3.4 Adaptive and Assistive Technology
Candidates facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies to support individual student learning needs.
Artifact: Assistive Technology Implementation Plan
WATI Assistive Technology Consideration Guide
Field Experience Log
Reflection:
The Assistive Technology Implementation Plan details my work with a student who had poor vision in a math classroom. By working with the county vision teachers we decided that the student should have access to an iPad at school and at home to help her with her assignments. She could enlarge the size of any worksheet or handout by taking a photo using the iPad without having to have enlarged copies of paper. There were times when enlarging materials would require the student to wait and lose instruction from the lesson. The ability of the iPad to immediately enlarge materials was the reason that the vision teacher and I recommended it for use. She was very reluctant at first to use the iPad in the classroom, so we implemented some goals for her to encourage the use of the assistive technology within the classroom.
Through my observations of the student in the classroom, I was able to make recommendations for training and goals that the student needed to be successful in the classroom. Her reluctance to use the iPad in the class was causing her performance to suffer and a remedy was needed to help her. I suggested that her classroom teachers prompt her to use the iPad in class and record how often she was doing that. I believe that her reluctance came down to the fact that she was the only person using technology in the classroom. The district implemented a Bring Your Own Technology initiative and it was set to go into effect a few months later. I believed that once the initiative started she would be more willing to use the iPad in class. The prompting by her teachers was a bridge to get us to that time period.
After working with this student, I had a new respect for what it feels like to be different in the classroom. I never thought that using an iPad would cause someone to feel that way, but I see now why it did. In the future, I would recommend more training for both the student and her teachers before coming into the classroom in the hopes that we can make her feel more comfortable using the technology in the classroom.
The Assistive Technology Implementation Plan details my work with a student who had poor vision in a math classroom. By working with the county vision teachers we decided that the student should have access to an iPad at school and at home to help her with her assignments. She could enlarge the size of any worksheet or handout by taking a photo using the iPad without having to have enlarged copies of paper. There were times when enlarging materials would require the student to wait and lose instruction from the lesson. The ability of the iPad to immediately enlarge materials was the reason that the vision teacher and I recommended it for use. She was very reluctant at first to use the iPad in the classroom, so we implemented some goals for her to encourage the use of the assistive technology within the classroom.
Through my observations of the student in the classroom, I was able to make recommendations for training and goals that the student needed to be successful in the classroom. Her reluctance to use the iPad in the class was causing her performance to suffer and a remedy was needed to help her. I suggested that her classroom teachers prompt her to use the iPad in class and record how often she was doing that. I believe that her reluctance came down to the fact that she was the only person using technology in the classroom. The district implemented a Bring Your Own Technology initiative and it was set to go into effect a few months later. I believed that once the initiative started she would be more willing to use the iPad in class. The prompting by her teachers was a bridge to get us to that time period.
After working with this student, I had a new respect for what it feels like to be different in the classroom. I never thought that using an iPad would cause someone to feel that way, but I see now why it did. In the future, I would recommend more training for both the student and her teachers before coming into the classroom in the hopes that we can make her feel more comfortable using the technology in the classroom.