Month: January 2016

#ATIA16 – Learn, Share & Connect

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It is upon us again – ATIA! So excited for a full week of learning, sharing and reconnecting with AT friends (and connecting with friends to-be) at the annual Assistive Technology Industry Association conference in Orlando, FL.

I was reading my ATIA blog post from 2014 and saw some parallels. In 2014, I was digging out of 12 inches of snow – this week, I was digging out of 2 feet of snow! Between that post and today, I started my own consulting company and experienced some of the most rewarding work of my AT career. Now more than ever, I need the three Rs I mentioned in the original post:

Renew, Reflect, and Recharge

I am looking forward to renewing friendships with people I only get to see one or two times a year. Now in the age of Twitter (and especially #ATchat), we are able to easily talk with each other to share ideas. But actually being in the same physical space and getting to talk face to face is so powerful – and actually that is my favorite part of the conference experience.

One big change from 2014 to this year – our 2nd Annual edcampAccess International unconference! This is the way I recharge.

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edcampAccess International 2015 group discussion about future of AT profession

Built on principles of connected and participatory learning, Edcamp strives to bring teachers together to talk about the things that matter most to them: their interests, passions, and questions. This year – we have edcamp after dark. Our sessions will happen Friday night – allowing participants to experience the conference during the day then meet at edcamp to find ways to implement the new strategies and tools.

Last year’s event was amazing. A dedicated group of professionals stayed AFTER the conference ended on Saturday afternoon to share ideas and talk about providing tech supports to individuals with disabilities. I was proud to be part of that group and the meaningful conversations that flowed that day.

We have over 150 participants (from several different countries!) already registered and expect more once we are on-site. There is still time to get your FREE ticket. Visit our Eventbrite page and register.

Follow our hashtag to experience all the learning and sharing #edcampXs16

Make the most of your conference experience!

These tips were from my 2014 post, but they still resonate today.

Some quick tips to make it through the conference:

  • You can’t go to every session! Don’t even try. You will end up sitting it a corner of the conference center muttering to yourself about apps, iPads, Chromebooks and other things we won’t be able to make out.
  • Prioritize sessions you are interested in. If you came with a co-worker – split up and cover more ground. Even though it is fun to experience the sessions together – this strategy will let you take more from the conference.
  • Download the conference app and plan your time – atia.org/mobile
  • Make new connections – sit with someone new at lunch, strike up a conversation before a session starts. The connections you make at this year’s conference may provide you help somewhere down the road.
  • Most importantly – Breathe! Take a minute to step outside and get some fresh air.

Don’t forget – you don’t need to be in Orlando to share in the learning. Follow the conference on Twitter to learn & share.

#ATIA16

See you in Orlando!

Genius Hour Comes to Technology Beyond the Classroom with Book Creator

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I have been working on a project called Technology Beyond the Classroom since last summer. The project, originally funded by the Assistive Technology Advocacy Center at Disability Rights New Jersey, focuses on working with transition age students with disabilities – age 18-25. IMG_0330

The goal of the program is to provide training to ensure that the program participants can use technology (specifically smartphones and tablets) to increase independence in the areas of community living, post secondary education and employment. The original class was six weeks long and focused mostly on the basics of using mobile devices:

  • Built in apps and their uses: Calendar, Reminders, Settings, Safari, Camera….just to name a few.
  • Accessibility features – especially Text to Speech. Many of the participants weren’t strong readers so listening to text was HUGE!

In addition to learning the apps, we spent time focused on issu514vs2j4vul-_sy344_bo1204203200_es around Digital Citizenship. Many of the students use various social media tools (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) but hadn’t had training to ensure personal safety online.

My project partner, The Arc of Monmouth, has continued the program for the consumers even after the original project was completed. Last week, we started our Winter session which has expanded to 10 weeks. I was looking to add another component to the course that we hadn’t had time for in the past: Genius Hour!

Never heard of Genius Hour?? Genius hour is participant driven learning. What are you passionate about? What do you want to learn? How do you want to change the world? Whatever the topic, the goal of Genius Hour is to develop higher level thinking skills and inspire creativity. Participants work alone, in small groups, and hopefully, with community based mentors to complete their projects. In keeping with the focus of our Technology Beyond the Classroom agenda, the final projects for the Genius Hour will allow participants to use their mobile devices and more specifically, the Book Creator app, to create an engaging, electronic book to highlight their work.

So we met during week one of class to begin the brainstorming for our project ideas. The interesting thing that struck me was the feeling that the participants had never been in charge of their20160112_082809 learning. I asked them, “What do you want to learn about?” and it took some time and some prompting to start the brainstorming going. But once it started, it didn’t disappoint!

Some ideas were just things they like: dogs, bake cookies, Madden 16. Other ideas were well thought out: How to be a personal trainer? How to do a gel manicure? Not to mention my personal favorite from Jason: How to get six pack abs?

Now that we have developed some ideas, we are moving on to the next step. Researching our topics and connecting with community based mentors for collaboration. This should be a very excited project and I will keep everyone posted on our successes.

Want some additional Genius Hour resources? Check out this amazing page from Cybraryman.