Accessible Assessment for Students who are Blind or Have Low Vision

Outline:

This half-day session explored the use of educational assessment with students with vision impairment, through a mix of theory and practical activities. We explored educational assessment concepts like validity and reliability, and the information that different assessments might offer about what a student with vision impairment knows and can do. We considered the notion of reasonable adjustments and what this can mean for students with varying accessibility needs when encountering different assessments. Lastly, we investigated ways to develop a better understanding of what a student with vision impairment knows and can do through creative, evidence-based approaches to assessing knowledge and skills.

Learning outcomes: Participants will:

• engage with educational assessment tools for students with vision impairment
• identify the range of reasonable adjustments that can be applied to students with vision impairment
• identify appropriate evidence-based approaches to assessing knowledge and skills for students with vision impairment.

Teaching Technology Use to Students who are Blind or Have Low Vision

Outline:

We all want to empower our students with vision impairment to become skillful technology users for life. But how do you decide what to teach them to use? What, and how, do you teach them so that they become confident and competent with technology, long after they have left school? This half-day session focused on how we as teachers and professionals can better support a student’s skillful use of technology for learning. While we did spend a little time on the technologies available, we focused on understanding and teaching the underlying skills to become a competent technology user for the purpose of learning, regardless of the technology, a student’s level of vision, or the presence of additional disabilities. We also explored the decision-making needed to make good choices about which technology to use for a task by an individual, and how to help students to learn to make those choices.

Learning Outcomes: Participants will

• identify a set of questions to consider when deciding on technology resources for students with vision impairment
• recognise the skills a student with vision impairment may need to engage with particular technologies
• identify strategies to share with students with vision impairment to help them identify appropriate technologies.

This event addresses the following Standards from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers: 1.1.2, 1.2.2, 1.3.2, 1.4.2, 1.5.2, 1.6.2, 2.6.2, 3.2.2, 3.3.2, 3.4.2, 3.6.2, 4.1.2, 4.4.2, 4.5.2, 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.4.2, 6.2.2, 6.2.6, 6.3.2, 6.4.2, 7.4.2. It fits within the Priority Area of Children/ Student with Disabilities. This event is evidence and research based.