I was hesitant about Sketchnoting. University has made me accept that handwritten notes and diagrams is something I am just not good at. I have had such difficulty with this that I spent the last few years believing I have some degree of undiagnosed dysgraphia.
It took me longer than usual to get to actually writing my Sketchnote. It didn’t seem like a normal sort of “slacking off” feeling. I was a bit more anxious. I don’t mean to melodramatic, as this wasn’t overly serious. And the structure of this assignment gave me leeway – especially with the knowledge that I was not being graded on Sketchnote quality. Despite this, I had more trouble than usual with motivating myself for the task.
We also covered accessibility. This module discusses the ways you can improve accessibility through multimedia. We can help visual impairments with text-to-speech, we can help deafness with captions, we can help learners that are feeling stressed or having trouble with focusing on a lecture by offering a flexible and self-paced structure. Technology offers all sorts of ways to help reduce physical and mental barriers for learners. Technology is great. As educators, it makes it so much easier for us to help learners have an easier experience. What technology does not help us do, is allow us to re-write the beliefs and perception of a learner.
This is my sketch note. I wrote it about this YouTube video. I feel fine about it. I was able to write it in a teaching structure that had me in mind when I made it. It was clear what was needed of me, I was given choice in when to create it, the topic to create it about. There were multiple means of engagement, representation, and choice in how I express and create the assignment. The principles of UDL were met. Yet all UDL can do is help facilitate a space without barriers.
There is little discussion on the factors that might demotivate a learner from engaging with this barrier-less space. I believe that is where the conversation on improving access will be directed towards in the future. Some more psychological ideas involved with motivation and perception that make up how learners perceive the presence of barriers. This was what I noticed from my Sketchnoting.