Dr. Patricia C. Abrams - Virginia Department of Education
(VDOE), responsible for funding TTAC
SME's in education for the disabled and assistive technology
Education professionals (teachers, counselors, administrators,
etc.) seeking information and resources in education for the disabled
and assistive technology
Parents of kids in the schools
Parents of kids who are home schooled
Goals
Provide the capability for SME's to upload their webshops
and other instructive materials to share with the end users, i.e., education
professionals, of TTAC before 2004
Populate one or more sections of the site with some useful
materials
Provide content for people seeking knowledge or training
in disabilities and education
Evaluate and consider recommendations from last project
team
Drivers
VDOE desire to be effective with less funding from the
federal & state government
Standards of Learning (SOL), Individuals with Disabilities
Act (IDEA), & No Child Left Behind (NCLB) government regulations
Few other alternatives for continuing education for those
serving the disabled
Barriers
Users' acceptance of technology
Connection speeds available to the users
Users may need to get a Blackboard account to use the
training
Accessibility requirements may limit our options or materials
Dr. Michael Behrmann - Director of the region 4 TTAC
since 1985
Dr. Lynn Wiley - Project Coordinator of the region 4
TTAC
Dr. Patricia C. Abrams - VA Dept. or Ed, responsible
for funding TTAC
Mary Wilds - Old Dominion University, SME in assistive
technology, TTAC culture (mwilds@ttac.odu.edu)
Shuangbao Wang - TTAC Online programmer, Kellar Institute
for Human disAbilities (swang3@gmu.edu)
Opportunities
Rollout - site's introduction
People - develop skills of education professionals
& others serving disabled children
Problem - funding for specialists to travel
Strategy - fulfilling the government regulations
Relevant Questions
What do we mean by children with disabilities, mental, physical,
emotional?
What is the minimum level of technology available to our users, what technologies
will be most appropriate?
How much content are we developing or is it just organization & display
of the content?
Who are we going to be dealing with?
What stage are we in the project considering its been under development for
years?
Just what parts of the site are we responsible for?
What other alternatives are available for educating those serving the disabled?
What's going to happen with SME's who don't have online versions prepared?
What previous content will have to be repurposed?
