UCET 2012 Grant Winners Announced!
We were excited to have over 25 grant proposals submitted for the UCET 2012 grant opportunity. We wish we could have funded them all! After carefully reviewing each grant, the UCET Board wishes to announce that the following proposals were accepted for funding…
Accessing the General Education Curriculum - Submitted by UCET member Melinda Fatani. Melinda writes, "One of the biggest challenges of mainstreaming disabled students is providing access to grade level material in ways that can be understood by students with varying ability levels. This problem increases if the ability level is three or more grade levels below that of their same aged peers. This gap is difficult to bridge when the average class size is 37 students. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law that states each child with a disability must be provided a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that prepares them for further education, employment and independent living. The conundrum is how to accomplish the "appropriate" aspect of this mission.
After attending the UCET 2012 conference, the wheels in my special educator brain started spinning and a whole new realm of possibilities presented itself for consideration. An android tablet could be used as a classroom assistant for executive functioning by both the classroom teacher and the student with disabilities. The life skills of obtaining and using information in meaningful ways that transition from one setting to another are critical in determining the quality of life students with severe disabilities may have. Assistive technology devices have long been thought of as something used by severely motor or sensory impaired individuals to make difficult tasks easier. The objective of this grant proposal is to demonstrate how technology can be used to meet the unique learning needs of students who struggle with accessing age-appropriate curriculum. "
Improving Student Performance and Engagement with a Student Response System - Submitted by UCET member Sherri Jensen. Sherri writes, "With the passage of No Child Left Behind legislation in 2002, individual students must make measurable improvement shown in high-stakes testing. Greater emphasis on high stakes testing has prompted greater scrutiny about individual accountability and how it relates to what students need to know to succeed in society. Therefore, integrating technology into classroom practices must provide evidence that the technology assists in meeting these accountability demands.
Using technology tools in the classroom helps students survive in complex, highly technological economy. Integrating technology means more than basic computer skills and games. Effective technology integration happens throughout the day across all curriculum areas. Technology changes the way teachers teach. Every teacher should routinely implement different types of technology in their classrooms for our students, and technology should support curricular goals. With the state of our recent economic status, it is very difficult for schools to get current technology in the classroom for our students. Going to the computer lab once a week is not sufficient.
The purpose for proposing this grant is to provide a student response system in the classroom. Students should use technology to be actively engaged, have frequent interaction, and immediate feedback."
IPads and Apple TV—Using Technology to Increase Student Engagement - Submitted by UCET member Marianne Bates. Marianne writes, "Need: For the past year, our studentbody has been relocated to an elementary school while our school was being remodeled, and technology integration at the school has been at a standstill. We will have only one interactive whiteboard at our remodeled school; until last month, only one teacher at our school had an iPad. When we return to the new remodeled building we would like to increase technology in a big way!
Research: Two recent articles in Emerging Ed Tech (February 8, 2012) and Wired Educator (12 Mar 2012) stress the advantages of using an iPad and Apple TV over an interactive white board. The following are only some of the benefits the writers mention: 1) Hardware costs—an interactive white board set-up typically costs three times what an Apple TV set-up costs, 2) Software costs--Apps available for iPads can provide the same kind of content as more expensive software for interactive whiteboards, 3) Flexibility—teachers are "untethered" and are better able to monitor students' progress because they can circulate around the classroom 4) Ease of use—teachers can move from videos to PowerPoints to websites with increased ease with an iPad, and 5) Less training—using Apps is simpler to use than the proprietary software used with an interactive whiteboard.
Planned Steps: The assistant principal in charge of technology, our school Ed Tech and I met together to formulate a plan to use iPads and Apple TV in classrooms in our school. Our principal and our district recommend iPads and Apple TV as an alternative to an interactive whiteboard because of its reduced cost and its ease of use. Our plan is to give an iPad to one teacher in different subject areas (math, fine arts, language arts); a science, social studies teacher recently received iPads. These teachers will receive training and resources from the Ed Tech and the teacher librarian to use the iPad and Apple TV in their classrooms. The teachers will be the "pilot program" for eventually implementing the use of iPads and Apple TV throughout the school. On March 29, 2012, at the School Community Council meeting our principal presented the idea of integrating iPads and Apple TV in the classrooms of all teachers in the school who would take training and use it in their classrooms. She proposed using a combination of Land Trust, equipment, technology, and cell phone money to provide funding. So, this will be the initial phase of a long-term project.
Because I do not have an iPad at the present time, I am trying to find all the information and resources I can to help me implement this grant. I attended Clint Stephens "Now That I Have An iPad What?" presentation at UCET. I also researched all the UCET classes on iPads and contacted several of the presenters to find resources to include on the resources page I am creating. I also went to the UCET archives to find presentations from last year that might be helpful in providing resources."
Our congratulations to the grant winners, and our sincere thanks to everyone who submitted a proposal. We were excited to see the wonderful ideas you shared that use technology to assist you in delivering high quality instruction in your classrooms and online. The future holds exciting possibilities for our UCET members to have additional grant proposals funded. We're looking forward to 2013!
