Authentic Culture for the Armchair Traveler: Accessible Experience through UDL

Primary Presenter: Lunden MacDonald

Organization: Metropolitan State University of Denver

Role: Associate Professor of Spanish

Track: Presentation

Level: For Mere Mortals

Abstract: Universal Design for Learning allows the foreign language instructor to devise authentic experiential activities that are accessible to all 21st-century learners. This session will demonstrate how to employ technology-assisted UDL in the foreign-language classroom in order to foster a sophisticated, mediated, and interactive understanding of culture that exceeds uni-dimensional cultural “knowledge.”

Bio: Lunden MacDonald recently ended a five-year stint as the Coordinator for our Lower-Division Spanish Program in my department. During this period, MacDonald performed extensive research into the use of the most contemporary technologies for foreign-language learning. Inspired by my preliminary investigations, she turned her eye to using technology to enhance all of the face-to-face courses that she teaches. Lunden’s presentation reflects a particular foray of her scholarship of teaching and learning into the realm of technology. For further information on her department and our initial use of technology, please see her article: "The Virtual Language Lab: Virtually Painless, Simply Real."

Description:

Content:
Culture studies in the 21st century are mediated interactions between dynamic cultural content and the diverse 21st-century learner. Universal Design for Learning fosters the production of authentic cultural experiences for today’s learners by supporting topical diversity and encouraging an experiential understanding unique to each student. Wiki is a Web 2.0 tool that offers instructors the ability to devise UDL learning experiences around culture that result in greater student learning and more effective and satisfying teaching.

In this session I will review the literature on teaching culture and then demonstrate how I have used UDL and Wiki in order to produce the activities and experiences necessary for a sophisticated understanding of culture that exceeds traditional cultural “knowledge” in the college classroom.

Methods:
*I will deliver specific content information via PowerPoint.
*I will illustrate the discussion with a concrete example of a Wiki I have used in a Culture and Civilization of Spain class.
*I will share learning products (e.g. papers, portfolios, video clips) and documentation from assessment and student commentary to support my innovations.
*I will intersperse collaborative exercises such as “think-pair-share” throughout this presentation, and then at the end leave time for participants to co-develop take-away activities.
*I will walk participants through the implementation of the activities that they envision during the session into a Wiki that I will set up specifically for the participants prior to the start of the session.

Outcomes:
Following this session, participants will be able to:
*Define Wiki and UDL as they pertain to teaching culture in the college classroom
*Know how to use Wiki and UDL to design course activities that foster sophisticated cultural understanding
*Prepare and implement take-away activities in collaboration with other session participants