IMAGINE

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IMAGINE
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Picture it

• The school year has just begun
• The EC Chair and the Tech Facilitator meet
• Class roster.xls

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IT and AT meet!
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Fostering Collaboration Between K-12 Technology
and Special Education Leaders
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The Promise of Technology
They thought Todays instructional technologies
can provide students with essential access to
curriculum and offer educators with new ways to
differentiate instruction.
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Collaborative Leadership
Instructional Technology (IT) and Assistive
Technology (AT) leaders play crucial roles in
insuring that all students benefit from access to
instructional technologies. When IT and AT
operate independently the result can be . . .
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Impact of a Divided Approach

• Technology resources not leveraged district-wide
• Students have limited access to tools that
  address individual learning styles
• Lack of understanding of how system-wide use of
  accessible technologies can help all students
  achieve.
• Little pressure from educators for vendors to use
  Universal Design (UD) criteria

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Building Strategic Relationships
Accessible Technologies for All Students seeks to
bridge the divide between the general and special
education communities and demonstrate how
collaboration between them at the district level
can maximize the potential of education
technology.
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Collaboration will . . .

• More effectively leverage technology expertise,
  resources and political support
• Promote the system-wide use of accessible
  technologies
• Increase school capacity to provide
  differentiated instruction for all students

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Back tooHow did they get there?

• IT and EC came together and developed the AT
  position.
• EC pays the Salary
• IT waters and feeds AT

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A New Conversation
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Accessible Technologies Initiative Activities

• Aggressive communications strategy aimed at
  district-level technology and special education
  decision makers
• Publications outlining K-12 accessibility and
  technology advantages and issues
• Self-assessment tools for school districts
• Professional Development resources

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Accessible Technologies Initiative Activities

• Web-based educators toolkit that will include
  checklists, slide shows and best practices
  www.accessibletech4all.org
• Case studies highlighting successes and
  challenges
• Survey of K-12 school district leaders to
  identify common issues and/or problems

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Join the Conversation!

• Sign up for the project enewsletter
  www.accessibletech4all.org
• Alert us to best practices donelle_at_accessibletec
  h4all.org

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About CoSN
Founded in 1992, the Consortium for School
Networking (CoSN), a national nonprofit
organization, is the premier voice in education
technology leadership. Mission To advance the
K-12 education communitys capacity to
effectively use technology to improve learning
through advocacy, policy and leadership
development.
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Special Thanks to

• Founding Platinum Partner
• Founding Gold Partners
• Media Partner

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Consortium for School Networking
www.cosn.org1710 Rhode Island Avenue NWSuite
900Washington, DC 20036-3007