Council for Exceptional Children and Simmons' Assistive Tech Showcase
Greetings One and All:
CEC's Annual International Conference has come and gone from our beautiful Boston. What a successful conference! We understand that this was the highest registration in several years, approximating 8,000 participants. From the Pre-conference sessions, to the Keynote from Henry Winkler to the professional sessions, every single moment was absolutely wonderful.
Last Fall we were thrilled with the invitation to design an Assistive Technology Showcase to enhance the conference offerings. Thanks to Simmons' own Chris Evans, Jane Hardin and Allan Blume for facilitating this invitation through your tireless work with the Local Arrangements Committee. We saw this as a great opportunity to model our innovative ideas for technology integration in the PreK-12 classroom as a tool for designing interventions to include all learners in the curriculum. We were so excited about the opportunity to share our best practice models and "strut our stuff"!
We estimate that we worked with about 3,000 visitors during the two days that we offered the Assistive Technology Showcase. Educators, therapists, and school administrators from around the world found pragmatic, real-world implementation strategies at the ready as they visited with each of our Showcase station themes. Based on feedback as the two days unfolded, we believe we helped visitors to discover models that will help to take the first step toward change in classrooms all over the world.
For me as Program Director is was thrilling to watch as Simmons students, alums and faculty shared their wealth of knowledge and expertise. Although they expected that they would have lots to share, they didn't realize that as they shared ideas and skills with others, they became more and more validated for their vast array of talents. The Showcasers were on Cloud Nine when we saw that the steady flow of visitors to the Showcase only ended when the door closed to the lab at the end of our second day. As long as we were willing to Showcase and share, the visitors kept on coming!
However talented our Simmons Showcase team, we knew we could never present ourselves the way that we wanted without a variety of support structures in place. There are so many to thank for the amazing support in preparation and implementation of our AT Showcase.
Thanks to the CEC Team for accepting our idea for the Showcase. The onsite support for Internet access, along with the perfect physical setup (tables, chairs ,easels, signs, etc.) sure made us look great. We are extremely grateful for the support to attend the conference and for your enthusiastic, expert planning guidance.
Thanks to Apple Computer, Inc. for the loaned equipment. We were the envy of every visitor to the Showcase with our dual boot cross-platform cutting-edge computers. Apple, please know that your support made all the difference in our being able to provide an expert and most welcoming learning environment.
At the center of all of our success was the Simmons Technology team. From outstanding graphic design support for posters to expert technical assistance that provided the foundation for our work - the Simmons collaboration was beyond compare. I'm so proud to work in such a compassionate and professional community. Jamie Traynor and Jann Canero deserve a hearty pat on the back for their amazing expertise along with their encouragement.
We invite you to take a peek at the way that we documented and shared our model, skills and expertise. Here is a URL for you to visit that represents our effort to provide handouts in an environmentally responsible manner. Participants were given a small strip of paper with this address so that they could download whatever resources they might need for their own followup next steps. Enjoy!
http://simmonsatshowcase.wikispaces.com/
Thanks again to all who facilitated this fabulous opportunity to Showcase the Simmons Assistive Technology Graduate Program.
Sincerely,
Madalaine
Posted: April 8, 2008 3:08 pm by Madalaine Pugliese | 0 comments
Tags: AssistiveTech, conference, SpecialEducation