Week 6 Blog
Essential
Question: What assistive or adaptive tools could be helpful as I create my
online courses?
There are
many tools that can be used to help students be more successful in online
courses. In general, these tools need not be used solely one in the online
course but it is best to use a multitude of these tools in the situations that
make learning more cohesive. For example, an online course would not reach many
learning styles of students if the only way that information is given and
processed is through text such as text books, articles, or reading off of the
website. A teacher can use multiple tools to make a well put together online
course that adheres to all learning styles and also has the multiple aspects of
constructivist, behaviorist, and cognitivist. The newer tools that a course
designer might use are social media, phones, virtual worlds, youtube, wiki, and
many more resources that provide collaboration between students. (Moore &
Kearsley, 2012)
When
creating and teaching courses in a traditional setting, it is easy to know or
figure out what assistive technology or tools are needed to reach all students.
This might mean wearing a microphone connected to speakers so that all students
can hear you, including the student who is hard of hearing. It might mean that
you provide larger print of homework for students who are visually impaired
(VI). A very close friend of mine, Kiira Devries, is a student at a school for
Message Therapy and also received her Associates Degree from the University of
Montana. Kiira was born blind and has been learning in a formal school setting
since the age of 16 (she was homeschooled before). Her experience began by
going to a school for the deaf and blind who worked alongside of a public
school in the same town. In high school, most materials were accessible and
provided for her with little to no effort on her part as a student. When Kiira
left the school and arrived at college, this had drastically changed for her
and she found out how much she had to fight to get materials accessible to her.
In an
interview with Kiira Devries, I asked her, “What would you like to tell future
online course designers and instructors?”. Kiira responded with, “Communication
is key especially when explaining what is going to happen and send out ahead of
time an outline and major websites that might be used in the course. The reason
of doing this is to address the problems so that don’t have to worry about it
during the semester. Also, it’s necessary to be flexible during the school year
if a problem of accessibility arises.” Kiira went on to explain that she was
very appreciative of her professors who walked her through the website
personally and treated her like any other student who is seeking help and
knowledge through the course. The resources that she felt that help students
and instructors in finding accessible materials are the National Federation of
the Blind for ideas on accessibility, Kindle app, book share (free for students
with accommodation needs), and Apple products. Kiira suggests to never use PDFs
and images to explain material because they are absolutely inaccessible.
One last
thing to keep in mind when we are preparing our online courses in the future is
the Americans with Disabilities Act, which states “The ADA prohibits
discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, State and local
government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and
telecommunications.” (ADA, 1990)
Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq. Retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/cguide.htm#anchor66738
Devries, Kiira
(2016). Personal communication on October 13th, 2016.
Moore, M. G.
& Kearsley, G. (2012). Distance Education: A system view of online
learning. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Mariah, I enjoyed your post, especially hearing the comments from your friend who has had to advocate for herself to be able to access classes. I agree that communication is key, both on the part of the student and on the part of the teacher. As Kiira says, knowing ahead of time what she needs to track down is important. Your post made me think of how colleges today have an office to help students with disabilities access their education. This seems like it could be a valuable tool for us to check out as we build our online courses and make them accessible to learners of all needs. Thanks for your post. Amy
ReplyDeleteHi Mariah,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your interview with Kiira Devries. I had a better understanding of online education when I read the online course for special requirement students. All these functions will make a big difference for their life. I think it is not only our responsibility to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, State and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications, but also it is everyone’s responsibility to make education more convenient for them.