Iowa Assistive Technology Professional Development Network

The Iowa Assistive Technology Professional Development Network, funded through the University of Iowa’s Office of the Provost and facilitated by ICATER, will create, coordinate, and provide AT professional development opportunities to professionals, parents, and individuals with disabilities across the state of Iowa, focusing especially on educational and employment settings. 

Importance to Iowa Education

In the most recent report on standardized test achievement from the Iowa Department of Education, Iowa ranked last in the United States in the achievement gap between students with and without disabilities.  A large, underutilized resource for improving this is the use of AT for students with disabilities in the classroom.  During the 2008-2009 school year, ICATER conducted a statewide needs assessment on AT in K-12 classrooms to determine the biggest barriers to AT use.  The biggest barriers were teachers’ lack of awareness of available AT, lack of training opportunities, and lack of training time.  The creation of the Network aims to address all of these issues by providing training opportunities for all educators across the state.  Available training will help create a better understanding of AT, thereby encouraging more effective usage in the classroom.

AT Webinar Series

Consideration of assistive technology for students served by special education is necessary in school settings to provide access to learning; thus, a solid foundation of the available assistive technology devices and software in the market is crucial.  Live, hour-long webinars will be available on a monthly basis, using distance education software that will enable hands-on learning and interaction with professionals across the state.  ICATER will focus mainly on opportunities that will assist those who work with individuals that have disabilities in education and employment settings.  

Have to miss a live webinar?  All live webinar classes will be archived and accessible through the ICATER website.  Classes and videos will also be closed-captioned.

Registration is now open.  Registration will add you to ICATER’s growing Network listserve in order to provide you with updates and information.

To access live webinars, click on the links below with the corresponding dates and times. 

Dates and times: One Monday each month from 11AM- Noon.
1. November 5, 2012. Assistive Technology Consideration..
             •  Assistive Technology Consideration PowerPoint.
             •  Grant Wood AEA Consideration Guide
             •  WATI Guide
2. December 3, 2012. Accessible Instructional Materials, NIMAS, and Bookshare.
3. January 28, 2013. Free and Inexpensive Assistive Technology.
4. February 18, 2013. Assistive Technology Tools for Reading.
5. March 18, 2013. Universal Design for Learning Principles.
6. April 29, 2013. Smart Pen and Its Uses in the Classroom.
7. May 20, 2013. Planning for Assistive Technology Success Next Year.

The Assistive iPad

ICATER will also be conducting short 10-15 minute webinars that highlight Assistive Technology Applications for iPad. These short lessons will be archived and accessible on ICATER’s website. 

Dates and times:  Tuesdays at 3 PM, beginning October 24.
1. October 24, 2012. Getting To Know the System
2. October 31, 2012. Voice Over and Assistive Touch.
3. November 7, 2012. Proloquo2Go.
4. December 5, 2012. Read2Go.
5. December 12, 2012. Notability.
6. December 19, 2012. iWordQ.
7. January 9. 2013. iPrompts.
MOVING TO TUESDAYS!
8. January 15, 2013. Abilipad.
9. January 22, 2013. ATEval2Go.
10. January 29, 2013. Zite (prerecorded).
11. February 5, 2013. Voice Dream.
12. February 12, 2013. GoTalk Now.
13. February 19, 2013. PaperPort Notes.
14. February 26, 2013.  Autism Apps.
15. March 5, 2013. Clicker Docs & Sentences.
16. March 12, 2013. App Writer US.
17. March 19, 2013. Panther Apps.
18. March 26, 2013. Algebra Touch.
19. April 2, 2013. SoundNote.
20. April 9, 2013. Sono Flex.
21. April 16, 2013. Educreations (prerecorded).
22. April 23, 2013. Text Capturing Apps.
23. April 30, 2013. Vision Apps (iASL).
24. May 7, 2013. ClaroSpeak.
25. May 14, 2013. Organization Apps.
26. May 21, 2013. Kurzweil and Read and Write Gold. *Time Change to 11:30 AM

Note: All links for future dates are direct links to the live webinar.  All links from past dates are links to archived recordings.