Using ICT to Support Students who are Deaf

1. Using ICT to Support Students who are Deaf

2. Professional Development and Support: Why? • Isolation • Unique and common problems • Affirmation • Pace of change in education • Policy of integration • Parental expectations and awareness • Professionalism • Educational partnership

3. Professional Development and Support: How? Through the Internet: • Access to expertise/information • On-line courses • Chat rooms • Message Boards • Mailing lists • Sharing of resources Other: • Support groups in education centres

4. A teacher of the deaf may need: • The facility to individualise teaching and learning materials • New and exciting ways of learning to motivate students • Administrative tools to help with planning, record keeping etc. • What else?

5. A Deaf Student Two specific areas of need: • Acquisition of language • Development of a communication system

6. A Deaf Student • Has difficulty in acquiring language in the same way as the hearing student and may have a poor vocabulary • May have difficulty in developing a communication system • May have difficulty learning at the same rate as hearing students • May have a below average reading age and have difficulty coping with text books written for their chronological age

7. A Deaf Student • Will need much reinforcement • Very often has low confidence and/or self esteem • May have memory problems • May have difficulty with writing • May need extra support in class and extra time spent on a topic

8. A Deaf Student • May have difficulty moving from the concrete to the abstract • May not seek assistance when needed • May have difficulty expressing ideas • May have difficulty keeping track of what everyone says in a class discussion • May have difficulty socialising with hearing peers

9. Memory Triangle 5% Lecture Reading 10% Hearing 20% Seeing Demonstration 30% Watching a video Seeing it done 50% Giving a talk Group work 70% Project work Cross-curricular work Teaching others 90% • Most people remember

10. Memory Triangle 5% Lecture Reading 10% Hearing 20% Seeing Demonstration 30% Watching a video Seeing it done 50% Giving a talk Group work 70% COMPUTER Project work Cross-curricular work Teaching others 90% • ICT facilitates Active Teaching and Learning Methods

11. Memory Triangle Most peopleremember: • 10% of what we read (difficult if the deaf student has literacy problems) • 50% of what we see and hear (a problem for deaf students) • 90% of what we do (can benefit deaf students a great deal)

12. Common types of ICT use • Teaching tool • Learning tool • Administrative tool • A source of educational content • A collaborative tool • A medium of communication • A student’s functional aid (assistive technology) • A medium of creative expression

13. How can ICT help the teacher? • Facilitates individual instruction • Facilitates individual learning • Facilitates provision of additional support in mainstream classes • To vary teaching methods and add variety to lessons • Can be used as a source of professional development and support

14. How can ICT help the teacher? • Reinforce basic skills • Design programs to meet the needs of students • Facilitates communication • Locate resources • Assessments • Record keeping • Preparation of notes • Research

15. How can ICT support deaf students? • Opens up new methods of communication for deaf students • Very visual medium-pictures and animations • Not dependent on the spoken word • Can extend the use of language and reinforce vocabulary • Can extend the understanding of concepts • Allows deaf students to access information thus increasing confidence, independence and self- esteem

16. How can ICT support deaf students? • Facilitates independent learning and collaborative learning • Promotes active learning • Allows students to work at own pace and level • Allows students to produce high quality, professional looking work • Students may more readily accept feedback from a computer than teacher

17. Types of ICT • Educational software • Interactive resources • Software for communication (e.g. voice recognition) • Technology for speech synthesis (e.g. Dynavox)

18. Types of ICT • Interactive white boards • Digital cameras • Videophones, videoconferencing • Text messaging, email, Internet • Laptops, portable writing devices

19. Software / ICT Resources Watch for: • Sound dependency • Compatibility with listening devices • Appropriate visual presentation • Use of icons / captioning

20. Where can ICT help? • CD-ROM and multimedia software – both commercial and “home made” to provide access to visual information • Reinforce language, vocabulary or concepts • Word processors and predictive software programs to help develop writing skills • Presentation software to visually display information for projects, web pages, etc.

21. Where can ICT help? • Presentation of information in new ways to organise thoughts – planning and organising programs, spreadsheets, databases • Communication technology to facilitate communication between deaf and other students • The Internet has transformed the lives of many deaf people by allowing access to information and by facilitating communication