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
Reflection
The Assistive Technology Implementation Plan describes the context in which I individually worked with a student using the Starfall website to assist with reading. The website was accessed through a school laptop, and the tasks included phonics support and use of pictures to aid comprehension. As the learning opportunities were explored online, my guidance reinforced learning needs and expanded upon the student’s preferred learning modality. Within the Starfall website, the student worked through Level 2 – Learn to Read, specifically vowel sounds, chunking and making words, advancing to Level 3 – It’s Fun to Read, which involved putting words together to make short sentences, using picture for context clues. Access to the website was free, and I secured the laptop, previewed the website, and reviewed the learning tasks in Starfall prior to each work session. Although the learning tasks were implemented individually by me, the parent was also made aware of the website and games being used, as well as the specific learning goals for the student. The IEP goal was reading on grade level, with monitoring for and evaluation of word recognition, sentence flow, phonics use, pictures as clues to comprehension, and understanding of vowel sounds, consonant blends, and chunking. The instructional strategies I used with the student were use of the “Who Am I?” game to read questions, sounding out words based on patterns, matching words using pictures based on a theme, and the “Learn to Read” game which required matching letters to sounds. Monitoring and evaluation took place using a data recording sheet, and home implementation included use of Starfall to continue with word recognition and reading sentences.
This artifact demonstrates my ability to facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies to support individual student learning needs. As part of the Assistive Technology Implementation Plan, I acquired the equipment and software necessary for implementation, and identified the tasks that the equipment would support, which I was individually responsible for. I used instructional strategies to facilitate use of the adaptive and assistive technology through the Starfall website. These strategies included demonstration of games that involved sounding out words, recognizing patterns, matching words and pictures, and matching letters to sounds. In addition to the facilitation of the website, I also worked one-on-one with the student in actual use of the laptop and how to navigate the actual site with the arrow buttons and mousepad. In facilitating this technology, it also allowed me to identify the student’s needs as student progressed through the levels, so that I could have the student repeat games or move forward to one that would address an additional learning target. This use of adaptive and assistive technology also helped the student recognize her own needs and how those needs were being met through the activities in the website, which provided increased student engagement and confidence.
From completing this artifact, I learned how to work through the Assistive Technology Consideration guide to determine the task and supporting strategies that could be used to help a struggling student. I also learned how to navigate the Starfall website to provide the most effective learning opportunities to support a learning goal. To improve the process involved in creating this artifact, I would work on the analyzation, evaluation, and interpretation of the results, possibly adding a reading teacher to the implementation team as support.
The work that went into creating this artifact impacted faculty development in that as a teacher, I am more equipped to develop and implement assistive technology for a specific need. Although the intervention was for reading and I am an art teacher, it was beneficial to practice use of the website and consideration tool, in an effort to understand students’ academic needs and how to meet those. Student learning was impacted in that the student’s level of engagement with reading tasks and confidence in reading abilities increased as she moved through the levels of the website. These impacts can be assessed through continued evaluation of the students’ reading abilities compared to the initial needs of the student. Improved reading and comprehension scores would mean that this artifact had a positive impact upon faculty and student alike.
The Assistive Technology Implementation Plan describes the context in which I individually worked with a student using the Starfall website to assist with reading. The website was accessed through a school laptop, and the tasks included phonics support and use of pictures to aid comprehension. As the learning opportunities were explored online, my guidance reinforced learning needs and expanded upon the student’s preferred learning modality. Within the Starfall website, the student worked through Level 2 – Learn to Read, specifically vowel sounds, chunking and making words, advancing to Level 3 – It’s Fun to Read, which involved putting words together to make short sentences, using picture for context clues. Access to the website was free, and I secured the laptop, previewed the website, and reviewed the learning tasks in Starfall prior to each work session. Although the learning tasks were implemented individually by me, the parent was also made aware of the website and games being used, as well as the specific learning goals for the student. The IEP goal was reading on grade level, with monitoring for and evaluation of word recognition, sentence flow, phonics use, pictures as clues to comprehension, and understanding of vowel sounds, consonant blends, and chunking. The instructional strategies I used with the student were use of the “Who Am I?” game to read questions, sounding out words based on patterns, matching words using pictures based on a theme, and the “Learn to Read” game which required matching letters to sounds. Monitoring and evaluation took place using a data recording sheet, and home implementation included use of Starfall to continue with word recognition and reading sentences.
This artifact demonstrates my ability to facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies to support individual student learning needs. As part of the Assistive Technology Implementation Plan, I acquired the equipment and software necessary for implementation, and identified the tasks that the equipment would support, which I was individually responsible for. I used instructional strategies to facilitate use of the adaptive and assistive technology through the Starfall website. These strategies included demonstration of games that involved sounding out words, recognizing patterns, matching words and pictures, and matching letters to sounds. In addition to the facilitation of the website, I also worked one-on-one with the student in actual use of the laptop and how to navigate the actual site with the arrow buttons and mousepad. In facilitating this technology, it also allowed me to identify the student’s needs as student progressed through the levels, so that I could have the student repeat games or move forward to one that would address an additional learning target. This use of adaptive and assistive technology also helped the student recognize her own needs and how those needs were being met through the activities in the website, which provided increased student engagement and confidence.
From completing this artifact, I learned how to work through the Assistive Technology Consideration guide to determine the task and supporting strategies that could be used to help a struggling student. I also learned how to navigate the Starfall website to provide the most effective learning opportunities to support a learning goal. To improve the process involved in creating this artifact, I would work on the analyzation, evaluation, and interpretation of the results, possibly adding a reading teacher to the implementation team as support.
The work that went into creating this artifact impacted faculty development in that as a teacher, I am more equipped to develop and implement assistive technology for a specific need. Although the intervention was for reading and I am an art teacher, it was beneficial to practice use of the website and consideration tool, in an effort to understand students’ academic needs and how to meet those. Student learning was impacted in that the student’s level of engagement with reading tasks and confidence in reading abilities increased as she moved through the levels of the website. These impacts can be assessed through continued evaluation of the students’ reading abilities compared to the initial needs of the student. Improved reading and comprehension scores would mean that this artifact had a positive impact upon faculty and student alike.