Assistive Tech 5220 Resources

Welcome to the module on assistive technology and UDL resources for learning

Of course, as a 2 Summers student you will learn much more about this topic in Dr. Anya Evmanova’s George Mason UDL course in the Spring semester, but for now, let’s consider just the general issues of using technology to meet the needs of all types of students.

Several Federal laws address the issues of assisitve technology for K-12 students, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), section 504 of the Rehabilitation amendments, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They can be summarized as follows:

Assistive Technology MUST BE CONSIDERED in the Individual Education Plan (IEP) of all learners with special needs. (ugh@ what a color contrast… is this compliant???)

So basically the law does not require the use of assistive technology, but it requires students be assessed for its need, and it relies on the knowledge of the IEP team members (parents, teachers, admin) to know about possible adaptations that technology can afford, so they can meet this expectation that assistive technology “be considered.” If you or other teachers don’t know about the possibilities, how can you consider them, right?

508 Compliant Websites

The first thing you should think of is that any website you use as part of your instruction, should probably be accessible to all your students.  While this is important for schools, it is something that is required by law for any public facing government websites. Here is an intro to the basics of 508 compliance, which is the relevant law.

But… but… maybe it might be better to assist the learning of ALL students. Just like curb cuts are in sidewalks primarily for wheelchairs, can’t we all use them… as we roll strollers, wheel our luggage and ride of bikes? Well the same goes for technology in the classroom. The Treasure Hunt features links to UDL sites, suggesting any technology that can help one student, may actually assist the learning of ALL students from time to time. Consider podcast recordings of classroom presentations, done for an absent student, but available for review by all students. This is called Universal Design for Learning (UDL).  Here’s a quote:

“It is more efficient and cost effective to consider and address the diverse range of user needs during the design process, rather than as an adaptation after the fact” (L. Schleff, Western Washington University).

Using Accessible Websites

There are efforts to encourage all websites to do things to enable all learners/users to be able to acquire understandable content from the web. ARIA is one such effort as is the government’s requirement that at least public government sites be compliant with 508 standards. There are efforts for products to voluntarily adhere to standards, VPAT. We will check some your favorite sites for compliance as part of this module’s activities.

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework

visually impaired girl using cane at a curb cut

Most would think that using technology for assistive purposes is just for identified special ed students. But it is not!  There is a different philosophy called Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to consider. In this framework, educational technologies can assist regular education students just as they do special needs students. Just as this curb cut helps people in wheel chairs, but also helps YOU when you are riding a bike, or dragging along a suit case, tools used to help students listen and see better, can help all your regular ed students too. So even students who just need a little help or even just increased convenience can benefit when you wisely integrate technology into your classroom activities.

The framework for considering how assistive technology might be wisely used to help all students is Universal Design for Learning (or UDL).

3 main UDL principles

As detailed in the National Center for UDL website, the 3 main principles of UDL are

  • provide multiple means of Engagement
  • provide multiple means of Representation of content (and presentation)
  • provide multiple means of Action and Expression (in class and for all assignments)

Remember, these principles may be needed by some students, but likely they can benefit all students. So why not just do it for all students? Right?

Here are links to the demonstration of multiple presentation modes:

Tools to support the Module Discussion challenge on assistive apps and tools for classroom learning:

Enduring Understanding- Student Learning Outcome from this module

This module introduces the ideas of Assistive Technology and a UDL. approach to using technology in your classroom 

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