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Virginia Society for Technology in Education

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Be An Accessibility “a11y” This School Year

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Possible and accessible symbol. Businessman turns wooden cubes and changes the word possible to accessible. Business and possible or accessible concept. Beautiful white background, copy space.

As you return to the classroom this new school year, it’s a great time to think about how technology can not only make your instruction more engaging and dynamic, but how it can make learning more accessible for the students that you serve who have disabilities.  Being an accessibility “a11y” (the shorthand, “cool” way to abbreviate “accessibility” also aligned with ISTE standard 2.2b, being an advocate for equitable access) can be a positive impact both on student outcomes, but also teacher productivity and efficiency.

It is common in classrooms today for there to be two types of technology present that can support students with disabilities.  The first is embedded in the laptops, chromebooks, and tablet devices used by all students.  The operating systems of each of these devices have accessibility settings that can make content displayed on them more accessible to students with disabilities through features such as visual magnification, hearing aid integration, touch/typing accommodations, text-to-speech/speech-to-text, and more!  No additional software download required.  In fact, accessibility features have become so common in educational technology, that both the 2024 National Educational Technology Plan (see below), as well as Virginia’s 2024-2029 Educational Technology Plan (also see below), explicitly incorporate the use of these features into the expectations for how schools will use instructional technology to support students with disabilities.

The second type of technology present in many classrooms for supporting students with disabilities is assistive technology (commonly referred to as “AT”).  Assistive technologies can range from simple light-tech devices to high-tech computer programs, alternative communication devices, and physical supports.  The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines assistive technology as “is any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities”.  Meaning, what makes something assistive technology is less about “what it is” and is more about “what it does”.  Assistive technology also differs from instructional technology in that a student’s IEP team has specifically identified this tool as a support them in an area impacted by their disability.  Teachers learning to adapt there instruction in ways that can incorporate a student’s use of assistive technology aligns nicely with ISTE’s standard 2.5a as well, focusing on accommodation learner differences.   The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs has recently released new guidance around the provision of assistive technology in schools (linked below) that can be supportive of new and experienced teacher providing AT support.

For support in considering, assessing for, and/or trialing assistive technology with your students or incorporating accessible instructional technology into your classrooms, please contact your regional Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC) or visit atnetwork.ttaconline.org.  We’d also invite you to save the date for Virginia’s assistive and accessible educational technology conference “TechKnowledgy” coming to James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia for November 18-20, 2024.

 

Explore

Title:  Virginia’s Assistive Technology Network Website and Resources

Check out the Virtual AT Lab and the “How Do I?” pages to find quick ways to explore AT.

Title: Asynchronous Virtual Virginia Course - Virginia Assistive Technology, Tools, and Strategies (VATTS): Consideration Guide and Resources 2023-2024

This course will guide you through the steps to completing the Virginia Assistive Technology, Tools, and Strategies Consideration Guide. Upon successful completion, a certificate worth 1 hour of professional learning will be awarded.  

 

Read

Title: National Ed Tech Plan

Title: Virginia Ed Tech Plan 2024-29

Title: OSEP AT Guidance

Title: AT Tools in Schools Booklet

Listen

Title:  Accessible Learning Experience Podcast (From CAST)

Title: Think Inclusive Podcast

Title: Inclusion Stories

 

Watch

Title:  Sharon Jones from the Virginia AT Network Introduces the new OSEP AT Guidance

Title: Quick Live Captioning

Live captioning is not just for students with hearing impairments! Enhance reading comprehension and support literacy development with multisensory learning for hearing and seeing the words paired together. 

 

Library Recommendation

*Check out your TTAC Lending Library for these! 

Title: Inclusive Learning 365

Title: The New Assistive Tech, Making Learning Awesome for All!

Common Sense Education Resource Share – July 2024

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An image of students working on laptops in a classroom. A Common Sense Education text overlay appears in the top right of the graphic."Common Sense is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to helping all kids thrive in a world of media and technology. They support pre-K–12 schools with lesson plans, edtech reviews, family resources, and everything else students need to thrive in a connected world." Below is a custom set of resources pulled from this month's newest updates! Check them out via the links and explore even more at www.commonsense.org/education. VSTE is proud to partner with Common Sense Education.

For Teachers:

For Parents & Caregivers:

 

All Resources via Common Sense Education

All VSTE Posts of Common Sense Education Resources

#ThankATeacher

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Written by VSTE Board member, Chanel Alford, chanelalford@vste.org, @cjamc80

When I was a child, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. As I grew older, I thought I would become a dentist. I soon realized that I did not like needles or blood, so that thought was quickly quelled. However, something was brewing in my parents’ backyard. Each afternoon, I would stand at the fence and play “school” with my neighbors. I would assist them with improving their math skills and help them with reading and grammar, which were my personal favorites. I began wondering if teaching was something I would like to pursue.

My first experience with a teacher was not a memorable one. My kindergarten teacher recognized that I had a speech impediment, and tried to separate me from the rest of my classmates with the belief that this somehow affected my cognitive abilities. My parents quickly stepped in and required that they test me. In astonishment, they discovered that I read on the fifth grade level. After this occurred, I was assigned to special teachers who would remove me from my classes throughout the day. We would read advanced books together, and I was enrolled in the S.P.A.C.E program with older students. As I think back, the experience with my kindergarten teacher was not a setback; I thank her for helping to propel me to where I was supposed to be academically.

For the remainder of my K-12 academic years, I was placed in additional classes in which I was challenged, but I am not sure that I always put forth my best effort. In high school, I met Mrs. Caperton, to whom I was assigned for Accelerated 12th grade and 13AP English classes. I can clearly remember Mrs. Caperton stating the following to my mom: “Chanel is possibly the brightest student in my class, but she has a grade of “B” because she is lazy”. I was appalled! However, I will share a secret with you all: I received a grade of “A” in English until I graduated from high school, and this continued throughout college. Yet another teacher had encouraged me to do my best. I also spent time volunteering in a classroom throughout my junior and senior years of high school to earn community service hours for my school’s Life Science Honors Program. The teacher was fresh out of college and was one of the most innovative I had ever seen. She encouraged teamwork through group activities, and had fun methods of learning math and science. I would like to thank this teacher, who happens to be my older sister, Carleen Alford, for inspiring me to be caring, fun, and excited about education.

As I salute the final teacher who impacted my life, I would like to note that she never served as my actual teacher, but I learned a great deal from her. Mrs. Hampton was my department chair at the high school where I taught Marketing and Fashion for seven years. On her final day of teaching, after spending forty-two years in the same school and classroom, she walked across the hall to my room and decided to spend the majority of that day with me. I was perplexed. She could have spent that day anywhere in the building. She asked for help with technology, and then stated, “I am spending the day with you because you are an excellent teacher, but you are in the wrong job”. She continued to discuss my technology skills with me, and we began discussing instructional technology. The next year, I left my teaching position, and I was quickly employed as an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (ITRT). It has been one of the best decisions of my life, and I thank Ms. Hampton for seeing a capability in me that I never would have.

Since becoming an ITRT, I have been able to train and assist students and teachers while doing something that I love each day. I have even won a national award for my work. However, what I cherish the most are the relationships I have cultivated. I have spent the last six years in a school district where I am now called a Technology Integration Specialist (TIS). I wake up every day to a new adventure, and I get to solve problems and help others. My supervisor, along with our CTO, completely support me in all my endeavors and are very encouraging. I also work with brilliant and fun TIS team members. I am sure you have guessed it already, but everyone I mentioned is also a former teacher!

So fellow educators, I will assign you a task as this blog reaches its culmination. Please close your eyes and take a moment to think of your favorite teachers. Then thank them for all they have done. #ThankATeacher

 

 

 

Activating the ActiVAtED Learning Podcast

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Written by Tom Landon, the Director of Educational Innovation at Blue Ridge PBS

Facebook, Instagram, YouTube

When I was a kid I thought one day I’d like to be a disk jockey at a radio station, but after graduating with a degree in telecommunications and getting my first job working the console from midnight to six a.m. at KFMU, an album rock station in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, I soon realized that the job was a lot less glamorous than I’d envisioned. It was a lot less like being Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati than I hoped (If you know, you know, and if you don’t, find an old episode of the show and watch it!) For one, it was pretty lonely sitting in a small soundproof room every night playing songs for the folks stocking shelves overnight at the Safeway, so I pivoted to video production, moving to Roanoke to work for a TV station and then an independent production company where I got to travel regularly, mostly producing ads and marketing videos for industrial clients, car dealers, and even cosmetic surgeons.

When that  company failed, and with the encouragement of my smart wife, I settled on teaching and went back to school to become a social studies teacher. It was the dawn of the computer age in education, and I quickly realized that my technical background was a huge benefit in the classroom. Since then I’ve had a varied career, working in education and media production. In 2021 I left Virtual Virginia where I’d been the Director of Instruction and returned to Blue Ridge PBS, where I’d had a summer internship in 1985 and been a K-12 Specialist from 2000-2007. My current job is a blend of production and education work, which is a perfect fit.

Last year I was part of a team from VSTE and VDOE that was tasked with creating a new podcast designed to put a spotlight on innovative uses of instructional technology while also elevating the profession of teaching. We spent several months deciding what we wanted the podcast to be, and in early December we recorded the first episode at the annual VSTE conference in Roanoke where we interviewed Blended Learning guru Dr. Catlin Tucker in front of more than a hundred attendees, and spent time recording short interviews with other folks in attendance. I can honestly say it’s been some of the most rewarding work of my career, and I’ve come to love the simplicity and intimacy that podcasts provide versus the complex nature of video production.

I had a lot of fun assembling a mobile podcast kit that holds an audio recorder, 4 microphones, mic stands, cables, and power cords. Because I work for a television station, I was able to source a lot of it from equipment at hand. It’s a little heavier than I’d like, and I’ll be making some modifications before we start on our second season, but overall it worked well.

This morning I edited the last episode of our 12 episode season. To record it I visited Suffolk Public Schools, where they host the SEAL Challenge, a collaboration with Penn State that allows kids to choose between submersible and land based robots and aerial drones to complete a highly complex task. The episode is emblematic of the series, which has featured award winning teachers, librarians who delivered books to students during the COVID summer using drones, a trailer converted to high tech lab in Washington County, and an ITRT who set up two Virtual Reality Labs in Bristol. Each episode is available by video on ECHO, a streaming channel of Blue ridge PBS focused on Education, Community, Health and Opportunity, as well as on the major podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Spotify.

So what did I learn this year? For one, that I missed the camaraderie and collaboration that comes with production work. The ActiVAtED Learning team provided great topics and guests and also gave me valuable feedback. I learned a ton of new technical skills. The podcast is recorded using a video camera synchronized to a 6 channel digital audio recorder. I edited the first season using Apple’s Final Cut Pro, but a coworker has convinced me to switch to a new application called Adobe Podcast for next year, so that’ll be another chance to build my technical skills. But probably the most important thing I learned was that I still love getting out of the office and meeting great educators. Now more than ever, teaching is hard, so I hope that ActiVAtED Learning accomplishes our goal of encouraging teachers not to give up - to look for new ways to stretch their brains and build their skillsets.


If you haven’t yet listened to ActiVAtED Learning,  give it a listen and if you like it, please follow and review at least one episode. You can find all of the shows by going on our website at https://www.blueridgepbs.org/educational-resources/activated-learning/

If you’ve got an idea for an episode for season 2 or questions about the production process, drop me a line at activatedlearning@blueridgepbs.org. Happy listening!

VSTE Professional Services Coordinator Announced

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Patrick Hausammann picturePatrick Hausammann is a perpetual optimist and believer in the power of a growth mindset to fail forward approach en route to creativity and innovation. Most fittingly, he will now take the helm of VSTE Professional Services as the professional services coordinator.

Patrick works as the Supervisor of Instructional Technology & as an ITRT with Clarke County Public Schools. Patrick serves on the VSTE Board as the Treasurer and VSTE’s Digital Resources Manager. 

VSTE professional services operate to meet the professional development needs and desire for lifelong learning of school divisions and individuals throughout the state.  The Professional Services Coordinator (PSC) will lead this outreach and education component of VSTE by coordinating Professional Services, overseeing the maintenance of the consultant database, coordinating booking and logistics of client engagements, marketing the services offered, and collaborating with the VSTE Board and the VSTE Certified Coach Coordinator. The VSTE PSC is a contracted consultant to the VSTE Board and serves the VSTE membership.

Welcome Patrick to your new role with VSTE!