While my 1:1 sessions can be individually tailored and reactive to a student’s abilities (and mood!), it is harder to do with pre-prepared resources. I follow a course design philosophy called Universal Design that espouses the provision of resources and assessments in a way that meets as many special educational needs as possible. People all learn differently, so catering for special needs also provides alternate or enhanced ways of accessing the information for those without special needs.

I do this by following a multi-modal approach. Simply put, I provide as many ways of accessing the information as possible, in a way that allows student choice. For example, my slides will include brief text as if I were delivering a webinar, but will also include the speakers notes and a recording of those spoken notes, within the slide. Where appropriate I will include practical activities which can be completed at the time or come back to later if a student doesn’t understand. I will also include links to resources that can be used to solidify, clarify or further a student’s understanding.

I believe that the school system does not encourage students to become independent learners, and I consider my resources to be a stepping stone in learning those skills. Students can learn what techniques are most useful in their learning and, in this world of widely available digital content, access this to answer their own learning needs in the future.