Microsoft Educator Network

Accessibility Holiday Ideas to Make the Holidays Accessible and Fun for All! It’s that time of year again to start preparing for the Holiday Season. This year we wanted to share with you a collection of holiday ideas and resources to make the holiday accessible and fun for all! Many communities are realizing with just a little pre-planning, the holidays can be enjoyed by children with special needs. Such programs include which allows children to visit Santa in a quiet more comfortable environment and the Programs provide an airport “rehearsal”. As educators and ...

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Accessibility All Eyes on August: Children's Vision Health and Learning Month As students across the country and the world gear up for getting back to school, special purchases are always made. Beyond binders, notebooks, pens, tablets, and other necessary items, special consideration should be made on vision. In 1995, the August was declared National Children’s Vision and Learning Month. The goal of this observance is to help educate parents and educators about the critical link between vision and learning, according to the College of Optometrists in Vision Development. ...

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Accessibility Interactive Tables and Students: Seeing the bigger picture We might be still in the throes of summer, but with August upon us, the school year is right around the corner. Still ensconced in the warm glow of summer, some of the newest tech products for students with disabilities are equally as sizzling. As we celebrated the 24th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (signed July 26, 1990), let’s push the momentum forward by embracing the best future for our students with disabilities. In previous blogs, we’ve talked about tablets, but by just...

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Accessibility Do Your Students Have the Skills to Pay the Bills??? We are very pleased to introduce our latest guest blogger, Chelsea Eddy. In her blog, she provides a wealth of strategies and resources for teaching social skills to help prepare high school students with special needs and promote independence during their transition years. Chelsea is a high school Special Education teacher for Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. One of the courses that she teaches, Office Technology and Procedures (OTP), is part of the Career and Transition Services...

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Accessibility Accessible Instructional Materials: Past, Present, & Future There’s no doubt that the process surrounding the consideration and acquisition of accessible instructional materials (AIM) can cause a person’s head to spin faster than a set of Goodyear tires on Dr. Emmett Brown’s Delorean DMC-12 racing to 88 miles per hour. Over the past 7 years I have immersed myself with the policies and procedures for provisioning AIM to qualifying students within Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS). It has been a wild ride filled with many challenges and even more ...

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Accessibility Bleeding Hearts for Accessibility Some asked, “Will the Internet collapse?” Now just over three weeks into the public’s awareness of the Heartbleed Bug, the collapse brought consciousness to millions about the need for increased protection. The panic has subsided, but the undercurrent of worry still persists, especially for our students who rely on technology for their academic success. From our perspective, a network security’s focus on keeping people out seems at odds with accessibility’s focus on inclusivity. How do we ...

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Accessibility Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL): What Does it Look Like in Practice? by Dave Edyburn Lately I have been thinking a lot about the relationship between Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Today, let’s explore some examples to see if we can draw any conclusions about what AIM and UDL look like in practice. Let’s begin by assuming that a teacher is going to teach a science lesson about bears. As she has always done, the teacher plans to assign students to read about bears on pp. 214-221 in the textbook. Do you anticipate any problems when...

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Accessibility Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) by Dave Edyburn We would like to introduce this week's guest blogger Dave Edyburn. Dave L. Edyburn, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Exceptional Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Edyburn’s teaching and research interests focus on the use of technology to enhance teaching, learning, and performance. He has authored over 150 articles and book chapters on the use of technology in special education. His most recent book (2013), Inclusive technologies: Tools for helping diverse ...

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Accessibility Getting Educated from the Educators: The CSUN Conference While we were ecstatic to beat the East Coast winter by traveling to San Diego, the conference is more than just a warm destination. It’s an experience that creates channels between technology developers, accessibility experts, skilled testers, educators, and people with disabilities. More formally known as the 29th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference in San Diego, it is a gathering unique in its foundation of inclusivity and innovation. CSUN is the fusion ...

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Accessibility Calling All Early Childhood Special Educators: What’s in Your Assistive Technology Toolbox? We have had the opportunity to visit many Special Education Early Childhood classrooms (ECSE)and talk to many teachers in our district. Assistive technology (AT) plays an essential role for student participation and success. The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) provides many toolkits for educators (visit ). Although many classrooms have individual students that need specific assistive technologies written in their IEP that ensures their individual success wouldn’t it be proactive ...

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Accessibility Running pilot studies with Kinect games for helping children with ADHD Kinect motion-based touchless games have been suggested by educators and therapists for helping children with learning disabilities as well as disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The ultimate goal is to help children improve skills such as attention, memory, concentration and eye-hand concentration. ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders consisting of three symptom domains: hyperactivity, impulsivity and attention deficit. Epidemiological ...

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Accessibility Creating MATHLIT Kits: Math Assistive Technology Hands-On Literature Integration Tool Kits Part II: High-Tech Tools The work of Marilyn Burns supports linking math instruction to children’s literature to spark interest in learning mathematics by building confidence of students who are wary of math, providing real world contexts that bring meaning to math ideas, stimulating student’s imagination, and offering a natural way to connect the abstract ideas, language, and symbols of mathematics to a context that they understand. (For more information visit ) MATHLIT Kits : Math Assistive Technology Hands-On L...

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Accessibility Creating MATHLIT Kits: Math Assistive Technology Hands-On Literature Integration Tool Kits Part 1: Low-Tech Tools We hope you’ve had a chance to read last week’s outstanding posting to this Microsoft Hot Topics Accessibility blog by our colleagues, Judith Schoonover and Sally Norton-Darr, titled See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Hear Me: Adapting Books for Diverse Learners. They described a wide variety of ways to make books accessible for all learners through multisensory adaptations. Using these strategies, our Loudoun County Public Schools Assistive Technology Team has created numerous adapted book kits that ...

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Accessibility Get Funding for Mobile Whiteboard Technology: A Portable and Effective Solution for Students with Disabilities Benefits of Going Mobile Academic curriculum requirements for students moves rapidly and nobody wants to be behind. The conventional method of presenting lessons in a classroom through visual and auditory means isn’t always the most effective method for students, especially those with disabilities. Fortunately, in this era of rapidly changing education, mobile whiteboard technology plays a key role in providing educators with the tools and skills to address the multiple modalities needed to ...

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Accessibility See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Hear Me: Adapting Books for Diverse Learners We just flew in from ATIA (Assistive Technology Industry Association) in Orlando, and boy, are our arms tired (ba-dum-bump). But seriously folks, we had a great time presenting with Mike Marotta on Building Books Page-by-Page: Becoming Your Own Digital Publisher! Adapting books has been a passion of ours since our first ATIA Conference in 2007 when we attended a session by the Jessamine County Assistive Technology team called Buckets of Literacy™. This session introduced us to buckets filled ...

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Accessibility Introducing our guest bloggers, Karen Dietrich and Stacy McBain, from Loudoun County Public Schools! We are pleased to introduce our latest guest bloggers, Karen Dietrich and Stacy McBain, who are members of our Loudoun County Public Schools Assistive Technology team. Check out their posting on What are Digital Portfolios and How Can We Use Them (More Effectively)? Their links include their presentation that describes how educators can create digital portfolios to document their students' progress, and quick tutorials on tools and resources to help create the portfolios. These tools have been ...

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Accessibility What are Digital Portfolios and How Can We Use Them (More Effectively)? Digital portfolios are a great way to utilize technology in education in various ways. Teachers can create digital portfolios to document student progress including running records of student achievement and data tracking documenting progress toward IEP goals and objectives. Additionally, teachers and/or students can create various digital portfolios to assist in transitions. The use of digital portfolios eases the transition from one classroom or grade level to another, from middle to high ...

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Accessibility Introducing our guest blogger, Dr. Kristine Neuber, from George Mason University! If you haven't had a chance yet to read Kristine's wonderful posting on Strategies for Improving Organization and Time Management for Students with Executive Functioning Deficit, please do so now. You'll be glad you did! These are very "timely" topics. It's jam-packed with important and practical information that can benefit us as educators, as well as our students! Here's her bio: Kristine is a faculty member at George Mason University and teaches courses in the Assistive Technology Master’s ...

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Accessibility Strategies for Improving Organization and Time Management for Student with Executive Functioning Deficits Introduction We have all worked with students or coworkers who, “need to get their act together”. They are constantly late, rarely complete assignments on time and are generally forgetful. In a nutshell they appear utterly disorganized. It is common to believe that their disorganization is the result of a lack of self-discipline. The reality is that the ability to manage our lives and complete tasks requires the coordinated use of several executive functioning skills, located in what has been ...

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Accessibility Thinking Outside the Touchscreen Box “Vision Free Users”. I encountered this phrase on a message board, and I paused. The phrase ‘hands free’ is commonplace, especially with driving laws. ‘Vision Free’ is more than a pitch to sell headsets and earpieces—it’s an identity. Earlier, I went on a quest of using tablets with Ease of Access. Yet, “Vision Free” describes a specific person—a powerhouse user of technology. Despite the seeming importance of a visual display, it can be bypassed through assistive technology. Touchscreens are ...

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Accessibility 2014 Trends in Assistive Technology for Schools and Parents Along with the dizzying pace of technology adoption in the classroom, we’re excited about the progress in using Assistive Technology for special needs students. More students will benefit from the tech advances if schools and parents are constantly looking for and tracking new tech devices and new ways to use the devices to make sure that special needs children truly maximize their individual learning experience. Here are four AT trends to follow this year: Sensory enhancers: Depending on each...

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Accessibility Happy New Year! Thanks for a Great Year in 2013 and More to Come in 2014... What a wonderful year for the Blog in 2013! In 2014, there is even more great information and discussions planned for you on accessibility, assistive technology and universal design for learning! We would like to take the time to reflect and thank all of our guest bloggers who made this blog a success in 2013! We started out the fall season with Chris Bugaj spreading the professional development virus in October. Then Dr. Kathleen Puckett shared wonderful ways to build leadership skills! Chris...

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Accessibility Part 2: Tablet Accessibility Tips for Students with Disabilities You can find Part One of our post : --My journey begins with locating Ease of Access. Typically, I would get there by swiping my fingers. Not today. I first traveled using a shortcut with the On-Screen Keyboard. A timesaver for some, shortcuts are a boon to students who are blind or have cognitive disabilities. Keeping keyboard shortcuts standardized ensures that Windows Key + U always Ease of Access, whether you’re on a tablet or notebook. I’m now in Ease of Access, as announced audibly by ...

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Accessibility A Spoken Tablet Accessibility Device for Disabilities Students Can we invent a spoken tablet for blind students to integrate them into learning technology environment where blind student with certain touch can hear a sound directed him to do something such as search , drawing and browsing topic. I think this way help disabilities students to take part in our modern life and feel him happiness as to do something that connected him into peers around the world and they can express their hopes and ideas , using spoken tablet. Can we discuss this matter as ...

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Accessibility Tablet Accessibility Tips for Students with Disabilities Tablets are the curious, in-between, middle ground of computing technology. Papa Bear can be the desktop or laptop--Too hot! Mama Bear can be the smart phone--Too cold! Our protagonist, Baby Bear is that ‘just right’ tablet. Tablets are a wonderful compromise of size, portability, and power; and as a result, tablet ownership, especially in education, has never been more popular. They are becoming a classroom accommodation that offers learning potential not just in school, but as tools at home. ...

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Accessibility Using the Kinect to Revolutionize Education. Keeping students engaged and involved in their learning is a challenge for most educators. But for children with special learning needs, it can be daunting – especially for a first-time teacher. “When I first started, I had never worked with any students with autism so to say I was intimidated would be putting it mildly. The occupational therapist that worked with me at the time was amazing. She would tell me what the kids needed sensory-wise, and I would figure out how to make it academic. ...

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Accessibility Access to Play and Learning: Selecting and Adapting Toys and Games ‘Tis the holiday season, a time when many children…and their parents and teachers…have visions of toys dancing in their heads! Children learn through play, and toys and games can stimulate their imagination and enrich their sensory, motor, cognitive, language, emotional, and social skill development. There are so many toys to choose from, and selecting the right toys for your children can be challenging. Ideally, you should look for toys that support universal design for learning that can be ...

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Accessibility Thanks great bloggers First, I thank so much for Mrs. Tera and Cindy for their great achievements. Second. happy days for each participant in educational blogs. This is educational platform that we can convey our ideas to both teachers and students and all who interests in educational process. Everyday , you can find something new for discussion , you meet new styles and meet new friends. As Hot topic blog introduce lots of supports for educators at general and special needs in special . So , all of us Vote for ...

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Accessibility Time to Vote! EduBlog Awards -Best Group Blog! EduBlog Awards- Best Group Blog! The voting has begun and we appreciate your support! Take a minute and vote for the Partners in Learning Hot Topics Accessibility Blog to win the Edublog Best Group Blog 2013. The link below will take you to The EduBlog Best Group Blog finalist page. Scroll to our entry that looks like this... Once you vote for Best Group Blog be sure to vote for all those other wonderful resources that we menitioned by visiting EduBlog Awards main page ...

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Accessibility How Assistive Technology Can Benefit Students both in the Classroom and at Home When we discuss assistive technology in schools and at home, we might think first about children with special needs. However, assistive tech can help both students with special needs like those with difficulty speaking or students without special needs but who have difficulty with reading, communicating or typing. The best assistive tech is built into computers, tablets and other mobile devices that can help teachers to accommodate all students in one setting. Including students with different ...

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Accessibility Follow Up Fridays - Quick Solutions for Providing Feedback to Professional Development Participants New initiatives in schools range anywhere from a quarterly to an annual event. Some welcome the constant change while others wonder why they are moving on before the previous initiative had a chance to take off. Regardless of what new initiative may be coming next, one necessary component that is almost always involved is professional development. Professional Development for staff has historically been thought of as a face-to-face event that occurs during the work day or after school once ...

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Accessibility Timely Posting by Chris Cunningham Thank you Chris, this is really a timely post on Braille and Imagination! Not only to begin the planning for next year’s celebration of Blind Americans Equality Day, but we were just speaking with a teammate about what options are available in using embossers for making graphics more accessible for individuals with vision impairments or who are blind. Now is the time for community leaders, educators, librarians, and Americans across the country to begin collaborating and making plans to ...

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Accessibility Braille and Imagination Imagine beings that cannot communicate with words or conventional images whose sensory perception is so astute they perceive your presence by the difference of airflow around a room. They feel vibrations so subtle many of us are rarely aware of their existence. Some may hear as you do and some may not. Those who do will have a heightened sense of sound, multilayered processing of the sound, and an astute sense of smell distinguishing things we can only imagine as seeing and hearing individuals. ...

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Accessibility Are you Using the Speak Text-to-Speech Command in Office? During a typical day (if you can say any day is typical in the life of an AT specialist) we have the opportunity to work with teachers and students to show them available network tools. Quite often parents ask us what tools they could be using at home to support their child. This past week, we were again working with students who have great difficulty with reading and writing! You know the student that hates to write and seems to be falling farther and farther behind in reading and writing. They...

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Accessibility Happens Once a Year! Edublog Award Nominations 2013 ====================================================================== No, we are not talking about Thanksgiving! Thanks should be given every day throughout the year! We are talking about the Edublog Awards. The purpose of the Edublog Awards is to promote and demonstrate the educational value of social media. We wanted to share this information with you because it is a great way to learn about Top Blogs! Chris Bugaj was our first guest blogger, with amazing ...

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Accessibility Improving Access to Information and Technology for Individuals with Cognitive Disabilities Individuals with disabilities have widely differing needs when it comes to accessing information and using technology. While there is still work to be done, great strides have been made over the years to incorporate features into computer technologies to enable individuals with sensory disabilities, such as those with visual and hearing impairments, to access information and navigate software and the internet. In addition, a multitude of hardware devices and associated software have been ...

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Accessibility Laura Rahn: A Year of 1:1, and How It Helped Me Grow as an Educator! We are pleased to introduce Laura Rahn, our latest Accessibility Sunday guest blogger! We first met Laura as a fellow participant at the Microsoft Partners in Learning U.S. Innovative Education Forum in 2011 and have crossed paths several times as colleagues at Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia and through our continuing relationship with Microsoft. Laura was featured on Anthony Salcito’s Daily Edventures blog in July 2013 at Here’s her bio! Laura Rahn has been a classroom teacher for 24...

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Accessibility Top 5 Tips for Using Tablet Computers at Home to Review Class Lessons In schools where tablet computers are now used to facilitate learning, [teachers report] "") that students are more creative and responsive. It is because students are able to integrate their learning with tablet computers, normally the kind of technology they are familiar with only for playing games. Parents agree that their children are more engaged with their learning when they have the chance to digitize their work and bring it home. As a parent of special needs twins with autism, I have ...

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Accessibility Multifunctionality in the Accessible World The time has come for a union of technology that enables access to information from the non AT world. Single devices covering many functions and combining size, cost and access to standard equipment is quickly becoming the norm. This includes multifunctional software and hardware. Three things to consider when adapting new technology: • Multiple Uses • Learning Curve • Life Cycle For instance: Does your Braille printer have graphics capability? Does it have ink and color? Will it print two ...

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Accessibility Visual Access Using Zoom and Magnifier We recently had an opportunity to explore assistive technology (AT) supports to help a first grade student who has a visual impairment access the Internet. She already had some wonderful supports in place. Her teachers had set up the Display options on her PC with a lower screen resolution that increased the size of the screen elements, including desktop icons, folders, and font size. They had increased the default Zoom level for viewing web pages to a higher percentage and increased the text ...

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