Relational Cultural Theory and UDL with Harriet Schwartz

Welcome to Episode 65 of the Think UDL podcast: Relational Cultural Theory and UDL with Harriet Schwartz! Dr. Harriet Schwartz is the author of Connected Teaching: Relationships, Power, and Mattering in Higher Education and is the Professor of Relational Practice and Higher Education at Antioch University’s PhD in Leadership and Change Program. As the episode title implies, we will be talking about RCT, or Relational Cultural Theory, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). We discuss several ways instructors can engage students through the lens of Relational Cultural Theory, and that leads us into a discussion about authenticity. We also talk about the role the instructor-student relationship plays in sustaining student effort and persistence, and how power and relationships within the learning environment affect student learning. Harriet has also provided many excellent resources that are listed on the ThinkUDL.org website accompanying episode 65, so please take a look and dig deeper into this topic to increase your understanding of RCT and thank you so much for joining me and Harriet Schwartz for this engaging conversation.