News

2011 CTE Colloquium focuses on technologies in the classroom; 10th anniversary of the SEAT Center

By Lauren Huffman

(May 10, 2011) Illinois State University's Council for Teacher Education held their annual Spring Colloquium on March 17-18, 2011. Based on the theme, Readily Available Technologies: Tools to promote success for students with disabilities, the colloquium focused on how new technologies can better serve students with disabilities, and how teachers and students at Illinois State can learn these technologies.

Additionally, the colloquium celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Special Education Assistive Technology (SEAT) Center. The SEAT Center is the gateway to assistive technologies for all teacher education majors at Illinois State University. SEAT prepares and informs all future teachers to use assistive technology with students with disabilities in their classrooms. The center works to integrate cutting-edge technologies into curriculum, making teacher preparation at ISU a one-of-a-kind program.

Through their presentations, both conference and student panelists embodied the three values of the SEAT Center: preparation, integration, and collaboration.

In collaboration with visitor panelists Denise DeCoste, Karen Janowski, and Jason Travers, attendees participated in a discussion regarding current procedures of assistive technology, and what these technologies may look like in the future. Additionally, these visitor sessions demonstrating free resources were beneficial to future teachers. Panelists showed students how to leverage some of the many tools available to teachers, and how integration of these new technologies can provide a more interactive classroom.

Another noteworthy breakout session demonstrated reading interventions, teacher candidates constructed tools to implement an intervention and were sent home with packets and tools that they can apply to their classrooms.

Phil Parette, director of the SEAT Center, and Brian Wojcik, coordinator of the SEAT Center, expounded on the SEAT Center's progress since its opening. SEAT has expanded from hosting six support clinics to 24 being currently held this semester. Over 17,000 have passed through the Center since its opening in 2001. Parette maintained that the SEAT Center's goal will always be to host "experience-based courses in order to support students with disabilities and other diverse learners." SEAT hopes to integrate the most cutting-edge technologies over time in order to maintain the top education program. According to Wojcik, SEAT's workshops are aimed at curriculum integration in hopes of "transforming what we're doing in the classroom to support the needs of all students."

In addition to the support that SEAT offers for teacher education majors at ISU, the Center works in collaboration with faculty, offers a student volunteer program, and has hosted more than 217 workshops at local, state, and national venues. Students Using and Integrating Technology in Education (SUITE), a registered student organization in partnership with SEAT has been recognized for its projects with an award from the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA).

SEAT continues to raise awareness about the importance of integrating assistive technologies in the classroom with its large body of research, and has published an astounding 149 peer-reviewed articles in its collaboration with associated faculty. SEAT excels in anticipation of the challenge to stay current with infrastructure support, and is committed to programs that deliver relevant instruction for students bound for the classroom.

Student panelists applied knowledge gleaned from the SEAT Center in afternoon breakout sessions. "Creating a Professional Learning Network (PLN)" offered a convenient lesson on how to expand your network with the use of technology, including social networking and RSS feeds to more easily reach those contacts. Junior special education major Michelle O'Rourke demonstrated how these PLNs offer a simple way to find and connect with others with similar interests.

Like PLNs, the SEAT Center provides a great resource for teacher education majors. O'Rourke frequently uses the SEAT Center's technology to work on Flip Books for classes and for her practicum. "I feel if teachers don't learn these technologies, they are doing a disservice to their students," she said.

According to Dean Deborah Curtis, the most important takeaway from the Colloquium was showing teacher candidates how these useful tools assist teachers as they help all students learn. "In a time when differentiating instruction is key to teaching learners at all different ability levels and learning styles, these technologies provide very rich resources to teachers helping them meet the needs of all kinds of learners."

Of course, the key to this is making sure that teachers are able to access these materials when they need them .One of the outstanding qualities of the SEAT Center are the types of technology offered that are unparalleled by other universities.

"Here at Illinois State we take very seriously the commitment to prepare the best teachers and educational leaders that we possibly can. A focus on that commitment means that we look at the individual development of each and every educator who moves through our coursework. That is why we endeavor to provide the type of opportunities that exist through instruction at the Special Education Assistive Technology (SEAT) Center here on our campus," said Dean Curtis.

One way that Special Education is preparing teachers is working internally with instructors to incorporate technology into curriculum. Special Education students are also required to take two classes specific to assistive technology through the SEAT Center. Additionally, all other teacher education majors pass through SEAT, taking competency exams to ensure technology aptitude.

Chair of the Department of Special Education, Jeff Bakken explains how technology is successfully incorporated into coursework, "One way that Special Education is preparing teachers is to make students familiar with technologies that are in the school, as far as demonstrating these technologies to them, and showing them how implement technology in the future," he says. This goes as far as showing students how technologies can assist them specific to subject they are teaching.

The SEAT Center and the benefits to be realized from the use of assistive technology have important implications for future teachers. Not only can these tools allow teachers to reach diverse learners, but one day could help to close the gap in education. "Illinois State educators have been learning about and gaining experience in using assistive technologies for a decade now. That is a pretty impressive accomplishment for an institution of our size," said Curtis. "With one in eight Illinois teachers being an Illinois State alum, that means that we have a huge impact on the Illinois schools in which those educators work."

This colloquium was sponsored by the Council for Teacher Education with support from a generous gift from Mary F. and Robert J. English. The Council for Teacher Education is the university-wide group responsible for developing requirements for teacher education programs and providing avenues of communication among all areas of the University concerned with teacher education. Every year, the CTE works in collaboration with Illinois State University to offer a host of opportunities for teacher education majors.