ITC ASSIGNMENT 1
Although there are many technologies available to children with special needs, there are some barriers to more widespread use of these technologies in schools. This essay will highlight three of these issues. According to Hasselbring and Glaser (2002), the two main barriers to overcome are inadequate teacher training and cost. A further impediment to the use of these technologies is poorly designed educational web sites on the internet.
Lack of technology training in teacher education programs is most often the reason given for the insufficient use of technology in classrooms. Communication technologies such as e-mail and the internet are cheap yet powerful educational tools that could be used more often in the classroom by all students including those with special needs (Hasselbring T.S. & Williams Glaser, 2002), but are underutilised by teachers and students. According to a survey conducted by the Department of Education and Training (2002), under twenty five percent of teachers reported that their learning technologies professional development was part of a structured, whole of school approach.
The same survey shows that only a quarter of teachers who responded said that they were confident using more than a limited range of learning technologies (DET, 2002). This would affect how a child with a disability would learn, if they needed a computer to complete their work or to communicate with staff and classmates. A teacher working with a disabled child needs to be able to assist the child to properly use the technology designed to help in his learning. Without adequate training the teacher will be at a loss when the child needs to execute a function that is new to him. The child would gain very little in the way of skills in the use of his equipment or from the lesson that he can not participate in because of this lack of skill. As technology can be critical to these children, it is vital that teachers receive the training required to be able to operate these technologies confidently and guide their students in the operation of their equipment to achieve desirable learning outcomes. For schools to be truly inclusive of children of all abilities there needs to be greater recognition of how important technology is to children with special needs, and adequate training of teachers is a vital step toward better inclusion of these children.
Cost is another major factor to consider. The technology that is needed to help children with a disability often needs to be tailor built to suit the child if the disability is severe. Computer equipment that is designed for a particular child can cost tens of thousands of dollars, for example, voice recognition systems for children with communication problems can range in price from less that one hundred dollars to ten thousand dollars for high-end, sophisticated hardware and software (Hasselbring T.S. & Williams Glaser, 2002). If funding is not readily available through government sources, parents with lower incomes would not be able to afford equipment for their child. This would mean that the child would go onto a waiting list to be assessed as to their needs or other means of funding would need to be found. Although many people see the value of technology in the classroom for children of ‘normal’ abilities, “fewer individuals recognize the great number of benefits that computer-based technologies may afford children with disabilities” (Hasselbring T.S. & Williams Glaser, 2002). This failure to recognise the value of technology for children with special needs causes some schools to be reluctant to allocate funds in the direction of ICT equipment that only one or two students may benefit from using.
Added to the cost of the equipment are the cost of teacher training and the cost of having a specialised education assistant to work with the child if his disability is severe.
The final barrier to be discussed is the issue of poor web-site design. As stated previously, the internet is an inexpensive tool, which is under used in the education of children. Although there are hundreds of thousands of educational web sites available for children to access, many of these are designed with little or no thought given to children with disabilities. For many children with special needs, being able to go online would give them greater independence especially with research tasks, when holding a book or turning a page is not possible. A child with a visual impairment can use screen-reader software which will speak the text to him. A common problem is that some web pages rely heavily on graphics such as buttons and animation. “A text equivalent should be, but often is not, provided for people who are blind or vision impaired,…” (Morgan, 2003). As adaptive technologies are expensive for the user to purchase, often it can be money wasted when web developers fail to use available rich graphics programs, such as those made by Macromedia, to make their sites accessible to those with special needs. Many educational websites focus on listening skills which makes it difficult if not impossible for children with hearing difficulties to use the site effectively, if the developer has not included text captions. Websites should be built to include as wide a range of learners as possible which could include the ability to show and hide text (Wilson, 2003) and have as few mouse clicks or typing requirements as possible for those with mobility problems. With the introduction of regulations for e-education websites to be more inclusive (Wilson, 2003) in 2004, things have improved in this area but there is still some way to go before all children no matter what their ability, will be able to fully use the internet as a learning tool.
There are things that teachers can do to help alleviate these barriers. Teachers must make it a priority to ensure that their ICT skills are up to date enabling them to use the technology that their students need, with confidence. If the school can not fund necessary equipment teachers can seek other ways to raise funds so that all students have access to the technology they need. Web developers must also play their part if children with special needs are to be included in everyday learning experiences and be certain of equitable access to technology so that they can enjoy learning activities along side their peers.
This essays shows that there are barriers to widespread use of the technologies available to children with special needs. These barriers are inadequate teacher training, cost and poorly designed web sites. This affects children’s learning because a poorly trained teacher can not give a student the support he needs when using the technology that is designed to help him. The affect of high costs stops schools from implementing ICT programs to further support these students and poorly designed web sites impede the use of special software programs that children may need to be able to use technology effectively.
References
DET. (2002). Learning Technologies Teacher Survey. Perth: Department of Education and Training.
Hasselbring T.S. & Williams Glaser, C. H. (2002). Use of Computer Technology to Help Students with Special Needs. Retrieved 22/8/06, 2006, from http://www.futureofchildren.org/usr_doc/vol10no2Art5.pdf#search=%22%22use%20of%20computer%20technology%20to%20help%20students%20with%20special%20needs%22%22
Morgan, A. (2003, 8/3/2003). Equal access. Retrieved 27th August, 2006, from http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/07/1046826526491.html
Wilson, E. (2003, 8 December 2003). Impediment no barrier. Retrieved 27 August, 2006, from http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/08/1070732143470.html
