Creating an Environment to fit the Educational "Jackets" of Our Students...

In his TEDx Talk video, Todd Rose, the co-founder and President of The Center for Individual Opportunity, focuses on the idea of an environment that is designed to fit the “average person”. He gives the analogy of a fighter jet, and how typically, they were structured to fit those of “average fighter pilot” based on height or weight. Rose furthers this analogy to state that there was a struggle to design a cockpit to fit the needs of most fighter pilots. After much research, the engineers of these fighter jets realized that there is no such thing as an “average person” to fit the cockpit and we all are unique, different and not one of the same. This concept of the “average person” was eventually banned and the Airforce no longer purchased fighter jets that would only suit the needs of an “average” pilot. This idea, opened up a world for various individuals that would typically not have ‘fit’ in that type of environment.

As Rose mentions, not many of us have been in a fighter jet, however, many of us have been in a classroom at one time or another. Rose states: “Even though we have one of the most diverse countries in the history of the world, and even though it’s the 21st century, we still design our learning environments like textbooks”[7:10]. He even goes further to mention that: “A student is not one-dimensional…students vary on many dimensions of learning…each student, every single one of them, has a jacket learning profile…But, if the fighter pilot example has taught us anything, its this, if you design those learning environments on average, odds are, they are designed for nobody”[7:39]. And lastly he mentions: “We’ve created learning environments that because they are designed on average, cannot possibly do what we expected them to do, which is to nurture individual potential”[8:32]. These ideas that Rose presents, helped me to discover the whole picture of his analogies. As educators, we should be looking at the whole picture, where the environment for which we work in, and the environments for which our students learn in can be detrimental or beneficial to our growth. In a sense, by not providing we are hindering the strengths of each of our students.

Rose suggests that not all is doomed, and mentions that we can include such things as: “technology that creates learning environments that are so flexible”[11:11]. As teachers, we should be open to the new ideas within a UDL framework and those that are increasingly becoming apparent surrounding classroom technology. We should have a desire to go to great lengths to help one, if not all of our students within a UDL model.

Although this video follows the figures and ideas from a United States perspective, I cannot help but wonder how much further are we from a Canadian stance? Are the classroom environments within our province fitting the needs of our students? Just some food for thought as I delve deeper into our research on Universal Design for Learning…

Take a look at Rose’s website listed below, he has some great advice and opportunities to discover UDL in a wider range through our society, economy and education itself.

http://www.individualopportunity.org/

Reference:

TEDx Talks. (2013). The Myth of Average: Todd Rose at TEDxSonoma Country. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eBmyttcfU4