Tag: Instructional Materials

AEM for Language Arts and Math

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The following free webinar comes from edWeb…

Quality Instructional Materials for Language Arts and Math: New SETDA K12 Database

Wednesday, July 17, 2019 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Presented by Christine Fox, Deputy Executive Director, SETDA; and Alan Griffin, Curriculum Content Specialist, Utah State Board of Education

Program Description

Looking for vetted instructional materials? This edWebinar will launch SETDA’s latest resource, the State K12 Instructional Materials Database, an online tool to access state-reviewed, full course instructional materials for secondary language arts and math.

Multiple states provide a formal review process to review instructional materials and publish the reviewed materials, now you can access all of those published materials via one online database and access the state review processes. Plus, hear how Utah will leverage this tool and learn how the state engages stakeholders in the instructional materials review process to support district decision making. The edWebinar will include the opportunity for dialogue and sharing.

This presentation will be of interest to administrators, instructional material coordinators, policy makers, curriculum directors, IT staff, and instructional coaches. There will be time to get your questions answered after the presentation.

Use this link for more information and to register for this event…

 

Microsoft Inclusive Classroom Offerings

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Microsoft logoA recently blog article from Microsoft describes several application and new features to their MS-Office 365 package that may assist students with disabilities. The list includes information about:

  • Immersive Reader
  • Microsoft Forms
  • Microsoft Whiteboard
  • Minecraft: Educational Edition

Information about Inclusive Math, Writing and Communications are also included.

Use this link to read Inclusive Classroom round up for Microsoft Education…

Free e-book info

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The following information comes from Jennifer Maurer, School Library Consultant for the State Library of Oregon. Jen posted this on the edWeb.net School Library Network discussion board. Great information, thank you Jen!

electronic books on various devicesMost free eBooks that come with no restrictions are those that are available in the public domain, which means they are no longer under copyright or they never were. If they never were under copyright, they are often self published. Most new to new-ish and copyrighted materials are not available for free, or they come with some restrictions. Even with digital versions of books, the authors, illustrators, and publishers need to get paid by someone in order to make a living or profit.

As … noted, Epic! offers free eBooks to elementary students. The catch is that to access the books at home, parents have to pay to subscribe.

You can check what your local public library offers. In that case, the public library subscribes on behalf of its patrons. Popular platforms include OverDrive (with the Libby app), Cloud Library, and for kids only, some offer Tumblebooks. 

International Children’s Digital Library  is a grant-funded project that makes children’s books in many languages available online at no cost.

Book Bub is a site that tracks temporary deals for free or inexpensive ebooks. You can sign up to receive a daily email. I’m pretty sure there’s a category for children’s books.

And for classics and other public domain offerings, there are many sites, including Project Gutenberg and Open Library (which has some copyrighted material; not sure how that is okay). This article lists other sites…

By the way, Sync offers 2 free audiobooks per week to download during the summer. The books are aimed at ages 13 and over.

New EdTech Publications Emphasize Inclusion

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From State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) and National Center for Learning Disabilities:

June 7, 2019 – Eleven national organizations have come together to outline a new vision for education technology in a series of publications that explore conception, design, procurement, use, and continuous improvement of ed tech initiatives.

The collaborative publications build off a central report, “Inclusive Technology in a 21st Century Learning System”, by Ace Parsi, Director of Innovation at the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD). The report lays out a new inclusive vision for educational technology and considerations to ensure technology closes educational, economic, and civic opportunity gaps for individuals with disabilities.

The complimentary local and state/national briefs were developed in collaboration between the following organizations:

  • Policy and Research Organizations:  The American Institute for Research, Digital Promise, the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, and The Learning Accelerator
  • Associations Representing Local Policy Leaders: CoSN – Consortium for School Networking, the School Superintendent Association and Association of School Business Officials International;
  • Associations Representing State Policy Makers:  National Association of State Directors of Special Education, the State Education Technology Directors Association, and the National Association of State Boards of Education;
  • National Policy and Advocacy Organizations: The Alliance for Excellent Education, the Future Ready Schools initiative, and the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

“Working together with these 10 other organizations sets a prime example of how all decision makers should be working together to ensure the needs of all learners are truly being met,” noted Lindsay Jones, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

“These publications provide information and guidance to educational leaders to effectively leverage education technology to meet the needs of all learners, particularly those with disabilities,” said Tracy Gray, Managing Director at the American Institute for Research.

Use this link to read the entire news release and learn more about this topic..

Free Webinar: 5 Guidelines for Accessibility Heroes

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National Center on Accessible Educational Materials logo

From the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials

5 Guidelines for Accessibility Heroes!

Tuesday, June 4, 2019
3:00 – 4:00 pm ET 

Presenters: Cynthia Curry and Luis Pérez, AEM Center

Purchasing Accessible Learning Materials - logoIs accessibility for learners with disabilities among the criteria you, your school, district, state, or university use when procuring educational materials and technologies? Join us for this webinar and learn five guidelines that should be a part of any procurement process. You will leave with your first action step toward making learning more accessible in your education setting. You’ll be an accessibility hero!

Unable to attend the webinar?  No worries!  A recording will be available on the webinar’s Event Page approximately one week after the event.  An announcement will be sent when the recording is available.

Use this link to register for this webinar…

National AEM Center posts “AEM and the IEP”

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National Center on Accessible Educational Materials logo

In March, the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials (NC-AEM) hosted a webinar entitled, “AEM in the IEP: Where Do Accessible Materials and Technologies Fit?” Presented by Joy Zabala and Diana Carl, the 60-minute webinar detailed the seven points in the IEP development process at which AEM might reasonably be considered and documented. Participants were also provided with IEP requirements at each point and questions related to consideration of accessible materials.

This webinar has now been archived and posted, available for your viewing. The presentation slides and handout is also available for download.

New Report Providing a Snapshot of Trends in State K12 Instructional Materials

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Updated Digital Instructional Materials Acquisition Policies for States (DMAPS) Online Portal

Student using iPad to readApril 1, 2019 (Washington, D.C.) – SETDA, the principal membership association of the U.S. state and territorial digital learning leaders, today announced the release of a new report, State K12 Instructional Materials Leadership Trends Snapshot and updates to the free, online tool to support the implementation of digital instructional materials, Digital Instructional Materials Acquisition Policies for States (DMAPS). Educators, policy makers and the private sector will benefit from organized and accessible information highlighting trends regarding the acquisition of digital instructional materials, including state guidance, definitions and policies, procurement practices, review processes, funding options, and digital learning resources for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Guam. New for 2019 is the topic of professional learning, highlighting the opportunities states provide teachers around the selection, creation and implementation of quality, digital instructional materials. This work supports state and district leaders’ understanding of state policies and can impact policy changes related to instructional materials (including non-traditional instructional materials, such as digital content) to best meet the individual needs of all learners.

“The selection and implementation of digital instructional materials is a top priority in K-12 education environments,” shared Candice Dodson, SETDA’s incoming Executive Director. “SETDA’s newest resource for this critical work, State K12 Instructional Materials Leadership Trends Snapshot, summarizes the current state policies and practices of this process utilizing 2019 updates to our powerful Digital Instructional Materials Acquisition Policies for States (DMAPS) online portal. This portal provides opportunities for collaboration between state and district leaders across the country to bring quality resources to digital teaching and learning for all.”

Both the Snapshots report and DMAPS were developed through the expertise and efforts of state leaders responsible for procurement, instructional materials and educational technology and in collaboration with experts in the field.

For a comprehensive overview, access this recent webinar, Navigating the Digital Shift: Leveraging Quality Instructional Materials for Learning

This work was made possible by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

About SETDA

Founded in 2001, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is the principal non-profit membership association representing U.S. state and territorial educational technology leaders. Our mission is to build and increase the capacity of state and national leaders to improve education through technology policy and practice. For more information, please visit: setda.org.

Increasing Accessibility and Fostering Inclusive Classrooms

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The following announcement of this free webinar is from edWeb.net…

Tuesday, March 26, 2019
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET

Accessibility and Inclusive Classrooms. Boy using tablet.

The goal of this edWebinar is to discuss what inclusive classrooms, employing accessibility, look like from the standpoint of reading, writing, math and communication. The presenters will be sharing examples from Microsoft Education’s free accessibility suite of tools and including the stories of teachers who have worked with students of all abilities in an inclusive classroom setting.

Attendees will learn about:

  • The benefits of inclusively designed lessons and classrooms employing assistive technology
  • Improving learning outcomes for all learners powered by assistive technology tools
  • Current updates on Microsoft Education’s reading, writing, math and communication tools
  • The power of built-in assistive technology and its impact on both social and normative constructs of today’s classrooms

This presentation will be of interest to special education teachers, K-5 educators, reading specialists, TESOL or ELL teachers, librarians, speech pathologists, and school leaders. There will be time to get your questions answered at the end of the edWebinar.

Presented by Mike Tholfsen, Principal Product Manager, Microsoft Education; Lauren Pittman, Graduate Assistant, Vanderbilt University, and former special educator teacher; and Beth Dudycha, Senior Manager, Content Development, Insight2Execution, and Former Educator. Hosted by SETDA and Sponsored by Microsoft.

Use this link for more information and to register for this event…

 

Reaching Accessibility Goals for Higher Education

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Accessible Information TechnologyA new article in Inside Higher Ed magazine Helping Institutions Reach Accessibility Goals details the fact that many institutions of higher education fail to have “coherent policies around accessibility. ” And, they note that there has been “…a recent uptick in high-profile lawsuits alleging failure to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act…”

While the reasons for this situation are many, the article suggests “time constraints” make be a factor. Quoting Cynthia Curry from the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials (NC-AEM), “Part of the problem is that people don’t have the time to do something systemic around accessibility within their institutions…” Curry said. “Most institutions, of course, aren’t looking proactively at accessibility. They’re looking at it more as a retrofit, or they’re being reactive if something litigious comes up.”

Maine CITE’s own resident digital accessibility resource person is John Brandt. Brandt’s own 25-year experience in web development and accessibility suggest that the perceived high cost to make web content accessible is probably the largest single factor in the equation. “Most organizations look at accessibility as expensive because they are approaching it from a mitigation perspective. They often fail to look at the costs associated with NOT having accessible content – lost student admissions, lack of student retention, etc.”

While most web accessibility experts will talk about the importance of “adding accessibility in at the beginning” of a web design process, colleges and universities are often not able to do this since they were among the first organizations to have websites in the 1990s – they have accumulated lots of content.

But even if an institution is committed to improving accessibility, they often don’t know where to start. To that end, the Inside Higher Education article promotes a new set of quality indicators for accessible educational materials developed by NC-AEM designed to “help institutions ensure, at scale, that all students have the same learning opportunities in face-to-face classrooms and digital learning environments.” The article focuses on the NC-AEM’s recently published  “Higher Education Critical Components of the Quality Indicators for the Provision of Accessible Educational Materials & Accessible Technologies” which promote seven quality indicators (QI), each containing specific criteria needed to achieve each QI.

For colleges and universities just starting out with the process, these quality indicators can provide a blueprint and structure of the thinking process that need to be considered. Tom Tobin, one of the people interviewed in the article, encourages “institutions (to) focus accessibility efforts on the potential impact on student access and learning outcomes, rather than merely on ‘legal-compliance arguments.’”

“While the description of the quality indicators alludes to the broad access benefits for all learners when accessible materials, tools and interface are adopted, the actual indicators and critical components are focused squarely on meeting the needs of learners with disabilities — only a part of the access conversation,” Tobin states in the article.

Read “Helping Institutions Reach Accessibility Goals”

Read/view the NC-AEM – “Higher Education Critical Components of the Quality Indicators for the Provision of Accessible Educational Materials & Accessible Technologies”