New curriculum in development!

Self-Determination and Assistive Technology

Vision

Empower young people with disabilities to achieve their personal goals.

Mission

Prepare secondary students with disabilities to understand the purpose, selection, acquisition, and use of accommodations (including assistive technology devices) and advocate for their legal right to accommodations (including assistive technology) in postsecondary settings.

Target audience

Students with disabilities (IEPs or 504 plans) in junior or senior year or school-district provided transition programming who plan to attend a traditional 4 year college, a traditional 2-year community college, 4-year college with structured support programs, fee-for-service college program for students with disabilities, bridge program to college, college alternative programs (TPSID), vocational trade/certification programs, or students who plan to work competitively in an environment that requires a significant amount of onboarding, job orientation and ongoing training.

Long-term outcomes:

1. Increase the self-efficacy of high school and transition students with disabilities to use accommodations (including assistive technology) to achieve their academic and career goals
2. Increase the self-evaluation skills of high school and transition students with disabilities to determine the effectiveness of their accommodations (including technology) across different activities and environments 
3. Increase self-advocacy skills of high school and transition students with disabilities for accommodation needs and rights (including assistive technology) across environments and systems 

Short-term outcomes

1. Increase student’s ability to determine academic and career goals and personal learning profile
2. Increase student’s ability to identify how well their accommodations (including AT) are working
3. Increase student’s ability to explain how changes affect accommodations (including AT)
4. Increase student’s ability to decide what technology to use
5. Increase student’s understanding of how rights laws apply to them
6. Increase student’s ability to articulate a clear sense of goals and how they are affect by accommodations (including AT).

Learning targets

1. Define my academic/career goals
2. Identify skills needed to achieve my academic/career goals
3. Compare/contrast goals profile with my profile (i.e., create jagged profile)
4. Identify my current accommodations and analyze their purpose
5. Evaluate whether my accommodations are working for me
6. Determine how my need for accommodations can change
7. Apply steps to figure out what additional accommodations/AT might help me, now or in the future
8. Communicate my need to use accommodations (including AT) to a variety of people

Curriculum outline

• Designed for K12 seniors and transition students
• Eight units based on career planning and self-advocacy (the following draft outline is subject to change)
  • Unit 1: What is my career destination?
    • Learn about personality types
    • What careers match my personality?
    • What is my career destination?
  • Unit 2: What is my career profile?
    • What are task demands?
    • What are educational skills?
    • What are the task demands and educational skills of my career destination?
  • Unit 3: How do I match up with my career profile?
    • Who’s average? Nobody!
    • Mapping my jagged career profile
    • How do I match up with my career profile?
  • Unit 4: How do I adjust the demands of my career?
    • What is an accommodation?
    • What are my accommodations in school?
    • What educational accommodations do I use?
    • How do I adjust the demands of my career?
  • Unit 5: How well do my accommodations work?
    • How do I decide if accommodations are working?
    • Do my accommodations work?
    • How do I communicate the results?
  • Unit 6: How do my accommodations change over time?
    • What things will change?
    • How do changes affect my accommodations?
  • Unit 7: What accommodations might work better for me?
    • Would technology work?
    • How do I get a tool and learn how to use it?
    • Does the tool work?
  • Unit 8: How do I use self-advocacy to navigate my future?
    • [sub units under development]

Delivery mechanism

• Web-based learning management system
• Self-paced but parent or teacher guided
• Portfolio-based learning assessment
• Free access through federal ADA grant

How can I get involved?

• Provide expert review of the content
• Participate in pilot studies
  • We are currently looking for participants to pilot the prototype curriculum during the upcoming academic year (2022-2023)
    • Participate in an orientation training (recorded or live)
    • Work through the curriculum with one student in the target range (high school senior or 18-21 year old in K12 transition program)
      • Text-only content. No videos provided during prototype pilot.
      • Deliver curriculum as direct instruction during prototype pilot for maximum feedback.
    • Get in-depth feedback from the student about their perspective on the lessons and their understanding of the content. The student has the opportunity to contribute to content development!
    • Report back
  • Full pilot study during academic year 2023-2024.

Sign up using this Google Form!

Questions? Email Dan Cochrane, QIAT-PS project director

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Research

The curriculum is based on recent research on Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology in Postsecondary Education.

Gould, R., Heider, A., Parker Harris, S., Jones, R., Peters, J., Eisenberg, Y., and Caldwell, K. (forthcoming, 2021). Self-Determination and Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology in Postsecondary Education. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability. 

Curriculum map

A curriculum map was created by a team of assistive technology and transition experts. Use the expand button (arrows in upper right corner) to access the full size map.