Standard 3.

During ITEC 7445 candidates were required to complete and Assistive

Technology Module and include it as a field experience to be logged. My
field experience was completed with a student in my 9th grade Language
Arts Class. The student was served with accommodations through
Special Education services. One of my roles as the Special Education
teacher in the co-taught class setting was to be sure all my students that
were supposed to receive accommodations were having their needs
met. Through various formal and informal meetings, Assistive
Technology was determined for the student and I implemented and
evaluated the tool to determine if it was effective and beneficial to the
students learning. The artifact describes the experience, what the plan
was for the student and the steps included in the evaluation process.
The artifact demonstrates my mastery of PSC Standard 3.4 as it shows
my ability to facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies to
support individual student learning needs. During the field experience I
had to chose a student to evaluate and determine if assistive technology
was needed, what types, and when they should be used. The student
had his annual IEP meeting and with the language arts teacher, writing
specialist, the students case manager, students parent, and myself it
was determined that assistive technology was needed. The AT was
needed to help the student with writing since there was a difficulty in
hand-writing that the student demonstrated. The students IEP stated
that the students individual learning needs required technology to use
for writing that can accessed in every class. I proposed a word
processer such as a laptop that could be used in school and the plan
was put in place for the county school system to provide it. Soon after
the meeting the AT was provided and I facilitated the learning and skill
process involved for the student to understand the use of the laptop. I
demonstrated by showing the student how to access the programs
needed to write, what options to use for classes and a way to receive
technical help if I wasnt available and the issue was a small one. The
student grasped the technology quickly and the AT allowed him to
complete his work in a neat, organized and timely manner.
I learned that its important to remember that technology can help with
big things such as projects but also to make simple everyday tasks of
school less challenging for those with disabilities. I also learned that its
important for teachers that have students with disabilities to be very

involved in all the aspects of that students learning so that they can
make a good determination if AT is ever needed. I also learned that its
important to understand how certain online and computer tools operate
so that you can help teach students how to use them. You must be able
to teach a variety of students of different cognitive abilities and be
enthusiastic about doing it. Its important that the teacher encourage the
student to use the AT and have a good attitude about implementing it in
their classes. As a technology leader and teacher its important that the
knowledge about tools is shown in meetings so that the proper AT tools
are used to help a student. If I could have changed anything I would
have liked to implement other writing programs to help the student with
everyday writing assignments.
This field experience helped impact school improvement by helping
another student achieve their academic goals. It was essential for
faculty development because what was learned could be passed on and
taught to other teachers that have students with disabilities in their
classes. It helped with student learning because the student wasnt
stressed about if their writing would be clear for the teacher and peers
to read and let him focus on other important things. The impact can be
assessed through teacher/administrative observations, student/teacher
surveys, and student work.