Question: As we move into the 21st century, why are there still many challenges related to the use of assistive technology in helping students with disabilities succeed in the general education curriculum?The challenges faced in implementing assistive technology in the general education classroom are multi-faceted and both unique to the Assistive Technology field while indicative of the broader difficulty in implementing any initiative in traditional classrooms. The grand irony is that the delineation between assistive technology and daily use technology has become blurred so that many of the innovative practices used in the past decade have become common place for all 21st century students, yet the field of education has not kept pace as a whole.
Many researchers cite teacher belief as the greatest barrier to advanced implementation of classroom technology. A 2003 Department of Education study showed 81% of schools have significant access to computers with no significant difference noted between school locales. That same report found 85% of teachers reported feeling prepared to use technology and the majority wanted to know about integration of technology into the classroom. Despite these improved trends, a 2002 Michigan Virtual University study found only one out of nine teachers (out of a 90,000 sample) stated they do advanced applications with technology in their classrooms. The vast majority noted they used technology for basic things such as word processing, checking e-mail, and web browsing. Of these activities, it was even fewer who employed these beyond their own personal use to assist students, and it was an extreme minority who incorporated advanced applications such as spreadsheets, databases, or presentation software in their instruction. For a more complete review of these statistics and the implications for teacher beliefs on technology, see Ertmer, P.A. (2005). Teacher pedagogical beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technology integration? Educational Technology, Research and Development, 53(4), 25-39 and Hokanson, B., & Hooper, S. (2004). Integrating technology in classrooms: We have met the enemy and he is us. Paper presented at the annual convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Chicago, IL, October 19-23. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED485143)
These researchers note that the daily use of common societal technology applications falls short for all students, so why would we expect it to be any different for specialized applications like Assistive Technology?
The Oklahoma Disability Law Center cited resources as the greatest barrier to broad acceptance and support of classroom based Assistive Technology. For a full review, see
http://home.flash.net/~odlcokc/sept1598.html. With so many schools having access to technology and teachers self-reporting their feeling or preparedness, the resources that seems most culpable are time and money. Teachers do not have the time to a) fully understand the alternative technologies, b) they do not have the time to plan lessons that incorporate technology beyond a cursory manner, c) they do not have the time to learn complicated AT devices, and d) districts do not have the funding resources to provide adequate training and staffing to make using and understanding all school technologies efficient.
President Bush has just submitted his 2009 education budget, and for the fifth year in a row he has provided zero funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program; in fact he has made very little increases in education spending at all and not enough to keep pace with inflation. (See the 2/5 article at eSchoolnews.com here:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=52184;_hbguid=4b19a27d-ca7a-44c8-8017-708f16021d12). This of course creates a trickle down effect as the sluggish economy has already instilled panic among state legislatures. More than half of the states are projecting overall education cuts, and that puts funding for both professional development and supports to better utilize all technologies at risk. (See 2/14 eSchoolnews.com article on this topic here:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=52396;_hbguid=5be3e51b-4037-4454-a903-699796d56ebe.)
The field has already noted, repeatedly, the need for enhanced training, monitoring, and an infrastructure that promotes supported use and meaningful integration of all technology, including specialized Assistive Techs, in order to get beyond the current status quo of basic computer use. (See the work of David Houchins for more; especially 2001 Assistive Technology Barriers and Facilitators During Secondary and Post-Secondary Transitions.) These things of course require resource commitments, yet the evidence unfortunately suggests we will backslide as the proverbial belt gets tightened further and education falls back on their tried and true methods. And that is what brings us full-circle to the reason why there are still many challenges in using AT to support students in the general education classroom.
It has been demonstrated that teachers have facility with basic technology. Items such as word processing, basic web use, and e-mail repeatedly fall into the self-reported areas of comfort. The picture gets decidedly murkier when applications such as video or digital media are assessed, data and presentation software are examined, or specialized equipment like Alternative and Augmentative Communication devices are considered. That is why so often the same types of Assistive Technologies are the first choices by IEP teams - the Alphasmart, though a handy tool, is not the answer for every student! But that type of AT will be better supported because it fits into the common schema for educators. AT, like so many other initiatives in special education, falls prey to the failure to make individualized decisions at the student level and instead try to make the student's needs fit into the current structure. (See Franklin, C.A. (2007). Factors that influence elementary teachers' use of computers. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 15(2), 267-293 and Tobias, J. (2003). Information technology and universal design: An agenda for accessible technology. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, October, 592-601 for more information.)
Ray Schroeder, University of Illinois at Springfield Director of Technology-Enhanced Learning and renowned expert in the field of computer science, noted in his 2/16 blog (
http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/blogger.html)that the Age of the Computer was coming to an end. He was specifically discussing the failed delivery of the One Laptop Per Child Program. Schroder noted the rise of new technologies, specifically the cell phone, as the heir apparent to technological supports and connections for students. He is right, but instead of educators being at the forefront of this movement, we will be trying to catch up as our students have already moved on to instantaneous media and information at the tips of their fingers through their iPods, Zunes, social networking sites, and mobile phones and we're still trying to teach them basic Word Perfect. The best hope for the future is that these new technologies that are becoming typical of daily life are being designed with a universal support perspective, so perhaps the need for Assistive Technology will be less as common technology encompasses more.
