What do teachers think about using assistive technology in the classroom?

In April 2019 I published an article in the Journal of Special Education Technology focusing on teacher perceptions of assistive technology (AT) integration into their classrooms with my PhD supervisor (Lamond & Cunningham, 2019). We surveyed Ontario teachers about their AT knowledge and training, their basic computer literacy, their perception of administrative support for access to and implementation of AT, the usefulness of AT, and the factors that encourage or discourage AT use in the classroom.

We found that computer literacy and AT knowledge were significantly positively correlated with perceived usefulness of AT, but that AT knowledge alone predicted perceived usefulness of AT. So, the more teachers know about AT, the more likely they are to see it as useful for their students. Using a thematic analysis, we also identified that training and student factors may influence AT use, but there are still many unanswered questions about AT training and student perceptions of AT. I'll be delving more into these questions during my PhD dissertation research and will be sharing updates as they are available.

Check out the article here!

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Bronwyn Lamond is a PhD student in School and Clinical Child Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her research focuses on student and teacher perceptions of assistive technology. She works with Dr. Todd Cunningham in the Academic Intervention Lab, and co-produces a podcast called Accidental Intellectual focused on telling profoundly human stories of the humans behind the experts in health-related fields. In her spare time she like to sew, create, learn about sustainability, and spend time singing karaoke with her friends. 

#assistivetechnology #learningdisability #specialeducation #teaching