EduCon 2025Make the Invisible Visible: Multimodal Tools & Models for Fostering Agency in Daily Learning
In traditional classroom settings, learning is often linear, and complex cognitive processes often remain abstract and obfuscated for learners. The research behind Universal Design for Learning (UDL) points to the power of making learning processes accessible through multi-modal design.
This conversation will provide a space to share a range of tools and strategies to make learning processes transparent and shift power dynamics in the classroom. We'll discuss specific, high-leverage and repeatable frameworks like a learning cycle, as well as specific instructional techniques like metacognitive prompting, guided and gradual-release decision-making, and conferring–all aimed to cultivating self-directed learning skills that position learners to lead increasingly more of their own learning pathway.
Why this? Because making the process of learning, and key cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies visible, accessible, and actionable, students can better develop their own procedural, conceptual, and metacognitive skills and knowledge, and ultimately expand their a sense of agency as learners. We’ll explore how these approaches connect to such lifelong skillsets as working in collaborative teams, project leadership, and reflection, which are each critical to student-centered learning environments.
Conversational Practice
This session will be highly interactive, launching with opportunities to explore models, share examples from our own practice, and discuss challenges and opportunities in the work. Participants will have the opportunity to workshop existing models and/or co-design visual tools that could be used in their own classrooms. Using small group discussions, participants will examine and modify sample templates, brainstorm ways to implement them across different subjects, and share insights from their own practices. This session aims to equip educators with concrete tools and inspire a supportive, iterative learning environment that meets students where they are and supports their journey toward self-directed learning.
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