Hello everyone, my name is Xinying Song. I’m a second-year psychology student who is interested in education and is planning to take it as my minor.

My mother is a high school geography teacher, so I was introduced to learning design at a young age when I first saw my mom writing lesson plans. I learned more learning design strategies in my last education course and it gave me a clearer idea of the wisdom teachers put into every class.

The content that really inspired me was “Problem-Based Learning” and “Universal Design for Learning”. I believe a positive learning experience should involve aspects like engagement, clear learning objectives, and inclusivity. Specifically, both students and teachers should be actively engaged in a classroom and have good interactions when learning and teaching things. Students have to be clear enough about what they are going to learn from their teachers, and teachers have to make sure that the learning materials and environments are accessible to all learners and help everyone to learn.

Based on my understanding of what makes for a positive learning experience, I will provide multiple means of representation and engagement in my class, define my learning objectives to my students at the beginning of a class, and understand my audience and their needs before I make a lesson plan.