APPROACH 1

I had a distinctive privilege of attending a former colleague’s workshop, during Professional Day at the community college where we both taught. This biology professor Dawn Tamarkin, a biology professor at National University in San Diego, CA and formerly at Springfield Technical Community College in Springfield, MA. introduced us to a pedagogy of teaching Biology by experiencing biology firsthand via (UDL) Universal Design for Learning. During this workshop we learned biology concepts via manipulative as described on her Website products page; “All of our products are designed to include more learners in biology.” This is in line with “Computer Science for All, introduced to us via the lectures. This is hands-on pedagogy is for all learners and also active learning, student-centered environment?

APPROACH 2

Another colleague Beth Mcginnis-Cavanaugh, Professor of Engineering at Springfield Technical Community College, Massachusetts, researcher in “Through My Window” a pedagogy developed by faculty and staff at Smith College and Springfield Technical Community College. The Through My Window Research Team developed The “Talk to Me” Curriculum, which is online and the curriculum has three parts 1) Books, 2) Learning adventures and 3) Enrichment activities. The books are not textbooks, but a STEM mystery novel that introduces the engineering topics and features diverse, realistic characters that appeal to both girls and boys.

APPROACH 3

This writer Christina Scharbaai, Professor in Computer Applications - School of Liberal and Professional Studies at Springfield Technical Community College, has adapted a pedagogical approach which is self-directed and includes social interaction in an asynchronous online course for freshman college students and adult learners in Computer Basics Concepts and Application. The course outcomes are geared so that students create their own personal projects designed using Office or other Web applications. Students follow the Computer Concepts chapters to get the background of concepts such as Impact of Digital Technology; Web browsing and information literacy; Computer hardware; Operating systems and file management; Application software; Safety and security; and Digital media by way or hearing the lectures or reading the text or watching videos via the MindTap Platform which follows UDL for all users. [i] of the Shelly Cashman textbook, but design their own projects instead of completing rote textbook assignments.

The pedagogical approach has 4 parts. In this assignment, they are learning to create an Excel spreadsheet

1) A Screencast video with captions by the Instructor to introduce the project.

2) To create a spreadsheet, it is suggested and students are given four types of Websites to explore, which include Bowling games scores, Quizlet games scores, Weather Statistics, Office Products price comparison.

3) A discussion board is added to the Blackboard LMS, (Learning Management System) so that they may help each other with specific skills to complete their projects and interact with each other and make comments on how they approached their project or get ideas of how they can improve their projects.

4) A rubric to grade themselves on the accomplished set of skills.

Artifacts of student projects: (in Scholar)

Artifact 1 Bowling Scores

Artifact 2: Weather Statistics

Summary All of these pedagogical approaches and platforms increase understanding of how computing works and the platforms are adaptable and user friendly. They can be applied Universally to all learners and include social interaction and collaborative environments.

[i]Digital Learning & Online Textbooks – Cengage Technology for Success and Shelly Cashman Series Microsoft Office 365 & Office 2019 , 1st Edition Sandra Cable; Jennifer T. Campbell; Mark Ciampa; Barbara Clemens; Steven M. Freund; Mark Frydenberg; Ralph Hooper; Ellen Monk; Lisa Ruffolo; Susan L. Sebok; Joy L. Starks; Misty E. Vermaat ISBN-13: