Web Conferencing and Diverse Learners

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Web Conferencing and DIVERSE LEARNERS

• AEET 735 Spring 2011

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Web Conferencing

• Web conferencing refers to a service that allows
  conferencing events to be shared with remote
  locations. Most vendors also provide either a
  recorded copy of an event, or a means for a
  subscriber to record an event. The service allows
  information to be shared simultaneously, across
  geographically dispersed locations in nearly
  real-time. Applications for web conferencing
  include meetings, training events, lectures, or
  short presentations from any computer. A
  participant can be either an individual person or
  a group.
• Source http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_conferenc
  ing

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Quick Web Conferencing Video
Source YouTube by MeetFreely Website Address
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vVPPGge33O1Y
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What is a Diverse Learner?

• A diverse learner is any individual that has
  differences. Differences range from factors such
  as age, gender, race, religion, culture, economic
  background, disabilities that all impact the way
  the learner experiences and views the world.

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Diverse Learner 1 Visual Disability

• The terms partially sighted, low vision, legally
  blind, and totally blind are used in the
  educational context to describe students with
  visual impairments.

Source http//www.nichcy.org/Disabilities/Specifi
c/Pages/VisualImpairment.aspx
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Diverse Learner 2 Auditory Disability

• Hearing loss is generally described as slight,
  mild, moderate, severe, or profound, depending
  upon how well a person can hear the intensities
  or frequencies most strongly associated with
  speech.
• There are four types of hearing loss, as follows
  (eHealthMD, n.d.) 
• Conductive hearing losses
• Sensorineural hearing losses
• mixed hearing loss
• central hearing loss

Source http//www.nichcy.org/Disabilities/Specifi
c/Pages/DeafnessandHearingLoss.aspx
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Diverse Learner 3 Motor Disability

• Motor disabilities are disabilities that effect a
  person's ability to learn motor tasks (moving and
  manipulating objects) such as walking, running,
  skipping, tying shoes, crawling, sitting,
  handwriting, and others.
• The types of motor disabilities are as follows
• Cerebral palsy
• Muscular dystrophy
• Multiple sclerosis
• Spina bifida
• ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease)
• Arthritis
• Parkinson's disease
• Essential tremor
• Spinal cord injury
• Loss or damage of limb(s)

Source http//www.about-cerebral-palsy.org/defini
tion/motor-disability.html
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Web Conferencing Relates to Diverse Learners
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Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

• The framework of UDL consists of instructional
  approaches that provide students with choices and
  alternatives in the materials, content, tools,
  contexts, and supports they use.
• Three Guidelines include
• I. Provide Multiple Means of Representation
• II. Provide Multiple Means of Action and
  Expression
• III. Provide Multiple Means of Engagement

Source http//www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/i
deas/tes/
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UDL and Assistive Technology (AT)

• UDL and assistive technology rely on new media to
  improve learning access
• Assistive Technology model assumes that a printed
  curriculum is a given and provides tools to
  support individual access to it
• Simply means to helping students overcome
  barriers in the curriculum

Source http//www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/i
deas/tes/
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How does UDL, AT, and Web Conferencing all relate?

• Web Conferencing needs to be accessible for all
  learner. Assistive technology can make that
  possible by providing learners with mobility,
  visual and auditory disabilities tools that will
  help the learner. Universal Design for Learning
  applies the flexibility piece of using AT in
  order to minimize barriers so that learners can
  engage in web conferencing.