Faculty Fellow:
Tammy Abernathy
Course:
CI 417/617
Special Education Curricula: Approaches For Adolescents

Course Description:
Needs of adolescents with cognitive and behavioral disorders in secondary school special education programs. Strategies to improve academic, social, career/vocational and transition skills.

Improvements to the Course:
Cl 417/617 is a licensure course in the special education program. The course focuses on methods and practices for teaching secondary students with mild to moderate disabilities. The course also focuses on preparing teachers to transition students with disabilities from school to work or post-secondary experiences. Currently the students in the class are very diverse in terms of the backgrounds. About 1/2 of the students are undergraduates, 1/4 are first time licensure and 1/4 are options teachers in the district who need to complete state licensure requirements. The course is also a requirement for alternative education certification, so I typically have students who are only taking this course. I currently differentiate assignments for students in class based on their needs. This is particularly true for the transition component of the class. My goals for infusing technology into my course are:

1. Technology (web component) would allow me to more easily differentiate transition assignments for my diverse group of students. I currently spend a great deal of time working with small groups of students who need more of my attention than I can give them. Technology could allow me to continue with this practice, with alternative ways to support students.

2. Technology would allow me to align the transition planning process and development of the ITP with the IEP experience students have in Cl 410/610.

3. Electronic ITP assignments can be easily added to students electronic performance portfolios.