Sueyeon's Blog

I thought I would discuss the findings of my lit review paper on how Canadian post-secondary institutions are preparing teacher candidiates on the use of assistive technology (AT) devices for children with special needs. Through researching for this paper, I learned so much about the importance of AT devices in fostering the academic and social learning and development for children with special needs. I always had the idea that AT devices were bulky, expensive computers or machines that were only used for children with severe needs. But I learned that AT devices can ranges from something as simple as a pencil grip that only costs a couple of dollars to high-tech computer software that can cost thousands of dollars. There is a whole range of devices to meet the diverse needs of so many people, and it should be recognized as a critical tool for children with special needs. Children with sensory disabilities (hearing, visual), motor disabilites, learning disabilites and multiple disabilies could all benefit from the use of AT devices, but the problem is that most teachers (both general and special education teachers), do not know how to use AT devices. They don’t have the knowledge, training or expericne to adequately implement these tools into the curriculum or understand what kind of devices to use for specific needs.

       After reviewing the provincial policies and requirments/offerings of education programs in Canadian post-secondary institutions (undergraduate and graduate), I found that there is a strong lack of support and resource for current and candidiate teachers in the use of AT devices. Each province regulates the teaching certificate it issues to education graduates, but none of the provinces had any requirments of an AT course. Moreover, more than half of the province did not provide any teacher training courses or workshops in the use of AT devices. The other half did provide some form of training in education technology, but did not have a specific focus on AT.

      I also reviewed all of the post-secondary institutions in Canada that offered an educaiton program in the pre-service and graduate levels to see which insitutions either required or offered an AT course. Out of all of the institutions, there was only one institution that required an AT course. There were other institutions that offered an AT course as an elective, but that only made up about 18% of the institutions.

       More children with special needs are participating in an inclusive classroom and teachers have more demand to educate a diverse group of students and must be prepared and trained to address the needs of these students. In order to help teachers adequately support and enhance the academic experience of children with special needs, they should be trained to use AT devices. The provincial licensing of teachers and post-secondary institutions have a duty to help both current and future teachers be the best teachers they can be.

    Dr. Dwayne Hrapnuik, who was our guest lecturer talked about the projects that they have started at Abelaide Christian University. He focused on how innovative mobile learning can change the way we teach and learn. With all kinds of new technology that are out today, such as the iphone, netbooks..etc, we are able to learn anywhere anytime without having to be in the classroom. There was one quote which I thought very accurately pointed to our current situation with new devices coming up one after another: “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday, we rob them of tomarrow”. Before taking this course, I never really integrated education with technology, because I always had this idea of the traditional classroom with students sitting in a classroom. But I realized that education also needs to keep up with our growing use of high technology. Being able to keep up with technology is just as important as learning to read or write because it is extremely embedded in our everyday lives. Dr. Hrapnuik focused on the use of iphones regarding mobile learning and I thought it was interesting that he said that it’s not the iphone that is the amazing device, it’s the apps. It’s what you can do with it. And I agree with him because as an iphone user myself, it’s the applications that I download that really makes using the iphone fun and useful. Dr. Hrapnuik mentioned that the iphone can be used by students to do quizzes or keep up with lecture material. Those were not very surprising to me because we all do that, maybe not through iphones, but we all do that through blackboard or moodle. But what really surprised me was that the iphone can be used by the faculty also. Faculty members can learn students name by memorizing names that are linked to each student’s picture. I was blown away by the many uses of the iphone.

       I have to say honestly that before, I was a little scared of technology. With so many new high-tech devices being invented, I had this idea of everything becoming robotic in the near future. And I also thought that technology would just make people lazy. But after listening to this lecture by Dr. Hrapnuik and working on my project, which is on AT uses for children with special needs, I realize that technology helps a lot of people. Without it, the world would be a totally different place and many people, such as children with disabilities or students like ourselves, would not have to opportunity to learn through different modes. We would all be stuck in a set way of learning and teaching. Becasue of technology and our need to keep up with it, we force ourselves to think in innovative ways.

       I am really excited to be starting my project for this class. At first, I decided to write a paper on the different ways that technology can help enhance learning for students with special needs. Then, Dr. Irvine suggested that I get in touch with Professor Donna McGhie-Richmond, who is currently an assistant professor in the department of educational psychology. So I got in touch with her and I decided to do a literature review with her. The lit review is for a conference that she will be attending in May and it is about how Canadian post-secondary institutions are preparing future Canadian teachers of elementary to high schools to teach students who are using assitive technology. I sent her my outline, and after she reviewed it, this is what we came up with:

TITLE: Assistive Technology Training for Teachers: A Preliminary Look at Canadian University Offerings

I.      INTRODUCTION

1. What is AT?
2. Importance of AT for students with special needs
   1. Support participation, interaction and learning
3. Some specific disabilities that are supported:
   1. Learning Disabilities
   2. Multiple Disabilities
   3. Communication Disabilities
   4. Sensory (i.e., blind; hearing impaired)

II.         QUESTION: Are teachers adequately prepared to implement AT in the classroom?

1. What role do Canadian university Faculties of Education play in preparing teachers for AT (undergraduate/pre-service level and graduate levels – likely special education programs)
2. What Provincial Policies or Standards of Practice guide the provision of education and training

III.         PROVINCIAL POLICIES

1. Policies regarding AT training for teachers
2. Which provinces require or offer as an elective AT courses as part of their programs (undergraduate or initial teacher preparation; graduate programs; diplomas)
3. Which provinces provide separate courses/training for teachers without AT knowledge?

IV.       CANDADIAN UNIVERSITY PRE-SERVICE/GRADUATE PROGRAMS

1. Which schools require and/or offer as electives an AT course at the pre-service level?
2. Which schools require and/or offer as electives AT course at the graduate level?
3. Opportunities for practice / practicum

V.        CONCLUSION

       I apolagize for the late post, but I have to say that the guest lecture by Dr. John Willinsky was one of the most interesting lectures that I have heard. At first, I didn’t know what open knowledge was. I thought it had something to do with the internet, but wasn’t exactly sure. After listening to Dr. Willinsky’s lecture, it made me more aware of the idea of free knowledge. As a social science student at Uvic, I have to do a lot of research and papers using articles from different journals. As Uvic students, we have access to the database of thousands and thousands of journals just with our net link id and password, so I have always taken this privilege for granted and never thought of myself being part of this whole controversey regarding open knowledge.

       Researchers receive government funding, which tax payers fund, and when researchers publish their findings, the public has to pay to read those articles. I do think this is unfair. The public should have rights to those “knowledge” freely, because they fund it. But, at the same time, I believe that having to pay for something, whether it is something tangible like food, or something untangible like knowledeg, it increases the value of it. By paying for it, we acknowledeg the importance of knowledeg. Dr. Willkinson mentioned that something that is free has no prestige. He gave an example of the Oxford Journal of Medicine. However, he also mentioned that articles that are free are read more and cited more. This increases the circulation of information and knowlede within academic institutions and scholars. Therefore, I think that there needs to be a balance of both. I like how a lot of journals provide all of their articles for free after a certain amount of time has passed.