1. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.15 | 1 Technology in the classroom: Integrating technology for diverse learners EDU 241: Educational Technology Daniel Moos, PhD

2. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.15 | 2 Standards to Guide Your Preparation ISTE NETSOTHER RELEVANT STANDARDS Teachers: use technology to support learner- centered strategies that address the diverse needs of students. apply technology resources to enable and empower learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities. Council on Exceptional Children (2002) Teachers should : –incorporate and implement instructional and assistive technology into the educational program. –provide a stimuli-rich indoor and outdoor environment that employs materials, media, and technology, including adaptive and assistive technology. Association for Childhood Education International Teacher candidates should: –create instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse students. –know and understand how children differ in their development. –know how to seek assistance and guidance from specialists and other resources to address students’ diverse learning needs.

3. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.15 | 3 Integrating Technology for Diverse Learners Technology can remove barriers. Technology has come to the forefront in the movement as a tool to meet the needs of all learners. –equal educational opportunities for students of many different ethnic groups, linguistic backgrounds, and social and geographical circumstances (Englert & Zhoa, 2001; Zorfass, 2001) By removing barriers to learning, technology can provide an avenue for diverse learners to accomplish many difficult tasks independently.

4. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.15 | 4 Multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the perspective that different ethnic groups should preserve their own culture while assimilating with the other cultures within a nation. –Contrasts older perspective a “melting pot,” (identity lost?) Most likely, your classroom will have students from multiple ethnic groups, for some of whom English may be a second or third language.

5. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.15 | 5 Table 15.1: Techniques for Approaching Diversity and Multiculturalism

6. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.15 | 6 Integrating Technology for Learners with Disabilities For learners with disabilities, technology can provide an avenue to accomplish many difficult tasks independently. Common areas of difficulty for learners with disabilities include: –organization and planning, –Reading and processing –understanding language (print or electronic), –writing and spelling –expressing ideas through language.

7. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.15 | 7 What Is Assistive Technology? According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004), an assistive technology device is “any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability.” IDEA also defines the term assistive technology service as “any service that directly assists an individual with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device.”

8. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.15 | 8 Figure 15.4: An Example of High-Tech Assistive Technology

9. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.15 | 9 Resources ePALS Classroom Exchange –http://www.epals.comhttp://www.epals.com Intercultural E-mail Classroom Connections (IECC) –http://www.iecc.orghttp://www.iecc.org Kids’ Space –http://www.kids-space.orghttp://www.kids-space.org The Access Center: Improving Outcomes for All Students K–8 –http://www.k8accesscenter.orghttp://www.k8accesscenter.org The Alliance for Technology Access –http://www.ataccess.orghttp://www.ataccess.org Assistive Technology Resource Bank –http://coefaculty.valdosta.edu/spe/ATRBhttp://coefaculty.valdosta.edu/spe/ATRB Videos of Integrating Assistive Technology into the Classroom –http://coefaculty.valdosta.edu/spe/ATRB/Video_Tips.ht mhttp://coefaculty.valdosta.edu/spe/ATRB/Video_Tips.ht m