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Evaluation and Reflection

Adam Ko

American College of Education

DL5733

Dr. Barbara Yalof

August 9, 2023
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Most beneficial

Designing anything can be a challenge. Designing something to be used for others can

bring with it unique challenges. Designing for instruction has been my professional life for some

time, yet this course highlighted major ways I can improve, for which I am grateful for. One

aspect of this course that was beneficial happened in the first week. I was asked to identify my

instructional design values, which forced me to assess who I am as an instructional designer. I

narrowed it down to these three characteristics: creative, aesthetically appealing, and

informative. Doing this activity allowed me to evaluate and claim who I am as a designer.

Another aspect of the course that was helpful was the critique. Giving critique and

receiving critique are two different sides of the same coin, in my opinion. I enjoy critiquing

others’ work because there is so much inspiration that can be drawn from it. Plus, I like to

encourage others too. However, reading critique can take an emotional toll. Separating the work

being critique from oneself is easier said than done. Overall, receiving critique allows for my

work to improve in ways that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

The main aspect of this course that has benefited me is the introduction of quality

standards to measure my design with. Quality Matters outlines various rubrics for courses

designed for K-12, higher education, professionals seeking education and others. The use of this

checklist enables for instant, objective critique that is available anytime.

Revision of online course design

The activity where I looked at my course through the lens of a Quality Matters rubric was

eye opening. It showed me systematically how I can improve the course through clarifying,

specifying and including aspects of a quality course. Three areas of my online design course
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needed improvement. First was the course introduction. The rubric revealed that the introduction

lacked information about the structure of the course, how to get started, technology needed and

information about me as the designer. Putting my learner hat on, I can see how reading this

material would be helpful to understand this course better. The next area of improvement was

making sure the learning objectives and learning activities aligned more clearly. Previously, in

my head it made sense of how these activities were going to meet the objectives. However, I

didn’t explicitly state how this learning activity will help with meeting the objective. Finally, the

course accessibility for learners was another area of improvement. It’s ironic because my course

focuses on Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, which Arduini (2020) states that UDL aims

at making learning accessible to all through adaptable curricula and looking at objectives,

methods and evaluation.

Application beyond this course

When I was using the Quality Matters rubric for my online course template, I saw they

had one for K-12 courses, specifically online and blended courses. While our school has

transitioned out of remote learning, I feel the tools and pathways we’ve forged could be used in

the future. For example, in designing lessons for my middle school classroom I could consider

adding an online component that would help engage learners and extend learning to those not

inside the classroom due to absences. Plus, students could access these materials as a review or

preview to help with learning, differentiation of pacing and comprehension.

Another aspect of this course would be to incorporate critique in my classroom. Not only

is critique helpful to the learner receiving the critique, but also it can be helpful to the one giving

the critique to see other ways of solving a problem or looking at something. Critique could also
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provide an informal way to assess student learning and motivate learners to improve their work if

it will be seen and critiqued by others.

Personally, this course has reminded me that there are objective standards that can

measure quality. In my personal quest to improve my health with more exercise and a better diet,

knowing that there is a standard that I can measure myself up against is both intimidating, but

reassuring. More specifically speaking, there are things that I can do in my own checklist that I

can measure against any future actions to see if I am living a healthy life.

Goals

There are three goals that come to mind moving forward in my middle school classroom.

First, is the use of learning objectives. Foxworth et al. found in 2021 that presenting lesson

objectives in the beginning can help learners process challenging things. In my classroom, I

don’t always present the objectives to the learners at the beginning. I feel this could help

contextualize the learning and the reason behind our activities.

The next goal would be to increase student interaction. In the 2020 study by Lee et al.

they found that online courses that are designed to encourage student participation and

interaction not only increased student to student interaction, but also student to content and

student to instructor interactions. Seeing the benefits of students interacting more, I would like to

include this more in my classroom.

Finally, the course design helped me dive deeper into the Universal Design for Learning

objectives. Introduced to me only recently, these UDL guidelines offer various strategies to

engage students with learning. A goal would be to implement a few of these 31 strategies in my

classroom with the hope of incorporating more in the future.

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References

Arduini, G. (2020). Curriculum innovation with Universal Design for Learning. EDUCATION

SCIENCES and SOCIETY, 1, 90–103. https://doi.org/10.3280/ess1-2020oa9460

CAST. (2023). About Universal Design for Learning. CAST.

https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl

‌Foxworth, L. L., Hashey, A. I., Dexter, C., Rasnitsyn, S., & Beck, R. (2021). Approaching

Explicit Instruction Within a Universal Design for Learning Framework. TEACHING

Exceptional Children, 54(4), 004005992110101. https://doi.org/10.1177/00400599211010190

Lee, J. E., Recker, M., & Yuan, M. (2020). The Validity and Instructional Value of a Rubric for

Evaluating Online Course Quality: An Empirical Study. Online Learning, 24(1).

https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v24i1.1949

‌Quality Matters. (n.d.). www.qualitymatters.org.

https://www.qualitymatters.org/qa-resources/rubric-standards/cpe-rubric
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Appendix A - Design Plan Template 2.0

Design Plan Template

Student’s Name: Adam Ko
Training Title: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) training for teachers

Training Overview Write a brief, yet concise, description of the online training course you will design to
address the needs of learners. What content will the training course cover? How many
modules will be included in the course (at least 3 modules are required)? What will the
target audience learn during this training course? In this course, the target audience will
learn…

In this 4 module course, teachers learn about the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines created
by the Center for Applied Science Technology, or CAST. The first part of the course, teachers will
explore the three main areas of providing multiple means of engagement, representation and
action and expression. The second part of the course, teachers will learn strategies and practical
ways to introduce these UDL principles in their classrooms.

For modules 2, 3 and 4 learners will be presented with classroom scenarios with video and online
text. Learners will experience how UDL strategies could be applied in these specific scenarios.
Next, learners will be presented with a lesson plan in which another UDL strategy will be shown to
improve the lesson plan. Learners will then apply a UDL strategy to either a classroom scenario or
lesson plan. Learners will have the opportunity to check their understanding with quizzes
available for each module.

The course can be accessed online and requires an internet connection.

Successful completion of this course demands passing all four modules with a quiz score of 75% or
more and the passing of each module application based on the rubric.

Industry Standards If you are creating training for learners that will fulfill industry or educational standards,
or Educational then go to the standards website and copy and paste here. Cite the website.
Standards

There are 31 UDL guidelines shown below and linked here.

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Target Audience Write a thorough description of your target audience (age, degree level, cultural factors,
socioeconomic factors, gender, ethnicity, knowledge, skills, attitudes, learning styles,
motivation to learn, and cognitive and physical characteristics).

My target audience is K-12 classroom teachers in the United States. The teachers can be from
public, charter and private schools. Of the nearly 4 million teachers in the United States, roughly
82% work in public schools.

Gender:
Females make up 76% and males make up 24% of the public school teachers. Those numbers are
similar for charter and private school teachers.

Ethnicity:
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the ethnic breakdown of public school
teachers in the United States in 2017-18 were 80% White, 9% Hispanic, 7% Black, 2% Asian, and
less than 2% for Pacific Islander, American Indian or two or more races. The ethnic background
percentages of teachers from private schools consist of 85% White, 7% Hispanic, 3% Black, 3%
Asian and less than 2% for Pacific Islander, American Indian or two or more races. As far as the
ethnic background of charter school teachers, 68% White, 16% Hispanic, 10% Black, 3% Asian and
less than 2% for Pacific Islander, American Indian or two or more races.

Education:
These public school teachers hold degrees, specifically 39% of them earning a bachelor's degree
and 50% of them earning a master’s degree. Of the charter school teachers 50% hold only a
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bachelor’s and 39% hold a master’s. With the private school teachers we see 42% hold only a
bachelor’s and 40% hold a master’s.

Reference:
National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28

Context Analysis Write a concise description of where and when the training will take place. Discuss how
you will promote transfer of learning. Think about if the learning context is compatible
with the learners’ needs and characteristics.

Training is designed for online consumption and therefore can be taken anytime throughout the
year. Ideally, training could be taken before a school year. Designated professional development
time given by schools throughout the year for teachers would be another practical option.

To promote transfer of learning there will be classroom scenarios that are described that include
specific UDL guidelines. Not only will those scenarios point out guidelines, but strategies will be
given to show how teachers can insert UDL practices into their teaching. Finally, the course will go
over lesson plans and simple ways to place UDL practices into the lesson.

Needs Analysis Write a concise description of the needs of your learners and the way in which you
identified those needs (surveys, interviews, focus groups, institutional or organizational
data etc.).

I recently attended a lesson design training with around a hundred educators. Many of these
educators were new to the UDL guidelines. Nearly all of us have heard of UDL, but only a small
handful knew about these UDL guidelines. Based on this random sample size, I believe there is a
definite need for teachers to familiarize themselves with these UDL guidelines and learn how to
apply them in their classroom.

Instructional Design Identify the instructional design model you used to guide your design plan. Provide a
Model rationale why you chose this instructional design model to guide your design.

I chose the ADDIE model because of the quick transition from the initial Analysis stage to the
Design stage. I believe that the ADDIE model provides a logical flow from the needs of the
learners to the design and development of the training. This is how I think in this linear way. I
also appreciate the evaluation stage at the end to look critically at specific components of the
course that may not have performed as initially thought.

Prior Knowledge What prior knowledge will the target audience require to be able to accomplish the
training outcomes?
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Some prior knowledge is needed that includes, but not limited to:
● familiarity with a K-12 classroom
● ability to create and/or carry out a lesson plan
● experience with classroom management strategies
● knowledge of content that the lesson is about

Learning Outcomes Overall goal of each training module.

At the end of this module the learner will be able to…

Module #1:
● At the end of this module the learner will be able to explain what UDL is, and talk about
the three means of engagement, representation and action & expression.

Module #2:
● At the end of this module the learner will be able to apply 2-3 UDL strategies within the
engagement category towards a classroom scenario and lesson plan.

Module #3
● At the end of this module the learner will be able to apply 2-3 UDL strategies within the
representation category towards a classroom scenario and lesson plan.

Module #4
● At the end of this module the learner will be able to apply 2-3 UDL strategies within the
action & expression category towards a classroom scenario and lesson plan.
Learning Objectives The learning objectives for the online training modules should identify the
condition, behavior, and degree of measurement and should align with the learning
outcomes from each training module. At least 3 clear, specific, measurable, and
observable objectives are required. Learning objectives allow the outcomes to be broken
down into smaller, more manageable outcomes.

1. When prompted, the learner will be able to access the UDL guidelines online and identify
the type of UDL strategy (engagement, representation, action & expression) with 100%
accuracy.
2. The learner will be able to provide 2-3 examples of how a UDL strategy from the
engagement category can be used inside a K-12 classroom scenario or lesson plan within
10 minutes.
3. The learner will be able to provide 2-3 examples of how a UDL strategy from the
representation category can be used inside a K-12 classroom scenario or lesson plan
within 10 minutes.
4. The learner will be able to provide 2-3 examples of how a UDL strategy from the action &
expression category can be used inside a K-12 classroom scenario or lesson plan within 10
minutes.
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Multimedia Describe how multimedia will be incorporated into the training to ensure (a) relevancy, (b)
Selection and real-world connections, (c) interactivity, (d) collaboration, (e) motivation, and (f)
engagement. What steps will you take to ensure you are following legal and ethical
Copyright requirements related to the selection of multimedia and copyright?

Multimedia will be used to access the UDL guidelines at https://udlguidelines.cast.org/. The

course will serve as an unauthorized supplement to this website, which already offers suggestions
and tools. However, the website lacks videos from classrooms and example lesson plans that
incorporate these UDL guidelines.

Each module will rely on classroom scenarios, either in written form or video form, given the video
follows legal and ethical requirements in having minors in the video. The module will also rely on
lesson plans, which will be accessed online to various resources.

Note: these classroom scenarios (both written and video) and lesson plans (written) have not
been identified yet.

Instructional What learning activities will help learners transfer, develop, and reinforce skills or
Strategies knowledge required by the learning objectives such as discussion, group work, research,
etc.) Explain what the target audience will do in this course that puts them in an active
learning situation. Remember these should align with your objectives.

While working in groups and collaborating with others is valuable, the setup of this course is
designed to be taken asynchronously. Therefore, the instructional strategies will reflect that mode
of instruction.

Strategy #1 - Compare and contrasting classroom scenarios

● This activity will be used in all of the modules as learners read and watch classroom
scenarios that use UDL guidelines and do not use them. The learner will reflect on the
similarities and differences.

Strategy #2 - Lesson plan enhancement

● This activity will start out with a basic lesson plan and the learner will respond with how
he/she forecasts the lesson will play out in a classroom. The learner will then be prompted
with choosing a UDL guideline to enhance the lesson and reflect on how implementing
that UDL strategy will improve the lesson.

Strategy #3 - Check for understanding

● A short 3-5 multiple choice question quiz will assess the learner’s understanding. This
activity will also be used in all of the modules.
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Formative The criteria should directly align with the instructional objectives and industry standards.
Assessment How will you monitor learner progress? Also describe your plan for providing feedback to
your target audience during the training. Think about “knowledge checks” to avoid
Strategies cognitive overload and reinforce the concepts.

As stated previously with the learning strategy, the use of short 3-5 multiple choice question
quizzes will help students learn the material throughout the course. Scores of the quiz will be
recorded, as well as the number of times a learner attempts it. Students will have to receive a
75% or more, depending on the number of questions. The release of these scores will be
immediate.

Another formative assessment would be module applications. Learners will be asked to choose a
classroom scenario or lesson plan and write about how a UDL strategy can be applied in that
scenario. It will be graded based on a rubric. The release of these scores will be within one week
of submission with comments.

Summative Describe the assessment process that you will use to measure whether the learner
Assessment achieved the instructional objectives. How will you assess the learner’s
performance/mastery of skill? What are the criteria for achievement, and performance
Strategies level? How will you assess what the learners have learned? The criteria should directly
align to the instructional objectives and industry standards (if there are any). Also describe
your plan for providing feedback to your learners.

The assessment process will consist of the formative assessment and the single summative
assessment for the module.

Each module, learners will take a short quiz during their learning, write a lesson summary and
perform a lesson objective. Learners will be asked to perform the learning objectives stated
previously, depending on the module, and it will be assessed against a rubric.

As far as feedback, the quizzes are graded instantly, as learners may retake them. The lesson
writeups will be shared amongst the class in a digital gallery walk of sorts so that others can
appreciate what their peers are learning. Finally, the summative assessment will be graded on a
rubric and given back with comments. The learner will have a chance to review, revise and
resubmit, if needed.

Accommodations How will you provide accommodated or modified instruction for learners? How will you
Modifications adapt the learning for learners with disabilities? How will you present information
clearly and so it is easily understood by those with disabilities? How will you incorporate
assistive devices used to enhance learning experiences and capabilities?

Learners with special needs will be able to access the course through various assisted programs
and devices. Read aloud software can read text to learners. Dictation software where a learner
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speaks into a microphone and it records their words, is also available. Transcripts of videos are
also available.

If any other learning accommodations are needed and not stated here, please contact the
course professor so that accommodations can be discussed, tailored and made for the student.

Resources will be online and can be accessed any time.

Evaluation Describe how you will gather feedback on the training. You may collect feedback
face-to-face or via online survey, email, or other media. Then describe how you will
adjust the instructional strategies included in this training according to learner
interaction and response to you, the content, and instructional delivery.

Towards the end of the course, learners will be able to provide feedback through an online,
anonymous survey. In the survey there will be quantitative questions where learners can rate
things on a scale. Also, there will be qualitative questions where students can write about their
experience.