This is the first entry in a journal that I will be keeping throughout my time as an educational research assistant here at Lasell. In this journal I plan to mostly talk about the work I’m doing for people that are interested in it, and also my feelings about being in this position; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I was offered this position by the professor I’m working with as a chance for me to expand my understanding of the subject matter we’re dealing with, and to experience something like this. Usually this position is offered at the graduate level. However, one of the cool things about Lasell is that we have a Research Across the Curriculum program, where you receive a credit for working alongside a professor in their field research and present some sort of final project at the end. In a way, this series is also a way for me to advocate for the program, as I think it’s a really cool opportunity that not a lot of college students would get at this level.
That being said, I’m incredibly nervous. This mostly stems from the fact that I’m a people pleaser and want nothing more to be helpful and feel like I'm actively contributing to the work I’m involved in. I’m worried a lot of this might go over my head. My worst fear is becoming a nuisance and hindering the process. On the other hand, I’m also incredibly excited for the aforementioned reasons.
The work that we’re doing is surrounding an educational theory called Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which I’m relatively familiar with since I’m an education student. It’s based on the architectural principles aimed at making buildings physically accessible to all people but applied to learning. The core of the practice is having the capabilities of all learners (those that have trouble focusing, are advanced, have physical or intellectual disabilities) in mind from the beginning of a lesson plan, and designing a lesson to cater to all their needs. This is in contrast to “retro-fitting,” which in architecture usually means attaching a ramp to the outside, and in the context of lesson planning, it means providing supplemental work or supports after the fact, rather than considering it beforehand.
My professor has been working on a case study of an urban public school that decided to implement UDL as a school wide policy for several years. It is now in the process of organizing the data in hopes of finding some early themes to present and hopefully help other schools be as successful. This week I’ve been exploring the data she has and trying to understand it, and I’m really excited to start on the next steps.