Equal Access to the Digital World!

What does it mean to "provide equal access to the digital world"?

To provide equal access to the digital world, teachers need to have a variety of tools and a flexible curriculum. Teachers need a variety of tools because not all students are able to access a netbook because they can not use a keyboard, they may not be able to see the keys or may not have the physical ability to type or more a mouse. There are a variety of tools available to help students who are visually impaired or have mobility restraints, the tool that will work best for each student will vary. It is important for there to be a flexible curriculum because students will need to access information differently, they will need to be able to express what they have learned differently and they will need to engage in with the information differently. Under Universal Design for Learning (UDL), this flexibility is stressed. According to CAST (2013), "UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs." 

CAST: Universal Design for Learning. (n.d.). CAST: About UDL. Retrieved November 24, 2013, from http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html