News
SUITE attends the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) Meeting
By Lauren Huffman
(November 16, 2009) Students Using and Integrating Technology in Education (SUITE) attended the Assistive Technology Industry Association Meeting held in Chicago recently. Fifteen members were present for a reception held in their honor at the Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center. David Dikter, executive director of ATIA, and Caroline Van Howe, director of programs for ATIA, acknowledged the potential that they see in SUITE and commended them for their commitment to technology innovation in education and in the community.
"When they recognized that we had this student group, their thinking was that students are the future of both their organization, as well as education in general, because these are the future experts—people who have an interest in technology," said SUITE faculty sponsor, Dr. Phil Parette.
SUITE's participation at the meeting was a great way to garner national visibility, with over 150 technology vendors present in the exhibition hall that day.
ATIA was made aware of SUITE through their involvement with the SEAT Center. ATIA and SEAT collaborate on a scholarly journal, Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits.
In fact, it is due to the SEAT Center that the new SUITE organization was formed. Dr. Parette and his colleague, Brian Wojcik, coordinator of the SEAT Center, realized the impact that the SEAT Center was having on students and their involvement with technology at the University. With the size of student enrollment in assistive technology courses at Illinois State, they wondered why a student organization providing technology resources for students to learn more about available technology applications did not yet exist.
"We know that there is a cadre of students campus-wide who have grown up in a technology rich world, who have interest in technology," said Parette. "So recognizing all of those things, we decided, well let's see if we can get a group together who would be interested in furthering their understanding of technology applications, being able to show what they know about particular technology devices."
A group of Dr. Parette's students, being avid users of technology themselves, immediately stepped forward to form the executive board of the organization. They grabbed the concept and put together a constitution and by-laws. They have already had several meetings.
The student leader of SUITE, Amanda Sedlock, works with four fellow student members on an executive board and looks forward to the challenges of starting up a new organization. Sedlock, a senior Special Education major, is working to establish the organization through a series of meetings and events, in hopes of gaining more participants in the organization. Their first social event is a scavenger hunt, where they will utilize geocaching, a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world with GPS navigation technology.
Sedlock also hopes to integrate some new technology applications to ISU's campus through SUITE meetings. "I do know that there is a lot of technology out there that needs to be addressed during SUITE meetings," she says. "We are looking at working with the Smart Board and communication systems. I would also like to bring many of the technologies from the conference to ISU."
About SUITE
This semester, the College of Education welcomed the Students Using and Integrating Technology in Education (SUITE) organization to its roster of registered student organizations. SUITE focuses on current and emerging applications of technology in education. The organization provides learning opportunities to students and advocates the use of contemporary technologies within the ISU campus community. Students of all majors and faculty are welcome to join.
To find out more about SUITE, visit their Facebook page.