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Lisa Katz is a professional educator and Instructional Design specialist with 18+ years experience working with a variety of stakeholders at the local, state and national levels. Lisa is also currently a member of the Professional Learning Cadre for UDL at the Center for Applied Special Technologies. Lisa was a secondary social studies teacher, worked as an instructional specialist at the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) and as a teacher education program coordinator for secondary Social Studies at the University of Maryland College Park. Lisa holds a BA in History Education from the University of Delaware and a MLS from University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently an instructional technology specialist for Howard County Public Schools where she works with teachers and curriculum specialists to redesign curriculum for digital delivery, online instructional design, and infusing UDL and technology into professional development opportunities and curricular materials. During the 2010-2011 school year, she served as the Project Manager for the MSDE’s College and Career Readiness Support Project, a consortium project with 9 partner Maryland counties that created five online professional development courses designed to enhance teaching and learning through technology and UDL. Lisa developed the MSDE CPD course (11-13-05): Next Generation Teaching and Learning and UDL and has provided professional development workshops and materials on UDL across the state of Maryland. She maintains a blog about UDL, collecting resources and materials as she works with teachers, curriculum specialists and CAST. In addition to her work in the state of Maryland, Lisa has worked closely with members of the CAST UDL faculty cadre. CAST is a nonprofit research and development organization based in Massachusetts (www.cast.org). CAST works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals, through Universal Design for Learning. Through this work, Lisa is a member of the Implementation and Research Network for UDL where she has presented her project’s work on the mobile application: UDLinks , UDL electronic wheel and Online Professional Development courses for teachers on Next Generation Teaching and Learning and UDL.
Lauri Silver is a professional educator and assistive technology specialist with over 17 years experience working in special education. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Special Education from West Chester University and was a special educator at the Chimes School and a Assistive Technology Coordinator at Kennedy Krieger School, where she taught and assisted with learning for students diagnosed with multiple disabilities. Lauri holds a Masters of Science degree in Special Education Technology from Johns Hopkins University. She has a variety of experience in special education, assistive technology, and professional development for teachers and leaders in the K-12 setting. Lauri served as a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) consultant for MSDE’s College and Career Readiness Support Project which created online professional development courses designed to enhance teaching and learning through technology and UDL and developed a mobile application (UDLinks) for teachers to assist in UDL implementation in content areas. Currently, Lauri is a member of the Instructional Access Team for Howard County Public School System. Her passion radiates in helping all students access the curriculum through technology tools and the implementation of Universal Design for Learning Principles. Lauri is an instructor for the MSDE course (11-13-05): Next Generation Teaching and Learning and Universal Design for Learning.