3.4 Adaptive and Assistive Technology
Candidates facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies to support individual student learning needs. (PSC 3.4/ISTE 3d)
ITEC 7445
Assistive Technology Implementation Plan
Post Field Experience Reflection
In ITEC 7445, I completed an Assistive Technology module and worked with a student to provide assistive technology solutions for improved success in the school and home environment. After studying the Assistive Technology module to learn about assistive technology policy and applications in the public school, I learned to research and recommend assistive technologies that improve a student’s ability to succeed in his school environment. The Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) developed a form that helps to assess the needs of a student, to recommend technologies to assist the student, and to chart the progress of the student. I used this form to create a plan that the student could follow to increase his success.
Researching and recommending assistive technologies is a critical step to successfully facilitating the use of adaptive technologies. Recommending adaptations must be done carefully so that the technologies are suited to both the student’s actual needs and the school’s and teacher’s limitations. Even though it is true that a FAPE is given to each student, it is the responsibility of the technology leader to help find the solutions that best fit budget and accessibility constraints. Before I completed this part of the project, I did not know that the school is required to provide these assistive technologies and adaptations. I thought that students with known needs provided the technologies themselves. But once I learned that school and that assistive technologies are the responsibility of the school, I worked with the WATI form to assess the needs of the student and to research the technologies that would fit his needs within the limitations of the educational environment.
The use of adaptive technologies is more difficult to implement than I’d thought. I recommended SnapType and a Livescribe pen to the student so that he could let the technology aid him in quickly handwriting his assignments. However, I had not thought of the complications this would cause in the classroom environment. The student was eager for the suggestions, and he did implement them in his work, but he later reported that the devices were actually more of a distraction than an aid. As it turns out, adaptive technologies might solve several problems at once, but they might also create others for the student who uses them. In this case, the student reported a reluctance to use the pens and the SnapType app because his peers in collaborative groups expressed opinions about his use of them. They expressed jealousy toward the devices and figured that he was, in a way, cheating on assignments. Or they expressed such interest in the devices that the group got in trouble for misbehaving during lessons. Therefore, we had to come up with a way for the student to use a Livescribe en more subtly and to use the adaptive technologies at home more than at school. So, to facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies is to consider the implications of their applications in the classroom and any consequences for their use that may be ironic and distracting from their intended purpose.
I learned two important things from this project. First, I did not know before that public schools are required to provide adaptive and assistive technologies to the students who need them. Previously, I had considered the provision of these devices and processes a responsibility of the parent and possibly just the special education department. However, if one considers Universal Design principles, then it makes sense that a public institution such as a school would provide everyone with minimally adaptive tech and those who need it more robust technologies to suit niche learning issues. Then, I also learned that recommended technologies must be age appropriate, motivating, socially acceptable, teacher accepted, and compatible with other networked devices. If the middle schooler for whom the tech has been provided is not willing to risk touchy social reputation to use the device, then it won’t provide the assistance the educational team thought it would. On paper, the WATI considerations make sense and are thorough for recommending the device according to needs. However, the child for whom they have been recommended still exercises his will to refuse them based on his very real sense of self-protection. When the time comes for me to research and recommended the use of adaptive technologies, I will take time to also assess the student’s willingness, possibly even providing some previously-used equipment for the student to road-test before we begin buying others.
At our school, accommodating learning needs with adaptive technology is a purveyance of the special education department. That is how I built my paradigm for whose responsibility it is. However, this project has demonstrated the need for someone else to have the knowledge and skills to research and appropriately recommend and then assign and implement assistive devices. Classroom teachers are certainly faced with students who need help, but I think that most of us wouldn’t know how to begin to do that. Overall, this project has helped me to reconsider my role as a recommender, even though in my context, I might have to work with the special education department to fully implement the devices. Then, I have become more aware of Universal Design features on our LMS and on our hardware that allow me to improve the user experience for everyone in the classroom.
Assistive Technology Implementation Plan
Post Field Experience Reflection
In ITEC 7445, I completed an Assistive Technology module and worked with a student to provide assistive technology solutions for improved success in the school and home environment. After studying the Assistive Technology module to learn about assistive technology policy and applications in the public school, I learned to research and recommend assistive technologies that improve a student’s ability to succeed in his school environment. The Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) developed a form that helps to assess the needs of a student, to recommend technologies to assist the student, and to chart the progress of the student. I used this form to create a plan that the student could follow to increase his success.
Researching and recommending assistive technologies is a critical step to successfully facilitating the use of adaptive technologies. Recommending adaptations must be done carefully so that the technologies are suited to both the student’s actual needs and the school’s and teacher’s limitations. Even though it is true that a FAPE is given to each student, it is the responsibility of the technology leader to help find the solutions that best fit budget and accessibility constraints. Before I completed this part of the project, I did not know that the school is required to provide these assistive technologies and adaptations. I thought that students with known needs provided the technologies themselves. But once I learned that school and that assistive technologies are the responsibility of the school, I worked with the WATI form to assess the needs of the student and to research the technologies that would fit his needs within the limitations of the educational environment.
The use of adaptive technologies is more difficult to implement than I’d thought. I recommended SnapType and a Livescribe pen to the student so that he could let the technology aid him in quickly handwriting his assignments. However, I had not thought of the complications this would cause in the classroom environment. The student was eager for the suggestions, and he did implement them in his work, but he later reported that the devices were actually more of a distraction than an aid. As it turns out, adaptive technologies might solve several problems at once, but they might also create others for the student who uses them. In this case, the student reported a reluctance to use the pens and the SnapType app because his peers in collaborative groups expressed opinions about his use of them. They expressed jealousy toward the devices and figured that he was, in a way, cheating on assignments. Or they expressed such interest in the devices that the group got in trouble for misbehaving during lessons. Therefore, we had to come up with a way for the student to use a Livescribe en more subtly and to use the adaptive technologies at home more than at school. So, to facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies is to consider the implications of their applications in the classroom and any consequences for their use that may be ironic and distracting from their intended purpose.
I learned two important things from this project. First, I did not know before that public schools are required to provide adaptive and assistive technologies to the students who need them. Previously, I had considered the provision of these devices and processes a responsibility of the parent and possibly just the special education department. However, if one considers Universal Design principles, then it makes sense that a public institution such as a school would provide everyone with minimally adaptive tech and those who need it more robust technologies to suit niche learning issues. Then, I also learned that recommended technologies must be age appropriate, motivating, socially acceptable, teacher accepted, and compatible with other networked devices. If the middle schooler for whom the tech has been provided is not willing to risk touchy social reputation to use the device, then it won’t provide the assistance the educational team thought it would. On paper, the WATI considerations make sense and are thorough for recommending the device according to needs. However, the child for whom they have been recommended still exercises his will to refuse them based on his very real sense of self-protection. When the time comes for me to research and recommended the use of adaptive technologies, I will take time to also assess the student’s willingness, possibly even providing some previously-used equipment for the student to road-test before we begin buying others.
At our school, accommodating learning needs with adaptive technology is a purveyance of the special education department. That is how I built my paradigm for whose responsibility it is. However, this project has demonstrated the need for someone else to have the knowledge and skills to research and appropriately recommend and then assign and implement assistive devices. Classroom teachers are certainly faced with students who need help, but I think that most of us wouldn’t know how to begin to do that. Overall, this project has helped me to reconsider my role as a recommender, even though in my context, I might have to work with the special education department to fully implement the devices. Then, I have become more aware of Universal Design features on our LMS and on our hardware that allow me to improve the user experience for everyone in the classroom.