Teacher Attitudes Toward the Inclusion
of Technology When
Presenter #1
Barry Birnbaum
Northeastern Illinois University
5500 N St Louis Avenue
Chicago
IL
4044- O6ZC
USA
Day Phone: 773 442 5593
Fax:173 442 5590
Email: b-birnhaum@neiu.edu
Working with Students with Disabilities
This session will focus on the attitudes teachers have when they need to
incorporate technology into the classroom. A survey was developed that measured
these attitudes and the results will be distributed and discussed.
A
grant was awarded to
These individuals had no experience or exposure when working with students
or persons with disabilities. They were given free notebook computers by IBM
where they were responsible for evaluating software such as Kurzweil
and Laureate to determine how such programs could be used in the classroom. The
pre-survey measured initial attitudes while the post-survey determined how the student
attitudes had changed. Initially, there was some hesitation on the part of the
students in deciding to work with students with disabilities. Three students
dropped out of the program because they felt “intimidated” by having to teach
in a classroom with this population. This was during the initial placement as a
substitute and at the beginning of their coursework. Attitudes greatly shifted
because of the use and training in the use of technology, particularly
assistive technology. One required course in assistive technology seemed to
play a role in this shift. It appeared, therefore, that supporting these students
with a course in AT changed their perceptions of working with students with
disabilities. Those who attend this session will be given a copy of the survey
that was developed along with the results from the first two cohorts of the
grant. Since this was a two year program, the data covers four years and
includes the results of nearly fifty graduate students who were part of the program.