to key concepts of Indigenous knowledge.
Using an UDL framework enabled us to ask the question: how is IK informing our design? What elements of IK do we wish to emphasize in the course? For example, taking an IK approach meant that we had to use narrative or story to frame the course, and that the narrative had to consist of both the story of colonization and the story of healing and the agency of Indigenous peoples.
Our course syllabus states:
Our course of study begins in 1493 with the Doctrine of Discovery and concludes with the 2019 Report from the Commission of Inquiry Report entitled,” Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.” We use the concepts of “The Long Assault” and “The Great Healing” to frame the activities in this period of history. The period from 1493 to 1851, we frame as the age of colonization. From the founding of Canada in 1867 to the tabling of the White Paper in 1969, we call “The Long Assault.” We frame the period from 1971 to the present as “The Great Healing,” a time when Indigenous peoples began to actively shape their future.
