Using Flexible Technology

I believe the most important change to make in a classroom in regards to using flexible technology would be to embrace all the amazing technology resources available to truly achieve universal design to meet the learning needs of ALL students!  The wide variety of technology resources, literally, "right at our fingertips," makes creating multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement so much more readily accessible than if we did not have this abundance of awesome technology resources!  To do this, I believe teachers must become comfortable with using technology and knowledgeable of the wide variety of resources available before this can truly be implemented in a classroom.  It is important for school districts to offer professional development opportunities for this, as well as the time for teachers to engage in these opportunities for further learning.  It is also important those choosing new software and curriculum for a district keep in mind materials that support mixed-ability classrooms, including text-to-speech, color coding, adjustments for different ability levels, and graphic options.  I realize time is of the essence- finding and integrating all of these amazing resources takes a lot of time on the teacher's part.  It would be awesome if in the future new programs and curriculums were created with UDL strictly in mind- integrating all these great resources in the first place!