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)
Artifact: Assistive Technology Implementation Plan
Reflection:
This artifact is the Assistive Technology Implementation Plan that I created in ITEC 7445: Multimedia and Web Design in Education. The purpose of this project was to give M.Ed. candidates experience in utilizing assistive technology with students with disabilities. For this project, I worked with D, a 3rd grade student receiving special education services for math, reading, and writing. I specifically focused on reading and writing with her, and I used several websites that allowed her to record her voice. As I worked with D, I had her work on several research projects, but instead of writing down notes throughout the research process, I had her record her notes using a voice recorder. In addition, she recorded herself reading her writing so that she could hear what she had actually written and then revise and edit as needed. I discovered that recording herself saying the information that she had researched seemed to help her remember it so much better than writing it down on a piece of paper. In addition, listening to the recording of herself reading her writing significantly helped her catch and correct any errors that she had made. This artifact shows mastery of Standard 3.4 which states that "candidates facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies to support individual student learning needs" because I utilized some adaptive and assistive technologies with a student who had some specific learning needs.
Before beginning this project, I spoke with D's special education teacher to determine what her weaknesses were. From there, I began researching different adaptive and assistive technologies that could be helpful to her in the area of writing. Voice recording really stuck out to me because in my research and conversations with other teachers, I discovered how much that can help since it eliminates a lot of the frustrations of a struggling writer. I chose to use two voice recorders for my adaptive and assistive technologies - Vocaroo and Pixiclip. Then, I facilitated the use of these adaptive and assistive technologies in a variety of ways. First, I used it with D when she came to my technology specials class that I taught for 3rd graders. I then went in to her special education class and worked with her one on one in there. D seemed to love these voice recording tools, and she seemed so excited about how much she was learning and accomplishing because of these tools.
Every student, whether they are in special education or not, has specific learning needs, and the use of adaptive and assistive technologies can help meet all students where they are. This experience really inspired me to continue to learn about these types of technologies that can support learners and then implement them with various learners across my school building. This experience also gave me a great example that I can share with teachers who may be hesitant to incorporate these types of technologies in their classrooms. If I could do this experience again, I would love to be able to consistently work with one student or a group of students over an entire semester and collect data on how their skills improved by using the adaptive and assistive technologies. If this student was able to improve tremendously over just a few months, it would be incredible to see what she could have done throughout an entire semester.
This artifact improved student learning since I used adaptive and assistive technologies to work with a special education student who struggled in literacy. Her improvement was very noticeable just by talking with her, asking her questions, and viewing her writing. Her confidence level also significantly increased, and she even raised her hand to give some answers in class. Normally she would not do that in front of all of her peers in my technology specials class. It was so exciting to see how much these technologies helped improve this student's learning.
This artifact is the Assistive Technology Implementation Plan that I created in ITEC 7445: Multimedia and Web Design in Education. The purpose of this project was to give M.Ed. candidates experience in utilizing assistive technology with students with disabilities. For this project, I worked with D, a 3rd grade student receiving special education services for math, reading, and writing. I specifically focused on reading and writing with her, and I used several websites that allowed her to record her voice. As I worked with D, I had her work on several research projects, but instead of writing down notes throughout the research process, I had her record her notes using a voice recorder. In addition, she recorded herself reading her writing so that she could hear what she had actually written and then revise and edit as needed. I discovered that recording herself saying the information that she had researched seemed to help her remember it so much better than writing it down on a piece of paper. In addition, listening to the recording of herself reading her writing significantly helped her catch and correct any errors that she had made. This artifact shows mastery of Standard 3.4 which states that "candidates facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies to support individual student learning needs" because I utilized some adaptive and assistive technologies with a student who had some specific learning needs.
Before beginning this project, I spoke with D's special education teacher to determine what her weaknesses were. From there, I began researching different adaptive and assistive technologies that could be helpful to her in the area of writing. Voice recording really stuck out to me because in my research and conversations with other teachers, I discovered how much that can help since it eliminates a lot of the frustrations of a struggling writer. I chose to use two voice recorders for my adaptive and assistive technologies - Vocaroo and Pixiclip. Then, I facilitated the use of these adaptive and assistive technologies in a variety of ways. First, I used it with D when she came to my technology specials class that I taught for 3rd graders. I then went in to her special education class and worked with her one on one in there. D seemed to love these voice recording tools, and she seemed so excited about how much she was learning and accomplishing because of these tools.
Every student, whether they are in special education or not, has specific learning needs, and the use of adaptive and assistive technologies can help meet all students where they are. This experience really inspired me to continue to learn about these types of technologies that can support learners and then implement them with various learners across my school building. This experience also gave me a great example that I can share with teachers who may be hesitant to incorporate these types of technologies in their classrooms. If I could do this experience again, I would love to be able to consistently work with one student or a group of students over an entire semester and collect data on how their skills improved by using the adaptive and assistive technologies. If this student was able to improve tremendously over just a few months, it would be incredible to see what she could have done throughout an entire semester.
This artifact improved student learning since I used adaptive and assistive technologies to work with a special education student who struggled in literacy. Her improvement was very noticeable just by talking with her, asking her questions, and viewing her writing. Her confidence level also significantly increased, and she even raised her hand to give some answers in class. Normally she would not do that in front of all of her peers in my technology specials class. It was so exciting to see how much these technologies helped improve this student's learning.