Welcome to Episode 151 of the Think UDL podcast: Conversational Quizzes with Meghan Donnelly. Dr. Meghan Donnelly is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. I had the good fortune to meet her in a UDL course for higher Ed educators and her final project dazzled me and left me wanting to know more about her use of conversational quizzes in her course. I also wanted to get the word out to others who may see this as a useful tool in their teaching toolbox. Of course this works in particular contexts such as in-person, small to medium enrollment courses, but it may be something that sparks a similar type of creative and collaborative assessment in your area. Meghan has also put together a fantastic resource document with instructions on how to replicate what she has done in her class, and you can find that on the Think UDL. org website. This conversation was so fun and creative and I think you’ll enjoy it

Welcome to Episode 150 of the Think UDL podcast: Programmatic UDL in Professional Studies with Erin Lewis. Dr. Erin Lewis is the Director of Professional Studies at Appalachian State University and a trusted colleague on our newly opened Hickory campus. She is also one of the only women I actually feel short around since she and I are right around 6 feet tall and she can still rock the high heels that i gave up on in my youth! For that, and for many other ways she is a dynamo on our campus and for our university, she has attained hero status in my eyes. The professional Studies major is available to all students (traditional and non-traditional, in-person and online) at App State in Boone, Hickory and online. In this episode we will discuss the ways that this major and program have adopted many UDL design aspects to lower barriers for students both on the macro level to degree completion, and in the micro level in some of the courses that comprise the major. It is a discussion of how a university can lower barriers to learning without reducing rigor and by providing a path for learner agency to degree completion and student success. I think you’ll really enjoy listening to the success stories at the end of our discussion as well!

Welcome to Episode 149 of the Think UDL podcast: Advancing Learning with Nicole Parsons. Dr. Nicole Parsons is an Associate Professor and the Co-Director of the Program for Advancement of Learning or PAL at Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. I was impressed by the PAL program when I heard about it at a recent conference and also the important UDL research they are doing to advance learning for their students. If you want to learn more about UDL interventions in statistics classes, listen to episode 148 of this podcast: Students Tell Us What Works in Statistics with Jen McNally and Laura Callis. In today’s episode, Nicole Parsons and I discuss the program for advancement of learning (PAL) in general and how this brings down barriers for students at Curry College.