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Social Predictors of Assistive Technology Proficiency Among Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments

Authors:

Valerie S. Morash,

Yue-Ting SiuAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS), Volume 9, Issue 2

Article No.: 4, Pages 1 - 27

https://doi.org/10.1145/2999569

Published: 07 November 2016 Publication History

Abstract

Assistive technology (AT) is critical for K-12 students who have visual impairments to engage with their education and is predictive of positive postsecondary outcomes and future employment. Teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) act as the primary gatekeepers of AT for these students. Unfortunately, only about 40% of TVIs integrate AT into their practice. Efforts to predict TVIs’ AT proficiency based on their preservice training have been unsuccessful. The current study proposes and confirms that TVIs’ AT proficiency is related to their identification with a social community of practice (CoP) that values AT. Results from n = 505 North American TVIs produced a Spearman’s correlation of ρ = 0.49 between estimated AT proficiency and CoP identification. The relationship was strongest among TVIs with lower AT proficiency and CoP identification. Results have implications for industry, researchers, teacher preparation programs, personnel who administer and train assistive technologies, and policymakers concerned with ensuring that AT is available to students who have visual impairments. Mere availability of AT is insufficient to ensure its successful introduction to K-12 students with visual impairments, which relies on TVIs’ AT proficiency for meaningful implementation. Developers and advocates of AT for K-12 students with visual impairments must consider the social context in which AT proficiency develops and provide appropriate social supports.

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Cited By

Phutane MWright JCastro BShi LStern SLawson HAzenkot S(2022)Tactile Materials in Practice: Understanding the Experiences of Teachers of the Visually ImpairedACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/350836415:3(1-34)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3508364
Abu-Abdoun DAlsyouf IMushtaha EIbrahim IAl-Ali M(2022)Developing and Designing an Innovative Assistive Product for Visually Impaired People: Smart Cane2022 Advances in Science and Engineering Technology International Conferences (ASET)10.1109/ASET53988.2022.9734902(1-6)Online publication date: 21-Feb-2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/ASET53988.2022.9734902
Wong M(2019)Guiding Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments to Make Assistive Technology Decisions: Preliminary Experience Using the Wisconsin Assistive Technology InitiativeSupport for Learning10.1111/1467-9604.1222833:4(429-439)Online publication date: 23-Jan-2019
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9604.12228

Index Terms

Social Predictors of Assistive Technology Proficiency Among Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Accessibility
    1. Accessibility theory, concepts and paradigms
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Management of computing and information systems
      1. Project and people management
        Computer and information systems training
  2. User characteristics
    1. People with disabilities

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Information

Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing Volume 9, Issue 2

June 2017

90 pages

ISSN:1936-7228

EISSN:1936-7236

DOI:10.1145/3015565

Editors:
Matt Huenerfauth
Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
,
Kathleen F. McCoy
University of Delaware, USA

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2016 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 07 November 2016

Accepted: 01 September 2016

Revised: 01 September 2016

Received: 01 May 2016

Published in TACCESS Volume 9, Issue 2

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University of California, Berkeley Edward Hildebrand Graduate Fellowship
American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Technology Training and Awareness Program

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Cited By

Phutane MWright JCastro BShi LStern SLawson HAzenkot S(2022)Tactile Materials in Practice: Understanding the Experiences of Teachers of the Visually ImpairedACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/350836415:3(1-34)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3508364
Abu-Abdoun DAlsyouf IMushtaha EIbrahim IAl-Ali M(2022)Developing and Designing an Innovative Assistive Product for Visually Impaired People: Smart Cane2022 Advances in Science and Engineering Technology International Conferences (ASET)10.1109/ASET53988.2022.9734902(1-6)Online publication date: 21-Feb-2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/ASET53988.2022.9734902
Wong M(2019)Guiding Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments to Make Assistive Technology Decisions: Preliminary Experience Using the Wisconsin Assistive Technology InitiativeSupport for Learning10.1111/1467-9604.1222833:4(429-439)Online publication date: 23-Jan-2019
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9604.12228

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