Hello Meaghan,

I appreciate the depth of your exploration into UDL and it’s relation to technology. The only open question it leaves me with is the causal link you made between AI and inquiry-based learning. If I wanted to cheat at a test about science definitions before ChatGPT and I had access to the internet, I would google them. Putting the same questions into a large language model that may or may not give the right answer doesn’t fundamentally change this relationship. I would argue that the leading cause of the increased focus on inquiry-based learning was simply that educators realized its intrinsic value as a knowledge generating practice that formed deeper and longer-lasting connections for students than rote memorization, the same value you pointed to to celebrate the practice.

I also appreciate your personal experience of the value in multi-modal instruction. It can so easily feel like bloat that only reduces information density, but staying in touch with the ways it helps varied learners form genuine impressions with the concepts at hand is vital not only to properly embracing UDL but also generally keeping your education focused on students as people first. Your summer camp anecdotes demonstrate this well.