Designing for Redundancy

0:08 related resilient design principle which 0:10 is designing for redundancy 0:13 when we design for redundancy we look 0:16 for alternative ways of accomplishing a 0:18 given instructional goal 0:20 in case disruption to our instructional 0:22 environment forces us to remove one or 0:25 more elements from our course plan 0:28 we might first look for areas where our 0:30 course plans might be brittle 0:32 invulnerable 0:33 we might look for what we could call 0:36 single points of failure 0:38 aspects of our design on which the 0:40 success of our course hinges 0:43 once these vulnerabilities have been 0:45 identified we can develop backups or 0:47 contingencies that will allow the course 0:50 to recover from the potential failure of 0:52 one or more of our core strategies 0:56 the idea behind designing for redundancy 0:58 is that if one or more of our course 1:00 elements fail 1:01 the interactions that we have designed 1:03 for for can still be facilitated in 1:06 another way 1:09 let's once again turn our attention to 1:11 universal design for learning 1:14 as we have already seen 1:15 its main tenets are multiple means of 1:18 engagement representation and action and 1:21 expression 1:22 we will focus on representation and 1:25 expression here because they are most 1:27 closely tied to the idea of redundancy 1:31 first let's consider multiple means of 1:33 representation 1:35 students may differ 1:37 in the ways that they perceive and 1:39 comprehend information 1:41 so 1:42 as you think about the formats used to 1:43 represent content in your course you 1:45 could ask yourself 1:47 are they diversified 1:49 for example are you providing learning 1:51 materials in a variety of formats 1:54 providing multiple means of 1:55 representation helps to ensure that 1:58 learners who struggle in one area do not 2:00 automatically find fall behind their 2:02 peers 2:05 second let's look at multiple means of 2:07 action and expression 2:09 besides giving learners various ways of 2:12 acquiring information and knowledge as 2:14 we have just discussed 2:15 it is equally important to offer them 2:18 alternatives for demonstrating what they 2:20 have learned 2:21 for example you could encourage learners 2:24 to solve problems using a variety of 2:26 strategies and be flexible in 2:28 assignments mission formats 2:30 the key is not to assess the form of 2:33 expression but rather to assess how 2:35 students are able to demonstrate and 2:37 apply knowledge connected to course 2:39 learning goals 2:41 so although the premise of udl is to 2:44 support a wide variety of learners to 2:46 the greatest extent possible 2:48 we can see that following these 2:50 guidelines actually allows instructors 2:52 to design for redundancy 2:55 if one of the means of representation or 2:57 expression fails then an alternative 3:00 format which has already been identified 3:02 or even created can be used instead 3:06 when designing for redundancy we can 3:08 think about the following kinds of 3:09 questions 3:11 when you consider your course design 3:13 plan 3:14 can you identify areas that are brittle 3:16 or particularly vulnerable if one or 3:19 more elements failed 3:22 how can you minimize dependence on 3:24 certain tools or activities so that if 3:26 those features are lost due to a 3:28 disruption your class will still largely 3:31 work 3:33 and how might you identify alternative 3:35 ways of facilitating desired 3:37 interactions 3:40 so our key takeaway when we are 3:42 designing our course for redundancy is 3:44 to create alternative ways of 3:46 facilitating interactions wherever 3:49 possible 3:50 now this may seem like a lot to consider 3:53 but that is why we talked about starting 3:55 small and incrementally growing the 3:57 course design 3:59 start with something you will be able to 4:01 achieve within the time you have to 4:02 design your course 4:04 consider it a longer term goal to 4:06 continue to build up or extend the 4:09 redundant elements of your course 4:11 thereby strengthening your design