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Whether to embrace “flipped” pedagogy or to problem solve during a pandemic, many teachers utilize video to deliver instruction to students. Watching a video can be a passive activity without a person or a tool to facilitate active engagement. As a result, many teachers find the need to look for tools, methods, and platforms to engage learners, add elements of interactivity, and incorporate effective instructional practices into their video lessons. In this manuscript, we describe how a specific technology, Edpuzzle, can help facilitate video lessons that include explicit instruction elements such as eliciting frequent responses, offering supported practice, providing immediate affirmative and corrective feedback, and monitoring student performance. When paired with well-designed videos, teachers can use this tool to deliver effective instruction in an asynchronous environment.

Focus on multimodal learning, especially composition, is increasing in K-12 classrooms, particularly among those whose populations are struggling academically. This shift toward multimodal learning also is evident in special education classrooms. This review explored multimodality and its impact on the composition practices of students with disabilities. Eleven empirical studies discussing research designs, research questions, and various sample characteristics were included. Themes from the findings and implications included the role of technology in instruction, its use in providing scaffolds, and its impact on student success. Additionally, several nonempirical articles advocating the use of multimodal composition were addressed. This review concludes with implications for teachers and researchers, focusing on the benefits of multimodal composition, particularly the underexplored area of digital video (DV) composition, for students with disabilities.

Students with disabilities encounter persistent barriers in writing, which manifest within all phases of the writing process. These challenges can involve both higher order processes (e.g., organization, idea development) as well as lower order processes (e.g., legibility, spelling) related to writing. Educators can apply the principles of the universal design for learning (UDL) to lesson design by prioritizing student engagement considerations, promoting increased options for composing writing, and representing key ideas through multiple modalities. To further support struggling writers, teachers can use the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) instructional approach to equip students with the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and self-regulatory behaviors that skillful writers regularly employ in their writing. By combining UDL and SRSD, educators have the opportunity to both broaden the reach of their writing instruction from the outset, and to optimize individualized supports for all writers in today’s classrooms.

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