CONT947: Using Assistive Technology to Scaffold Instruction

Course Schedule

Course Description

As the rapid evolution of technology allows information to be shared ever widely, students need to be able to comprehend and critically analyze information. Assistive technology (AT) aids students in deconstructing, understanding, analyzing, and reconstructing information.

In this course, you’ll explore how to use AT tools as instructional scaffolds to help students access curriculum content and share their ideas. You’ll review the underlying principles of AT as a universal design for learning (UDL) support. You’ll explore ways to use AI as an assessment tool to access and organize information. The importance of evaluating AI-generated information and sources will also be a focus.

Throughout the course, you’ll draw on research to develop a growth plan for incorporating AT into your instructional practice by considering your strengths, stretches, teaching context, goals for student learning, and targeted functions. The growth plan will be used to develop a learning module with embedded AT instructional supports. The module will support your students in using integrated AT tools to help them deconstruct and analyze content material and share their learning.

What You Will Learn and Do

In this course you’ll have the opportunity to

• explore how scaffolding can support diverse learners using the principles of the UDL in a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS)
• see how AT tools can be used as instructional and learning scaffolds to help students access content and share their ideas
• apply the student environment task and tool (SETT), technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), and quality indicators for AT (QIAT) frameworks to select AT tools that meet student needs and assess their effectiveness
• identify key literacy, language, and comprehension functions that can be supported by AT
• consider AI platforms as instructional tools for teachers and learning tools for students while being mindful of the possibilities and caveats of using AI in education
• develop a personal professional growth plan to use AT tools as instructional scaffolds
• design a learning module that integrates AT as a scaffolding support for both instruction and learning

Application Requirements

Course Materials

Accommodations

Applicants who require accommodations for a specific learning need (e.g., learning disability) within their AQ/ABQ course, should click here for further information and support.

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Refund Schedule

If you drop a course:

1. by the midpoint of the course, you will receive 100% of your course fee.
2. after the midpoint, before the end of the course, you will receive 50% of your course fee.

For more about our refund policies, visit our Fees & Refunds page.