Every learner is uniquely gifted, and has his or her own unique set of learning needs. I’ve concluded that a one-size-fits-all approach to learning has done more harm than good in the lives of countless children who have been subjected to it.  I never have to look far to find  heart wrenching evidence of this reality–individuals who have  “learned”  in school that they are incompetent failures.

There are no magic bullets, and our model for schooling is inherently flawed; but the situation is far from hopeless.  Universal Design for Learning (UDL) offers  both a research-based theoretical framework and a practical approach that can go a long way toward meeting the unique needs of the individual learners in our classrooms.

The video below offers an excellent introductory overview of UDL.  Following the link above will take you deeper.  If you are not familiar with UDL, please take a serious look.

Today is Drawing Day 08. The organizers of the event have encouraged us to “drop everything and draw”. The goal is for artists around the world to create and share 1 million drawings today. Meeting that goal is less important than raising awareness of the possibilities and opportunities that exist. I agree with the organizers’ assertion that, “the internet is an open canvas” for creative expression.

Art is a “subject” that deserves to be taught in schools, but I believe there is much more to it than that.

While I’m no expert on UDL, I’m becoming an increasingly passionate proponent. Universal Design for Learning is the approach to education that intentionally supports the diverse learning needs of ALL learners, regardless of learning style, aptitude, physical access challenges, or any other potential barrier. For all learners to have any hope of success, there are three essential requirements:

• multiple means of representation
• multiple means of action and expression
• multiple means of engagement

I believe there are learners for whom art is an indispensable component of all three–representation, expression and engagement. With digital media, it is now realistic to offer learners multiple options for artistic expression. Learners can use their artistic aptitude, and/or available digital tools, not just for creative expression, but to demonstrate and share what they know. There is also an infinite range of convenient ways that art can be used to present information and to engage learners in our classrooms.

Many of the resources I have written about on this blog can be used to create and/or share art of one form or another. A few such posts that stand out in my memory are Viscosity, Glogster, Sketchcast, and artPad. As a result of Drawing Day 08, I’ve discovered several wonderful digital art resources that are new to me. I intend to begin a series of reviews here soon.

One of the new art resources I discovered this week is Mutapic. I used it to create my own submission for Drawing Day, and I’ve shared that below.

The good news is that, with the technology available today, there is a plethora of tools available to provide numerous options for every learner. Because most of the emerging tools are free of monetary cost, because they are readily available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection, and because they are easy to use, there is no excuse for teachers who do not use these tools or make them available to the learners they support.

Flypaper is a versatile presentation tool with an infinite range of potential uses by learners and teachers–to engage, represent, and express. Flypaper is easy to learn and use. It is a downloadable program for the PC, so it can be used off line when an internet connection is unavailable. Still, you can easily share your work online in the Flypaper “community”, or embed it wherever else you want to. Flypaper has made it easy to turn your presentation into a flash file, and you can even upload it directly to Youtube from within the application.

In a Flypaper presentation, you can include virtually anything you choose–text, graphics, audio, video, action buttons, hyperlinks, etc. I particularly like the fact that it is convenient for the presenter to add voice narration. A presentation may be a single page, or it may contain multiple “chapters” with as many pages as you want.

Flypaper encourages you to download “models” created by other users, and to use these models as templates for your own work. Flypaper offers tutorials for new users, as well as user forums. There is also a well organized 114 page user manual in pdf format.

I’ve embedded an example of a Flypaper presentation here that merely hints at the potential of the application.