Two Long Serving SET-BC Consultants Set to Retire

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Constance’s Thoughts…

I started work with SET-BC in 1992 as a regional consultant in the Victoria office.  In 1997 I joined the SET-BC Provincial Resource Team and in 2005 began to share my time working for both SET-BC and the Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI). My major roles have been as Resources and Projects Coordinator.  I am especially proud of the Accessible Books Project, and the teamwork involved in developing the SET-BC website, the GPS project and the Teen Tech Summer Programs on Bowen Island.

I loved working for SET-BC and PRCVI.  I enjoyed the challenge of being a pioneer in assistive technology education and training.  The opportunity to work with students and educators and support their learning and technology journey toward greater independence and productivity was truly a joy.  The leadership and community at SET-BC inspired and encouraged me to pursue my passions for literacy, mathematics, and accessible resources  - culminating in the Universal Design for Learning Project.

It has been a great journey for me from Apple IIe’s, c’s and GS’ with a tower of 4 disk drives and 5 ¼ floppies to today’s world of hard drives, usb applications, SmartBoards, GPS,  and the dynamics of online resources and communities. My greatest surprise was that everyone had to learn to use computers!  When I started learning about and using computers in the early 80’s, the targeted use was mostly for mathematic computations and greater independence for people with disabilities.

One of my favorite students was Aedan, one of my first clients at SET-BC. I was a new consultant, supporting students with visual impairments on Vancouver Island, and was given the file for Aedan. In the planning meeting, we selected JAWS and a laptop for Aedan.  He was more than a little keen about getting his new technology so once the equipment arrived we made a plan to work each Wednesday morning from recess to noon until we had covered the basics.  I drove from Victoria to Nanaimo every Wednesday for 6 weeks to work with Aedan.  I took a JAWS course.  Each Wednesday when I arrived, Aedan and his team, Teresa and Jennifer, would be waiting at the school door to greet me.  Then as we walked to the meeting room, Aedan would begin to outline his ideas for the training session.  Often I had to “study up” for next week’s lesson content and ultimately we all learned so much under Aedan’s able direction!  

And technology did make a difference to Aedan’s life:

• on making the BC Reach for The top team in the National Finals in Toronto - Aedan recalls he scored 100% in the "geek speak" (technology) category, a just reward for all the time and energy he spent on his technology pursuits
• on being selected to attend SCORE Camp, a summer camp in Ontario sponsored by the Gretskys - Aedan attended SCORE camp in Ontario where he won a $500 award for displaying the greatest creativity in adapting to new technology. When Aedan was presented with the award, he got to shake Walter Gretzky's hand.
• and since graduating from high school - Aedan has gone on to pursue his interest in journalism at Malaspina college and his part time employment was working on tech support  help lines.

Now that my years at SET-BC are coming to an end, I look forward to playing competitive bridge, traveling, playing with my grandchildren, and hopefully having some involvement in Universal Design for Learning or Math project work.

I am looking forward to watching the evolution of technology that ‘retrains the brain’ and related brain imaging work.  I am also interested in the evolution of Mathematics instruction and believe changes are on their way with the advent of the SmartBoard and visually based curriculum such as the CLSO Mathematics materials.

SET-BC is a great place to follow your dreams and your passions in teaching and technology.  Thanks for all the wonderful opportunities. 

Rick’s Thoughts…

“Thanks for the Memories”…  Indeed the past fifteen years with SET-BC have been personally and professionally the most rewarding career option that I could ever have wished for! In reflecting on these years, I feel that working directly with ‘our’ students has for me been the most fulfilling aspect of my career plus, so often being on the ‘bleeding’ edge of implementing new technology has perhaps been the most exhausting!  Whatever should I do with my dozens of 5 inch Apple II floppies with AFC and Ke:Nx setups as well as the dozens of IntelliKeys overlays that Suzanne Kilborn and I sweated over for so many dozens of hours?

Undoubtedly, the most enjoyable time with SET-BC centres on the earlier ‘whole team’ emphasis under some of the original ‘Program Developers’ --  particularly, from my perspective, Neilane Thomas and the original, cohesive and enthusiastic team that she built in Region 3.  I must also commend Paul Carson and Elaine Ferguson for their vision and leadership ‘way-back-when’.  I sincerely thank these three individuals for their specific encouragement and support; in particular when I was ‘new to the program’.  I’m certain that many would acknowledge that it was the vision plus the style of leadership of these three key pioneers that have made our program the phenomenal success that it is today!  If there is one regret that I have about retiring just now, it is simply that I will not be part of Elaine’s vision and direction for SET-BC in the coming years!

At the consultant level I truly enjoyed being valued and appreciated for being part of a great many school teams – what a delightful accolade to be so enthusiastically thanked for providing solutions that were so helpful to so many students! I recall that some of the earliest ‘interventions’, with some painfully rudimentary technology, were quite startling and at the same time so very rewarding. Who would have guessed that Amanda was able to “draw” or that Jolyn had such a sense of humor and flair for writing!   Especially when it took head-switches and Morse code for both of them to show the world ‘what was inside’. And it was no easy task for either of them, using our earliest Apple II and DOS 3.2 access software!

Overall, my tenure with SET-BC has indeed been entirely rewarding, especially when I reflect on my preceding umpteen years as a high-school teacher, attempting to introduce so many rather reluctant teenagers to the newest technology and software – we’ve come a long way from those first “286’s” with VisiCalc and WordPerfect…
As ‘parting comments’ I would sincerely like to commend the entire team at our Provincial Centre for the work that they do - particularly the work to support consultants in the regions.   Plus I would like to specifically thank the many ‘long-timers’ at the Provincial Centre for the help and support that you have provided me over these many years!

As for my ‘retirement plans’ (of which the seminars tell us not to make too many) I need to catch up on some R&R and on some 'projects' -- it's time to start downsizing!   I have a two-year plan to re-model my place plus 'tidy up loose ends' here in Vernon and then to slow down even more and enjoy the rural life with my partner Neil and our horses and dogs in the Keremeos area!  Plus my doctor tells me that I must also try to avoid computers in the future!