HandiCapable

I think it is too easy in this day and age to support people with different needs using technology that is now cheap and readily available.

One of the key problems is how much extra time it takes to help people detracts from the entire group effort. So technology that bridges the gap in unobtrusive ways is key. If the class can be recorded or translated say into sign language without the need for the teacher to adapt or change this opens up inclusion and equal learning in a way never available in the past. More focus on making the person with disabilities able to take on challenges themselves without need for outside resources is going to help them in the long term and not become dependent on unnecessary help.

It is also useful if the people without disabilities can also benefit from the use of technology. Say you use the text to speech converter to help someone with reading problems, you can also post the original text and the pod-cast to be available to anyone. If someone missed class or just missed something they could use this content to get caught back up.

Technology by its very nature should appear to be magic. You dont know how it works, you dont see what it is doing, it should be so simple to use it is obvious in function and simple to determine functionality. This is the opposite of current reality, but must be the goal so that the tech is most helpful to the provider(the teacher) and the user to ensure the most benefits with the least amount of effort. We should only invest in technology that fits this model or too much will be spent and not used or discarded after a few soured attempts.

It is also good there are laws like the ADA and IDEA to force this to be the case, but those only provide a basic framework and as with any government are designed to raise people up to a certain bottom. These laws should be far exceeded and compliance should go way beyond them, even if it means getting outside funding either with grant applications or other fundraising. The technology also changes way to fast for a law to keep up with and thus current tech must be purchased even it if hasn't made it on the approved list.

Eric Smith master of the universe, ruler of all that is or is not

Parental Units

I think we should use blogs to inform the parents about their kids daily activities and get them involved in conversations at home. Say there is a class presentation by the kids, take pictures of each child and blog about what it was about, parents can see it on the same day it happened and maybe will ask about it at home. This also allows parental feedback and they can also see whatelse is happening in the class and maybe find other parents of classmates to bond with.