Supporting Special Education Students in the Online Environment

As online learning grows in K-12 education we have a responsibility to ensure that all students are able to access online environments.   One of the main ways this is accomplished is through implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL).   The goal of the UDL approach is to design curriculum, instruction, and assessment that are able to meet the needs of as large a learner variability as possible, rather than an imaginary average student.   In this way the course is designed from the outset to meet a variety of needs.  Additionally this class will look at the laws and research in the field of online special education and specific issues that only arise in an online environment.  The class will end with each student receiving a module of canned content and exploring and modifying the content to apply UDL principles to improve the curriculum, instruction, and assessments.