{"id":1894,"date":"2021-12-09T10:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T15:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/?page_id=1894"},"modified":"2021-12-09T11:09:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T16:09:00","slug":"alexandra-laws-portfolio","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/faculty-portfolios\/alexandra-laws-portfolio\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexandra Law&#8217;s Portfolio"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1882 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/thumbnail_2021-Portfolio-Photo-ALaw-518x640.jpg\" alt=\"thumbnail_2021 Portfolio Photo ALaw\" width=\"144\" height=\"178\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/thumbnail_2021-Portfolio-Photo-ALaw-518x640.jpg 518w, https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/thumbnail_2021-Portfolio-Photo-ALaw.jpg 729w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 144px) 100vw, 144px\" \/>I came to UDL after almost fifteen years of teaching at the post-secondary level. The initial reason for my interest was that I wanted <strong>to become a better teacher<\/strong> for students who were adjusting from high school to college learning. More than once, I have also met students who would have benefitted from extra time on exams, PowerPoint slides in advance, having a class notetaker or a recording of the lecture \u2013 but they could not. My courses weren\u2019t designed that way. These things were \u2018accommodations\u2019, framed as exceptions and not offered to everyone.<\/p>\n<p>So, my initial concern leading to UDL <strong>was with fairness in the availability of course accommodations<\/strong> for students who could benefit from them. As we have worked together in the cohort this year, my understanding of UDL has broadened past this preoccupation with individual accommodations, toward <strong>a focus on flexible and responsive course design<\/strong>. This Community of Practice has given me guidance and tools for improving my current courses, <strong>as well as a new per<\/strong><strong>spective through which to design my future ones.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The &#8216;headshot\u2019<\/strong> I have included with my portfolio depicts me standing in the office. Behind me is our shared coffee machine and kettle, and my desk. A poster that has been on the wall since before I moved to this office says, \u201cKeep Calm and Carry On\u201d. I haven\u2019t had a coffee from the machine this year. I am wearing a respirator mask, and I don\u2019t think my current students know what the lower half of my face looks like. We have gone from teaching and learning in isolation to being exposed to hundreds of people (and their \u2018bubbles\u2019 by extension) every week. I try to be gentle with students who are late or struggling with their work right now. I mention these things to explain why I chose this image: it is a second in time, showing part of the context of the early application of UDL principles in my classes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This portfolio is also<strong> a snapshot<\/strong>. It is <strong>a collection of changes<\/strong> that I have been working on this semester with a broader design objective in mind. The UDL Community of Practice, participants past and present, and especially our coordinators Catherine Soleil and Laure Galipeau, have changed the way I understand my work. Any errors in this portfolio are my own responsibility. I am grateful to have had the chance to participate in this year\u2019s UDL Community of Practice.<\/p>\n<h4>Read more:<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/UDL_Portfolio_Slides_ALaw_2021-12-01.pptx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Critical Thinking, Expert Learning<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I came to UDL after almost fifteen years of teaching at the post-secondary level. The initial reason for my interest was that I wanted to become a better teacher for students who were adjusting from high school to college learning. More than once, I have also met students who would have benefitted from extra time&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":0,"parent":107,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1894","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1894"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1914,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1894\/revisions\/1914"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/udl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}