Weekly Reflection #7

During week 10, we learned about Inclusion Supports in BC education which I found very interesting as I did not realize how many different supports there are available for students with different needs. To start off, we learnt what inclusive educational tech is and some of the key aspects of technology driven inclusion. Inclusive educational technology removes barriers for students with disabilities by providing personalized, accessible tools such as voice to text, and AAC devices among many others. These technologies foster independence, engagement and belonging for all learners. Inclusive educational technology are driven with UDL in mind and technology driven inclusion uses key technologies like screen readers, and immersive learning like virtual reality to benefit and enhance student learning. Some of the assistive technology I learnt about were iPads, Kurzweil, as well as Inspiration and XMind. iPads are fascinating because of how many different apps there are available on them to help support students learning. Some of the apps that stood out to me were: Clicker Connect, and GoTalk Now which are both apps where students can communicate using pictures. I also really like how accessible the iPad is for all students because theres just so much you can do with an iPad. I also found Kurzweil interesting because I had never heard of it before and its a highly customizable text to speech read aloud program that can read so many different kinds of text and in many different languages too which I found really interesting. I also found Inspiration and XMind interesting because these were also new to me and they seemed really cool and useable for many students because it’s a software that allows students to create visual mind maps to show understanding and express themselves which they can then use instead of the typically paragraph format which I think a lot of students would benefit from. Overall, I did not realize how many technology supports are out there and I am intrigued to use more of them in my future teaching career with my fellow students.

We then learnt about SET BC which is a provincial outreach program funded by the Ministry of Education and there goal is to support students with diverse learning needs in British Columbia. Set BC offers direct student support that allows students to engage in meaningful learning experiences. Set BC provides physical access tools, visual aids, and advance communication systems so that al students can learn to their fullest potential. Not only do they provide physical supports but they also make sure that all students have a sense of belonging, connection and purpose at school which I really liked to hear when I was learning about this program. Set BC also has a huge catalogue of resources available for teachers and students on there website that looked really interesting to use. Overall, it made me really happy learning about this program and that this kind of program exists in my province because there are so many places where students with diverse needs don’t get support so I’m glad BC is not one of those places. To further my research on inclusion, I watched this youtube video that talked about what is accessibility and I found it very inspiring because for many of these students with diverse needs they just want to be treated like a human being and not be made fun of by their teachers or peers so I think everyone should watch this video as I really enjoyed it. Overall, this week was very eye opening for me and I am glad I had the chance to learn more about different learning supports and inclusion within BC education.

Here I have the SET BC website linked where you can access the resources they have available: https://www.setbc.org/resources/?_paged=3

Here I have the “What is Accessibility?” youtube video that I think everyone should watch at least once: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsMo7SOuB1c