Adaptive Technologies for the Inclusive Classroom

This course is the eighth in a series of 11 courses in the in the sequence of courses. This course focuses on scaffolding students with special needs using digital texts and tools. In this class there is a strong focus on special needs instruction and opportunities to support all learners. There is also a focus on scaffolding all students as they read and write in online spaces. Finally, the course includes a grant writing project that provides students with the start of a skill-set needed when finding and applying for grants.

Course Description

The course is designed to provide educators with an understanding of how to use technology as a seamless part of the teaching and learning experience for students with disabilities in inclusive settings. Two main purposes for students with disabilities will be emphasized. Teachers will learn how to provide access to the curriculum for students with disabilities by using the principles of Universal Design for Learning as a framework for curriculum design. They will learn how to utilize technology to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities in order for them to attain maximum independence and participation in all environments.

Core Objectives

1. Students will create and implement appropriate adaptive technologies in the K-12 classroom to support ALL students.
2. Students will select and evaluate adaptive technological tools that can be used to support ALL learners in the K-12 classroom.
3. Students will describe how adaptive technologies can be used to assist and scaffold individuals with learning disabilities.
4. Students will construct and utilize ICT tools and other computer based programs to analyze and represent data on student progress.
5. Students will design a web page to share information on student progress with parents.
6. Students will develop plans for describing how adaptive technologies can be used to support student learning with parents, teachers, and administrators.
7. Students will describe how adaptive technologies can be used to support students with learning disabilities, developmental delays, emotional/behavioral disorders, visual impairments, hearing impairments, and physical disabilities.
8. Students will identify potential funding sources for adaptive technologies and instructional technologies.

Essential Questions

• What are the needs of students that would ultimately need the use of adaptive technologies, and which products and services would be suit these needs?
• What procedures are appropriate in assisting an individual with these tools, and what formal and informal assessment procedures should be implemented to ensure achieved response?
• What information should be included in a detailed clinical prescription of adaptive technologies, or reporting of the results to parents, teachers, and administrators?

The full version of the syllabus is embedded below. This version of the syllabus is an artifact and does not contain all of the edits and revisions to the syllabus we use each semester for the class.

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