SET-BC Direct: June 12, 2000

Volume 2, Issue 4
Special Education Technology-British Columbia

http://www.setbc.org

SET-BC Direct is intended to assist teachers and other professionals involved in 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 assist students with disabilities.
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1. SET News - SET-BC Direct goes on summer vacation!

This will be our last full issue of SET-BC Direct until September, and we hope that you have found our on-line newsletter useful and interesting. At SET-BC, we have watched the publication evolve, and are now busy planning next year's issues. We look forward to a more interactive version of SET-BC Direct in the future. This means more opportunities for subscribers to participate and provide feedback to SET-BC as an organization. Our plans include: reader surveys, polls, an on-line support centre for school-based teams, and --yes-- even contests! Another change to SET-BC Direct is that the links to our website...will take you to a new and improved website. Easier navigation, on-line forms for SET-BC District Partners, and a Technology Exchange Centre are some of the features we hope to incorporate. These are some of the ideas we will be working on through the summer months. If you have any suggestions for improvements you would like to see, please drop us a line at FORGET-IT@setbc.org. Wishing you a pleasant summer!

A-T Literacy Resource Guide - The Curriculum Interest Group at SET-BC is working with SET-BC teams to collect assistive-technology resource strategies and setups which support early literacy training. Watch for the SET-BC Assistive Technology (A-T) Literacy Resource Guide in Fall 2000.

2. Training Opportunities - Technology Camps for Students: Summer 2000
SET-BC is pleased to announce an expanded partnership with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind B.C./Yukon Division (CNIB) and a new partnership with Lions Club/Easter Seal regarding camps being offered this summer for students with disabilities. @ Vision Tech 2000 will be comprised of technology camp opportunities for students with Visual Impairments. Families will register this year solely through the CNIB. SET-BC will assist in identifying appropriate candidates for the camps; District Partners and Vision Teachers are encouraged to contact regional SET-BC staff regarding the process. For more information, go to http://www.setbc.org/vistech2000

@Virtual Voices 2000, is a camp for students with augmentative communication needs, to be held at Camp Squamish from August 31st to September 4th. For more information visit http://www.setbc.org/virtualvoices/
2.ii. Vision teachers from across Canada will attend Odyssey 2001: New Frontiers in Vancouver from May 31 - June 3, 2001. We invite SET Direct readers to submit a proposal for a presentation for this 4th Biennial Conference of Canadian Vision Teachers. Go to http://www.setbc.org/odyssey for more information.

3. Project Updates
SET-BC projects for the 1999/2000 year are:

The Mountbatten Project. Project Coordinator: Anne Wadsworth, PRCVI

The Kurzweil Project. Project Coordinator: Constance McAvoy, SET-BC

Technology Implementation Project (TIP). Project Coordinator: Paul Carson, SET-BC
Project reports will be available in June 2000. Contact project coordinators for more information.
Kurzweil participants enjoyed exploring the newest capability of Kurzweil 3000 - form filling. "It was a breeze getting forms to the screen, completed, and printed. These capabilities are found in the scan/read Kurzweil 3000 version 5 edition of the software.

4. Software Kudos
Groliers 2000 Encyclopedia; available in Windows or Mac CD format; price ~$60

Find the facts easily in the enclyclopedia and on-line.
Twenty SET-BC teams on Vancouver Island recently took part in the Writers' Workshop event. Students and teachers alike were impressed with the search capabilities found in the Grolier's 2000 Encyclopedia. In addition to good content and friendly search features, each Groliers article includes options - right on the page - to click and go to the "Groliers Internet Index" which lists internet resources - on your topic - in an easy to navigate format as well as the option to go to several additional online encyclopedias. Groliers Internet Index also includes the general reading level for the online resources it lists. For more information, go to http://www.gi.grolier.com

5.Web Travel
When BC educators see this resource their eyes light up! Do you want to save preparation time in creating modified activiites to go with many of the most popular units in your classroom? Davies and Johnson Associates Ltd. in White Rock, B.C. have produced adapted/modified materials for writing output. (These workbooks are for written response activities; they are not simplified versions of the texts.) For more information, go to http://www.featureweb.com/specialeducationalmaterials

Photofinishing Internet Style - We at SET-BC enjoy sharing photos via the internet. Check to see if your photofinishing company can put your roll of pictures on the internet (to be shared with anyone you send the roll id# to).

6. Partners
Aroga - Minspeak Training
In keeping with their mandate to provide the utmost in after-sales support and training, Aroga trainer Elaine Holtham has been busy providing introductory training on VOCA devices.

Many of these VOCA's use Words Strategy tm software which gives fast, easy access to two types of vocabulary: words we use everyday and words we need for specific situations. Minspeaktm icons for the words used most often don't change or move and finding them soon becomes automatic, increasing the speed of communication. Several SET-BC students who use Minspeak will be attending the Virtual Voices camp this summer. (VOCA = Voice Output Communiation Aid) For more information, go to http://www.Aroga.com and http://www.prentromint.com.

The New UBC VI Program
Beginning Summer 2000, the University of British Columbia will offer coursework leading to a Master's degree in visual impairment which will allow participants to attend classes full time during summer term on campus in Vancouver and complete additional coursework during the academic year through a variety of distance options including video conferencing, web-based courses, and other distance options.
Students enrolling in this program should already possess teaching credentials. It is the intent of this program to allow teachers who are currently working in school districts to participate in this graduate program without interruption of their teaching schedules.
For more information please contact:

cay.holbrook@ubc.ca or visit http://www.ecps.educ.ubc.ca/whatnew/html/index.html

7. Tips and Tricks - Back UP Alert!
This is a good time of year to consider making a back-up copy of any essential student data or vocabulary that you do not want to lose over the summer time. Every fall we see a higher incidence of machine failure, (usually memory loosing battery failure) then at other times of the year. Do not store or send home with a student, any material that you can not afford to lose!
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