Making It Easy for All Kinds of Learners

Why do we put up with technologies and information that are difficult to learn and understand?? I work at Landmark College, a college that exclusively serves students with learning disabilities and attention disorders. We've embarked on a research agenda to improve universal usability for all learners.

Working with students like the ones we have at Landmark, it becomes clear how critical it is to develop content and tools that are usable (effective, efficient, and satisfactory) for students to be able to learn information, and to continue to want to be a part of the learning process. So often, we have technologies and information that are developed without consideration for the differently-abled learner, and this can not only result in making it harder to learn, but it can also be a disincentive for the student.

By applying principles of usability and Universal Design for Instruction, we have been able to modify existing content into content that is usable for a larger range of audiences. We do this by incorporating multimodal techniques into the learning materials (e.g. most content is visual in nature, so we try to incorporate audio, tactile, kinesthetic, and collaborative/social feedback as well).

Students with attention deficit issues respond to "multimodal" materials. That is, most content is visual, with audio, "touch and feel," movement, and group activities and feedback from peers. Content is designed in a manner that provides continuous feedback to the learner… Here's a fictional example:

A computer based math program that responds with an audible "that's right!" when the student enters a correct answer, and when that student has answered 20 questions correctly, music plays and the student is encouraged to stand up, stretch, or even dance, for 30 seconds.

Course information, handouts, and activities need to be designed to students with attention deficits and other cognitive challenges that make it difficult to sequence, prioritize, and remember information. At Landmark College, handouts and materials are color-coded in a consistent manner to help serve as a visual indicator for the purpose of the material: paper printed on one color might be used to communicate homework assignments, while printouts on another color are used for specific readings.

Instructors provide cues and instruction that highlights study strategies and guides students in developing metacognitive awareness ("Do I understand what I just read? Am I understanding what I'm currently viewing?"). Another technique used is that of micro-uniting, or breaking down tasks into smaller component chunks that can be remembered and sequenced more readily by students. All of these techniques help to reinforce key learning strategies.

We need to ensure that our learning materials and approaches will continue to reward them in the learning process. Many learners have grown accustomed to disappointment and failure, so a huge part of our program is incorporating success into the curriculum."

Steve Fadden, Ph.D.
Director of Research/Associate Director
Landmark College Institute for Research and Training
River Road South, Putney, Vermont 05346