SETDirect
SETDirect is an electronic newsletter for educators on assistive technology issues and resources. SET-BC publishes SETDirect to provide current information to support the implementation of technology for students with special needs in British Columbia. If you would like to be added to the SETDirect mailing list, click here to Subscribe. If you wish to Unsubscribe from SETDirect, Unsubscribe here
SET-BC Direct: April 2001 Special Education Technology-British Columbia Welcome to SET-BC Direct, an on-line newsletter for people who are interested in issues and resources regarding the use of assistive technologies in education. SET-BC Direct is intended to help teachers and other professionals who have questions regarding the implementation of technology for students with special needs. Subscribers may also be interested in the SET-BC program itself; our model for service delivery and the projects we develop to better assist students with disabilities.
In this issue: 1. SET News
1. SET News SET-BC's Annual Report for 1999-2000, "Partnerships in Action", is now available on our website. In addition to providing information on our program activities and services, this report highlights the difference that assistive technology and appropriate support can make in the lives of students with disabilities. We take this opportunity to welcome back Mike Bartlett, SET-BC Provincial Coordinator, who has been on leave since September 2000. With only three months to go in the school year, we look forward to another busy term of team training and professional development opportunities. Since the beginning of the new year, staff has had the opportunity to attend sessions at the Literacy Symposium sponsored by the University of North Carolina and at CSUN sponsored by the Center for Disabilities at Northridge California State University. Staff members took advantage of the opportunities to hear leaders in the field of assistive technology present their research findings and demonstrate new products for people with disabilities.
2. Training Opportunities i. SET-BC held its first Accessible Books Day. Read about it in SET Events. ii. Join Tim Connell, managing director of Quantum Technologies, Australia, and SET-BC on May 30, 2001 at SET-BC Provincial Centre, for a full day of training on the features of the MountbattenPro. For more information, visit UpComing! Events, or contact Elaine Ferguson. iii. Remember to register for Odyssey 2001: New Frontiers, the Canadian Vision Teachers conference being held at UBC in Vancouver from May 31 - June 3, 2001. Complete information is available online.be sure to check out the SET-BC Vision Technologies pre-conference workshop. iv. 2001 VisionTech Programs - SET-BC is excited to be teamed up with the CNIB - BC/Yukon Division to offer summer camp experiences that will give students with visual impairments opportunities to improve upon or refine their skills with a wide variety of assistive technologies. For the fourth consecutive summer, the VisionTech programs have been designed to meet a wide range of social, recreational and technological needs of students between the ages of 8 and 18. All students with visual impairments should give serious consideration to attending one of the three camps planned for the CNIB Bowen Island Lodge By The Sea during the month of August. Complete camp descriptions and registration information is available online. v. @Virtual Voices - SET-BC and the Easter Seal Camping Program are pleased to announce the second year of @Virtual Voices, a summer camp for students with augmentative communication needs. We hope to build on the success of last years camp to provide a great environment for teaching campers to improve their communication skills and participate in group activities. More information about @Virtual Voices 2001 and highlights from last year's camp are available online.
3. Project Updates SET Flex - an innovative initiative to meet the assistive technology needs of special needs students within the SET-BC mandate, is moving into the final phase of its first year. Feedback from the SET Flex Project will soon be available on our website
4. Software Kudos BuildAbility - is a new product by Don Johnston Inc. This application presents a user friendly authoring environment. As well as traditional multimedia tools, BuildAbility has an enticing Drawmation feature that allows the composers strokes to be rerun time and time again. The program also handles digitized voice and scanned or digitized graphics, music, and video clips with ease. At the recent SET-BC Accessible Books project day, we used BuildAbility to create an accessible onscreen book. Text could be highlighted and tracked as it was read word by word - a welcome feature not found in many multimedia applications. BuildAbility will be available soon from Don Johnston, Inc.
5. Web Travel Do2Learn - See, do and learn online. This web site provides learning activities to promote independence in children and adults with special learning needs. This site also offers links to many other sites where you can find information concerning specific disabilities. Visit http://www.dotolearn.com/ Teachers are encouraging their students to search the web with Google because of its large print and a filtering of non-appropriate sites. Visit http://www.google.com
6. Partners Each year, Bob Keller, the DJ sales rep for British Columbia, visits the SET-BC centres to present an update on new products for special needs technology users. This visit he demonstrated Draft Builder and BuildAbility - two software products that teachers will want in their classrooms.
Software Prize Draw - Enter the SET Direct draw for a chance to win software that enhances learning for special needs students. Email cmcavoy@setbc.org to enter. The winner of last months Word Bar software was Vicky Radley of the Cowichan Valley School District. Congratulations Vicky!
SET-BC is a Provincial Resource Program funded by the B.C. Ministry of Education. Its purpose is to assist school districts in British Columbia in meeting the technology needs of students with physical disabilities and visual impairments. SET-BC Direct is copyright © 2001 by Special Education Technology-British Columbia. Excerpts used for the purposes of quotation must be attributed explicitly to Special Education Technology-British Columbia. The information contained in this newsletter is drawn from sources believed to be reliable, but the accuracy and completeness of the information is not guaranteed, nor in providing it does Special Education Technology-British Columbia assume any liability. This newsletter is a public commentary for informational purposes only and does not represent an invitation to purchase or endorse products, and is not to be construed as a source of buy or sell recommendations. |