The Power of Assistive Technology

Curtis Article: Disabled Bodies, Able Minds

Curtis' article highlighted assistive technology and the role that it can play in the lives of students with special needs. It highlighted cases where technology has allowed students to advance far beyond the what people with the same disability could imagine from 25 years ago. The article introduces "DO-IT" (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) and TACLE (Technology and Augmentative Communication for Learning Enhancement) which are advocacy programs for students with disabilities. These programs help students obtain the technology that they need to communicate, move, and work through their academic lives. This technology allows students to function in a classroom on their own and even do activities that they may have never thought that they would be able to do.

Technology has brought many abilities to all students. The kinds of activities that can be done using technology is really quite amazing. This article gave us quite a number of examples, like systems that are sensitive enough to track the motion of eyes, eyebrows that can ultimately translate that into spoken word to modifying a musical instrument to be played with a joystick. Having this technology makes a world of difference to these students who may feel that they are unable to do anything on their own or accomplish anything.

A Personal Perspective on Adaptive Technology: An Interview with Dr. Richard Keller

One important aspect of this interview is understanding the difference between assistive technology and adaptive technology. I found Dr. Keller's description of adaptive technology to be an important one, as he believes in "changing the technology. Change the environment. Change the interaction" instead of changing the person with the disability. I have a more firm understanding now after hearing these points as they are brought from a personal perspective. I feel sometimes we take things for granted and maybe forget by trying so hard to "change a person with a disability" to adapt to the environment instead of changing the environment to adapt to the person's needs.

Another important aspect is when Dr. Keller talks about awareness. Awareness is an important piece that individuals must understand and appreciate when including people with disabilities in society. As a society everyone should try to make the environment as accessible as possible to include everyone and to have people with disabilities overcome any obstacles they may experience.

Dr. Keller also mentioned how many technological devices offered to people with disabilities often lack necessary training or information on how to use these devices. It is especially important to not only provide the technology, but to provide instruction and training in the use these devices.

Adapting Classrooms for AT Users: Challenges and Solutions

This presentation provided commentary by experts in the field of assistive technology as well as videos of students discussing their experiences in their schools/classrooms. The panelists stressed how it is not too complicated or challenging for teachers to make adaptations or utilize assistive technology with students who have disabilities in their classroom. The student interview videos were important as they exemplified that participation in any way is so crucial to student self-esteem.

The experts provided a wealth of information and recommendations related to assistive technology planning and use. They also pointed out that students are good at adapting on their own, so it is important for teachers and administrators to maintain open communication channels with students about assistive technology.

All constituents - students, parents, educators, administers - play an important role in this process. Teacher preparation and collaboration between all constituents and stakeholders effect successful implementation. Also, all non-technology environments should first be considered when thinking about adapting a classroom. If it is not possible to provide an inclusive learning environment without technology, then one must next consider minimal (or low-tech) technology before considering a full gamut of technology use/incorporation.

IWBs in (My Workplace)

Admittedly, I'm having a heck of time envisioning how SMART boards (and the like) are going to flourish in higher education classrooms. The learning curve associated with IWB use can be a bit daunting to faculty or administrators use to paper, chalkboards, and overhead projectors. And if you are a technophobe, forget about it (maybe).

There are some presentation aspects of the software that I think can catch on in the higher ed classroom. The way one can present original slides, write on them, and then save them for future use is a neat feature. I also think that if students can be included to not only to write on the board, but to manipulate information in a way to spark critical thought, then it will catch on as a powerful way to engage students amongst themselves and the teacher.

I found the following video of a Physics professor who uses a SMART board in her class. It's not the most wholesome use of the board, but it does exemplify some of the usage considerations we were shown in class.

This is my second go-round with this course and the SMART Notebook assignment was challenging for me for two reasons:

• Lesson Planning - I'm completely not adept at this task; it's a very creative and technical process to build a good lesson.
• The learning curve with SMART, coupled with #1, made my brain hurt when trying to lean how to use the technology. 

Having the demonstration in class helped because I was able to make an analogy to how the software works. What worked for me was comparing it to web page building. With web page building, there is a need for logic and process when building your sites. When I applied a web page build process to the process of creating a SMART lesson, it actually finally clicked.

Let's hope the finished product is of some quality.

Related Article: The Rise of the Interactive Whiteboard in Higher Education

Web 2.0 Tools: Prezi

I've used Prezi before for a couple of final presentations, both for in-class and online coursework. Again, since I am not an educator, I have not used it in a teaching situation.

I think that this technology fulfills most of the principles of Universal Design (UD). It fulfills flexibility and use because it accommodates the user's individual preferences. The user can choose from many different presentation layouts, fonts, and font sizes. The user also has the option to put videos and pictures into the presentation. When giving a presentation, it can zoom in on the text that is being presented. It meets the principle of tolerance of error because the user is able to easily delete mistakes and other incorrect information. It is low physical effort because it efficiently guides users as they create their presentations. Finally, it fulfills size and space for approach and use because it is accessible from any computer that has an Internet connection.

The two principles that I think Prezi doesn't fulfill are equitable use and simple and intuitive. I don't think that this technology is useful to people with diverse abilities. For example, someone who has a visual impairment may not be able to use this program easily. Also, I don't think that Prezi is that easy to understand and has a fairly high learning curve for first-time users.

A Mother and Son Talk About Bookshare

A good summary about Bookshare and how it affects this mom and son...

Kurzweil 3000

Kurzweil 3000 is writing and reading software that has many great features. It has optical character recognition (OCR) which allows the program to read back scannable documents. As the words are read aloud, they are highlighted as well.You can turn off the sound if you just need help with tracking and not decoding. There is an option to speed up or slow down the voice, and the pace of highlighting according to your preference. You can also customize the voice to suit your hearing tastes/preference.

Once documents are created or scanned, they can also be annotated with text boxes, highlights and circles. This allows you to do anything you could do similarly with print material. Kurzweil is great for creating worksheets, tests and quizzes.

Kurzweil is also great for composing documents. It has spell check, word prediction, and various web layouts. One of the best parts of writing with Kurzweil is that the text is read back to you, which also makes it a great editing tool. Kurzweil has a built in dictionary for quick reference. Another handy feature is "read the web," which allows the user to read a web page aloud without copying and pasting the text into a Kurzweil file.

A very powerful, but RAM heavy program.

Personal Learning Devices

I know that many K-12 schools struggle with the incorporation of Personal Learning Devices. It's not an easy consideration - lots of work and effort must be afforded for successful incorporation. Higher ed environments also grapple with the challenges.

These devices, whether it be a PDA, smart phone, cell phone, iPad, tablet, aren't going away and are often considered a necessity for families and individual needs. I think it's important to considers some of the positives and negatives of Personal Learning Devices and their incorporation into learning and the classroom.

Some Positives:

• Classroom research opportunities - almost instantaneously can these opportunities be created and operationalized.
• Frees up computer lab space/use of school-owned technology - can provide this equipment for those who cannot afford personal devices themselves.
• Course lectures can be recorded and available for students to review material on the devices at any time.
• Assess student learning and provide peer review feedback by using online tools
• Create/archive student work as it is being created

Some Negatives:

• Bandwidth and wireless access needs to be considered and could be a drain on internal administrative technology that depends on this bandwidth
• Policing what students are looking at can be difficult (games, texting, Facebook, etc)
• Providing additional tech support (what happens if there are tech failures? what would be the back-up plan).

I know there are many other positives and negatives (we could be here forever identifying them). But overall, I think it's something all schools should consider and should considered holistically (and inclusively) if they decide to.

UDL Reflection

Educators will almost always be faced with a classroom that will include students who struggle to learn for any number of reasons. These reasons may include one (or a combination of) the following: learning disabilities, language barriers (i.e. ESL), behavioral problems, psychological issues, lack of interest/boredom, physical disabilities, and sensory limitations. Regardless of what the individual barrier(s) may be, teachers and educational administrators  should all share a willingness and desire to help students succeed. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to education that works. How can teachers and administrators respond to individual differences in a holistic way?

This is where Universal Design for Learning (UDL) comes in, and teachers and administrators should always consider UDL principles in the design of educational environments.

Broadly, UDL calls for:

• Multiple means of representation, to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge,
• Multiple means of action and expression, to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know,
• Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation.

As a higher education administrator, I am impressed by how much UDL covers in understanding what one must consider when designing educational environments. It requires flexible goals, methods, materials, and assessments that accommodate learner differences. It is important to consider individual student barriers and create lesson plans that allow each student to participate in the learning experience free from any roadblocks. Educational lessons/plans that accommodate individual student needs must be anticipated and created prior to and not after the learning experience. Hopefully, as a result, students are then afforded various types of opportunities and learning experiences that can increase self-confidence and enhance the quality of education for everyone.