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How To Select A Suitable Adaptive Technology Training Program
Originally printed in the Braille Monitor
Over the years several
individuals and organizations have written articles about choosing appropriate
adaptive technology and reviewing competing technologies. As adaptive technology
continues to evolve and proliferate, the need for proper training has become the
subject of an increasingly important national discussion: namely, what
constitutes appropriate training, and how can you find it?
The field of adaptive
technology training is more varied than most in that this type of instruction
spans age groups ranging from six to eighty-six and various user environments,
including schools, jobsites, home offices, and personal recreational use. Before
selecting a trainer or training facility, take a moment to evaluate your needs.
What will you use the computer for? Training techniques for seniors wishing to
exchange e-mail messages with family and friends vary greatly from the needs of
an office employee creating databases and interpreting spreadsheets or a
laboratory worker conducting research online.
The most important criterion
is also the one most overlooked: can the person teaching you teach? Several
people nationwide have vast stores of knowledge relating to technology of
various types but cannot convey the information to their students. Ask whether
or not your instructor has a current teaching certificate or has ever held a
teaching certificate. The subject taught is not particularly important. My
degree, for example, is in music education. What you are trying to establish at
this point is whether or not the individual who will be teaching you has ever
been a teacher. If the answer is yes, then the first hurdle has been cleared.
The next question to be asked
is what experience the potential trainer has in the subject matter to be taught.
What adaptive software will you be using, and does your prospective teacher know
about it? Most adaptive technology instructors I have met know everything there
is to know about one of the two major screen readers and almost nothing about
the other. The same applies to OCR and magnification products. It is not unusual
to find a person who knows JAWS, Open Book, and Zoomtext well, but nothing about
Window Eyes, HAL, Supernova, Lunar, Kurzweil, or Magic. The reverse might also be true. Will you be
using a notetaker like a BrailleNote or a Braille Lite, or will your specific
goals require that you have a PDA or a Global Positioning System? Perhaps you will be
using Dragon software to dictate documents or control your computer. The
possible combinations of hardware and software are virtually unlimited. Know
what adaptive devices and applications you will be using, and make sure the
instructor knows the technology well.
Now that you have found an
instructor who can teach and is well versed in several adaptive technologies, we
come to the next question: how much does the instructor know about mainstream
technology? The fact of the matter is that nobody wants to use adaptive
technology by itself because alone it is worthless. Nobody spends the day using
JAWS or Zoomtext or Window Eyes; what you want it to do is to run the way you
want it to and then get out of your way so that you can use Internet Explorer,
an e-mail client, a word processor, a spreadsheet or database, or another
application.
Therefore a very important
question is whether or not your prospective instructor can show you how to use
JAWS with Microsoft Word, or Excel, or on the Web. Ask if your teacher has any
technical certifications. Has he or she graduated from a computer science course
at a college or university? Other valuable professional certifications include
various Microsoft certifications: MCP, MCSE, etc., or certifications available
from several online sources. If your instructor holds any of these, that is a
good indicator that he or she is familiar with mainstream applications.
If you find an individual or
a formal training program that fulfills all of the requirements above, you have
found a rare phenomenon. In the absence of a reliable accreditation process in
the world of adaptive technology, the only way to be reasonably assured that you
are learning from a suitable individual is to know what questions to ask, then
to go ahead and ask them. Don't be shy. Your training is at stake. Know your
teacher and be certain his or her qualifications match your needs. Anyone who
has any of the skills or certifications above will be more than happy to provide
that information to you.
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