Accessing support:

• Designations
• pyschoeducational and other assessments- waitlists & delays
• personal story

Common challenges

• Lack of Access: Families may not have devices or reliable internet; schools may lack funding.
• Lack of Support: Families or teachers may feel unprepared or overwhelmed.
• Resistance to Change: Hesitation from stakeholders due to unfamiliarity or skepticism.
• Privacy Concerns: Worries about data security.
• Technology as a Distraction: Perceptions of misuse, including cell phone debates.

Some solutions

• Advocate for funding, loaner programs, and grants.
• Include assistive technlogy in IEPs.
• Provide training for families and teachers, and ongoing support.
• Use tools that promote independence and fit IEP goals.
• Ensure compliance with privacy laws.
• Write assistive cell phone use into IEPs for clarity.
• Normalize assistive tech and make accessible to all.

1.Opportunities:
 Bridges gaps in learning, communication, and independence. Tools like AI, gamified apps, and assistive tech offer exciting possibilities.
 2.Concerns:
 Privacy, data safety, and bias in technology design. Balancing reliance on tech with meaningful interaction.
Digital divide and capacity at home.
 
3.Parent-Teacher Collaboration:
 Build confidence through clear communication and guidance.
Share tools, explain their purpose, and address questions.
Advocate for equitable access.
 Key Question:
 How can we ensure technology becomes a bridge to equity and opportunity?

Ableism

Ableism: Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. It essentially they need to be “fixed”. Often assumed as less worthy of respect consideration

Some examples

• Is the student “disabled enough”?
• Assuming the goal is to be independent of the use of technology
• Negative perceptions from other students and adults. “Its not fair”

exclusion tracker- Students with designations are being excluded from school and therefore do not have equitable access to an education.

IEP

IEPs- A written educational plan for special education students designed to describe programming modifications and/or adaptations and to indicate specific services provided.created through a collaborative process involving school staff, parents, and the student (when appropriate).

Other tools in your toolbox

What can we do with AI?

• Create an alphabet out of something -“GENTYPE”
• Create images based on prompts (text-image) -“Chat GPT”
• Make a podcast – “Notebook LM”

• Doc revision history: tool being used more to check for AI. Note: AI detectors can be faulty
• Revise writing
• ‘+ much more!’+ much more!

One AI model that I am Familiar with is Chat GPT. Chat GPT is “a large language model chatbot, developed by OpenAI, that uses natural language processing to generate human-like conversational dialogue”. (Guess how I found the explanation of chat gpt. I put it into google and it gave me an “AI overview” answer). I remember the first time I heard about chat. I was in an econ class and my classmate said ” I used this website and told it the criteria for our essay and it wrote it for me”. My mind was blown…How could you create a paper in seconds that normally would take hours?

Artificial intelligence is changing the way we do work. In fact, I was tempted just now to ask chat gpt to help me describe what AI is doing to change the way we function. How ironic, oh boy.

The truth is AI isn’t going away so we cant just ignore it. If we are using I think responsibility and education on it are so important. We also may need to change the way we teach, shifting from a product focused system to a system that concentrate on the process of learning. This is already happening somewhat in many schools but I think this wave of shifting the way we teach is going to continue.

This week’s class was on using and creating digital video resources.

See link to Michael’s class notes here

Photo by Sirisvisual on Unsplash

What kind of tools can we use?

• Khan academy (screen cast) 
• Time lapses!
• Slo mo
• GIF
• Can embed video from specific place 

In a presentation, by Rich McCue, we learned to edit videos! He taught about videography and things to concider like:

• Stabilizing tool like a tripod
• external mic or audio recorder 
• be aware of noise and wind
• don’t zoom or pan too much 
• be aware of background 
• get more footage than you need
• green screen 

We used the following links to create our own short clip.

Video editing basic guide for clipchamp

Link for info on IMovie & Clipchamp

In class on January 28th, we were taught about Multimedia learning! This concept explores the idea that “People can learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone” (Mayer, 2009, p. 189). In class, we discussed how our brain processes information visually and auditorily so multimedia can help learners understand concepts. For this reason, multimedia is super useful in the world of teaching!

What is Multimedia?

“Multimedia refers to the integration of various forms of media, such as text, graphics, audio, video, and animation, in a digital format. It involves the combination of different elements to create interactive and dynamic content that engages the senses” Levono, 2025

At the end of class we were given time to experiment and I worked on Powerpoint with the “Smart Art” tool to create a lifecycle of the coconut chart. I could even add to this by attaching images of coconuts at each stage!

In class on Tuesday, January 21st, we had Jesse Miller come present to us and he shared a lot of important information including the following:

• Social media has changed how we broadcast our lives and has added a layer to our discourse, information sharing, and literacies. Sources spread quickly and we can see information from anyone.
• Social media and associated content gives us a version of events but not the complete picture. When interacting with/viewing information online, use critical thinking skills and consider where info is coming from.
• Everything on the internet has a product & byproduct. Did you know that when we click security boxes (click all boxes with storefronts, street signs, stop signs, cars, etc) it trains an algorithm? Well, that algorithm gets fed to self-driving cars…super cool!
• School Expectations and the Employer. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES do you take a student’s direct contact information that is not parental. In an emergency situation, like a student is missing, perhaps ask if another student who has their number can contact them directly
• Social media usage by educators has three potential audiences.1Staff,2public/parents,3students. Be aware of this!
• Do not use district/work technology for personal use. Anything the technology accesses, websites etc, can be tracked. Same goes for what websites are accessed using the school’s/businesses wifi.
• Teachers have a legal reporting responsibility. If you see a student in a bar, or on a dating website, or somewhere they are not supposed to be, you are required to report to the bartender/principal. That student may need support and not always advisable to just immediately contact parents.
• Digital consent. Seek agreement before taking photos/videos
• Resource: How to challenge people without being a jerk https://www.fearlessculture.design/blog-posts/radical-candor-how-to-challenge-people-without-being-a-jerk#:~:text=Radical%20Candor%20means%20challenging%20people,to%20hurt%20the%20person%20either

In today’s highly digital world, where social media plays a significant role, discussions like the one by Jesse are more important than ever!