I was privileged to be part of a reading club while at the University of Toronto, for the T.E.S.T. team. While writing this blog, I decided to look up what T.E.S.T. stands for and apparently it’s The Toolbox End-User Support Team (T.E.S.T), a tri-campus forum for providers of campus / division- level support of Quercus tools. T.E.S.T liaises with ACT and provides updates to each member’s individual constituencies. Good to know 😀 – U of T loves acryonyms!
The reading selection that we chose was Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education by Thomas J. Tobin and Kirsten T. Behling. I purchased my own copy; however we also had the option to download through U of T libraries as a .pdf. I actually found it easier to read and highlight on the digital version, so maybe it’s time to invest in an e-reader.
The club was moderated by the wonderful Anna Limanni, a Senior Educational Technologist, Academic Toolbox with the Educational Technology Office of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. Anna framed discussions using five protocols, so that in addition to learning about implementing UDL in higher education, we also learned some new frameworks. I enjoyed learning about the different approaches, so I wanted to share them here. I’ll write a separate post on the actual book.
Connect-Extend-Challenge
adapted from Ritchhart R., Morrison K., & Church, M. 2001 pp. 132-139
Questions were:
- Connect: How are the ideas and information presented connected with what you already knew or had experience with regarding UDL?
- Extend: What new ideas did you get from the text that extended your thinking about UDL?
- Challenge: What challenges or questions come up for you from the ideas and information presented?
Golden Lines
Highlight 3 or 4 concepts or ideas (golden lines) within the text that:
- impacted your learning
- changed your thinking
- supported your understand, or
- raised a question
During the meeting share one of your golden lines by directing the group to where it appears in the text and then explaining the significance of that line.
Six Word Synthesis
Synthesize your ideas about reading into only 6 words. Your six words could be a sentence, a phrase, a connect, a personal learning, or an ‘aha.’ Record your 6 words.
Sentence-Phrase-Word
Select:
- A sentence that was meaningful to you, that you felt captures a core idea of the text
- A phrase that moved, engaged, or provoked you
- A word that captured your attention or stuck you as powerful
During the meeting, we will:
- share our sentences, phrases, and words
- reflect on the group’s collective choices of words, phrases, and sentences to identify:
- what themes emerge,
- what implications or predictions can be drawn,
- aspects of the chapters not captured in our choices
TQE (Thoughts, Questions, Epiphanies) Protocol organized using a 3-2-1 Graphic Organizer
Select
- 3 thoughts on the content presented
- 2 questions you still have
- 1 epiphany or aha moment
Record your choices to share during the meeting.
References:
Ritchhart, R., Morrison, K., & Church, M. (2011). Making Thinking Visible : How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners (1st edition.). Jossey-Bass
Thoughts, Questions, Epiphanies – https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/tqe-method/
3-2-1 graphic Organizer – https://teaching.utoronto.ca/teaching-support/active-learning-pedagogies/active-learning-adapting-techniques/3-2-1/