Improving Assistive Technology Training in Teacher Education Programs: The Iowa Model

Introduction

The University of Iowa’s College of Education created the Iowa Center for Assistive Technology Education and Research (ICATER) in 2006 to respond to the stated need of increased preservice AT teacher training by those across the state who worked with AT on a regular basis. Assistive technology services in Iowa are provided by an Area Education Agency. The state is divided into ten Area Education Agencies (AEAs) each covering large areas and containing numerous school districts (Iowa Department of Education, 2009). Each AEA has an AT team, however, these teams are small; especially when the physical size and number of districts served within each AEA are considered. Some AEA’s have over 3,000 students with AT written into their Individualized Education Plan, yet have fewer than ten AT professionals to work with these students. These constraints make it impossible for the AEA AT professionals to work with every student with AT needs on a regular basis.

Many teachers in these schools either do not have the required knowledge to effectively use the technology with the students as needed, or are not comfortable incorporating and using AT in class. Without the support and willingness to follow through of the classroom teachers, the work done by the AT professionals often leads to improper use, limited use, or AT abandonment (Cook & Hussey, 1995; Phillips, B., & Zhao, 1993). Thus, it was identified that not only is it important to provide professional development training opportunities to teachers in the field, but it is critical to create a new generation of teachers, both general and special education, that are not only knowledgeable in the use of various types of AT, but also comfortable enough to properly incorporate them in the classroom environment. To do this, it is imperative to incorporate AT education and training into preservice teacher education programs.

Although proficiency in AT for preservice teachers is emphasized in the 2001 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) technology standards, only a few articles exist describing instructional methods for integrating AT into teacher education programs (Van Laarhoven, Munk, Zurita, Lynch, Zurita, & Smith, 2009). The Iowa Center for Assistive Technology Education and Research took this relative vacuum of information on providing preservice teacher AT training as an opportunity to create a new model program involving a combination of both obtaining information through lectures and meaningful hands-on experiences with AT commonly found in school settings. This chapter will focus on these innovative initiatives being undertaken at the University of Iowa to improve teacher’s knowledge of and comfort with AT.