Week 9

This week, we focused on accessibility. 

We started off the class by watching two videos on accessibility for technology, viewing from the persepctive of both teachers and students.  

We then looked into ARC-BC and SET BC, and resources they offer. 

ARC-BC offers adaptations to students with disabilities, such as audio textbooks and novels, to make learning more accessible, 

SET BC is a provincial outreach program that provides schools with supports such as services and technology for students with complex needs.  

We then did a Padlet activity, where our breakout rooms were sent to research ARC-BC, SET BC, and our practicum districts services for inclusion supports. Our breakout room research SD63, however, my practicum is in SD61, so I looked at other Padlet responses for information. SD 61 has school-based teams at each school, as well as district speech pathologists, physiotherapists, and educational psychologists, which are good resources to have. Becoming an Education Psychologist is actually one of my end goals, so I am excited to work alongside many! 

In my time completing K-12 education, I don’t remember many adaptive technologies being used in the classroom. We had one student who had hearing difficulties, so our teachers would wear a microphone attached to the speaker and his hearing aids. We had many students who would move from the Philippines, but they often spent alot of time with the Learning Resource Teacher, who was often acting as an LRT and an English as a second language speaker. We got many students from Ukraine when I was in high school, however they spent a lot of time with the English as a Second Language teacher, so I never seen how they interacted there. When they were in my classes, they often used Google Translate, or had enough English by that point where they did not need the extra supports in place.