Program Updates

SET-BC’s Annual report for 2004-05 is now available online.

SET-BC Service Update - SET-BC consultants have been working hard across the province to serve students in your school districts.  We are in the process of completing Cycle 2 and Cycle 4 at SET-BC. There were 181 Requests for Service made in Cycle 2 and 32 Requests for Service made in Cycle 4 for a total of 213.  With the 255 Requests for Service in Cycle 1 this year, SET-BC has received 475 Requests for Service to date.  Our consultants are providing consultation, training and resources for these school teams, as well as for teams and students who received technology loans in previous years

Technical Support Centre - School-based teams can call 1-866-SETDESK (1-866-738-3375) for technical support for assistive technologies provided by our loan bank. Teams can now also ask for this support using our online “Support Request Form” at www.setbc.org/support.

Announcing Virtual Voices Village

SET-BC is launching Virtual Voices Village, an online community for BC students with disabilities. Participating students will gather in this virtual Village to discuss their ideas in online forums, publish their creative work and build valuable life and employment skills and self-esteem. Contributions to the Village may help some students complete their graduation portfolio and CAPP requirements for community service. Participants’ privacy and safety is assured, as the site is moderated, and parental permissions are required.

Virtual Voices Village is associated with 2010 Legacies Now and 3M. This partnership is a tremendous opportunity to support literacy and community involvement by connecting students with the 2010 Winter Olympics. Students will have the chance to attend sporting events prior to and during the games, using their assistive technology to report on the games and to write about events in their community.
           
In an effort to promote this new project, we are holding a Digital Publishing Contest. Students will write a story or craft a piece of visual art on the theme “In My Community….”   Please encourage SET-BC students in your school to participate in this contest. See http://www.vvvillage.org for contest details.

Don’t let your students miss this tremendous opportunity to develop literacy skills and build a community using their assistive technology.

What's new at www.setbc.org?

Accessible Books – Visit our Accessible Books webpage, to listen to Louie Johnnie read “The Fishing Trip”, view our list of accessible books, and download the order form to request these books for students with disabilities (for BC schools only).

New resources and training modules – Look for the yellow “New” icons when you visit the Main Library of our online Learning Centre. You’ll find new training modules, tutorials, and demonstrations on the following topics and more:

• Alphasmart
• Boardmaker
• Balanced Literacy
• Kurzweil 3000 version 9
• Screen Doors
• Simon Sounds It Out
• Start to Finish
• Word Maker

What's new in the Loan Bank?

We'd like to draw your attention to the following new software titles or major version upgrades for SET-BC's loan bank. You can visit manufacturers' websites for details about new features in these programs.

• Dana with Write:OutLoud To Go from Don Johnston
• IntelliSwitch from Madentec
• Neo with Co:Writer Smart Applet from Don Johnston
• Read&Write 8 GOLD from textHelp
• Talking Symbols Notepad from Ablenet
• WordQ from Quillsoft

PSAP Community Opens its Doors!

This month saw the launching of the PSAP Community area on our website. This exciting eForum will provide teams who are using PSAP software with helpful implementation advice and strategies. Everyone is invited to visit the first discussion Scanning Materials for Kurzweil 3000. This discussion will be open until Spring Break – teams using Kurzweil 3000 are invited and encouraged to visit the eForum area to read the discussion and contribute their ideas and strategies by posting a message. Registration is a very simple process involving assignment of a username and password with full instructions available in the eForum area. Please drop by and see how others around the province are effectively using Kurzweil 3000 to support student literacy programs.
                                             
For all the latest news on the Provincial Software Acquisition Plan, please view What’s New!.  This month, information on the network version of Kurzweil 3000 is featured.  For more information on PSAP in general, please email us at psap@setbc.org.

SET-BC is a Ministry of Education Provincial Resource Program. We assist school districts in British Columbia in meeting the technology needs of students with physical disabilities, visual impairments, and autism.