The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education is rapidly gaining momentum and has the potential to revolutionize the way teachers and educational professionals guide student learning. While the critical presence of teachers is undoubtedly irreplaceable, AI is set to bring about significant changes to the roles and responsibilities of educators, as well as to educational best practices. From providing personalized learning experiences to automating administrative tasks and grading, AI has the potential to greatly assist educators in their efforts to educate the next generation.
Social media has made access to the voices of differently able individuals readily available, and they are constantly discussing perspectives and events that affect their lives. Open discussions about current issues may help pre-service teachers gain confidence in having difficult conversations about and with the students they serve.
Data-based decision making (DBDM) is the process by which professionals collect, graph, and analyze observational data to inform instructional decisions. With some modifications, Google Workspace may be a practical alternative to support DBDM for special education professionals.
Student choice is an important aspect of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which is often hard to provide when you are trying to find resources that relate to your course goals. If you want all your students to receive the same background information, how can you give choice?
Teacher educators can guide preservice teachers through the connection between learner variability and instructional design decisions. “Look at how different your profiles appear from one another- what could I do as your professor with this in mind?”
Within CIDDL, there are many resources that may help you provide background knowledge to your students in courses studying Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Assistive Technology (AT), Educational Technology, and overall integration of technology into classrooms.
Bringing student voice into the professional preparation classroom starts with simply offering the opportunity to share. Provides a means to gather thoughts from your students about what they have experienced in their lives growing up with technology, their lives as learners, and even their early lives as pre-service professionals.
Whether or not your class is scheduled to be in person, we can expect the need for students to be away. These class settings, with on-site and online students learning together synchronously, are called “mixed presence” settings.
In our latest webinar, Dr. Tara Courchaine facilitates a conversation with three state and district leaders regarding both what special educators should know about technology as it relates to their future classrooms, and what questions they should ask their school sites to ensure they are a good match.
One technology that has shown potential for creating safe spaces for teaching/practicing O&M skills is virtual reality (VR). According to Thevin and colleagues (2020), VR systems create immersive, interactive environments that provide students the opportunity for trial and error . Besides visual feedback, VR systems can provide both haptic and auditory information for the benefit of individuals who are blind or low vision.
We, as a national center, aim to develop, research, and use the design that promotes the positive impact of educational technology in special education, early intervention, and related services. Check out this post to read more about Design within the CIDDL framework.