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Assistive Tech for students with disabilities at all levels

ATSTAR, Knowbility’s online assistive technology course for education professionals, continues to make great strides, entering new college campuses across the US. ATSTAR is currently being used for pre-service and graduate level teaching courses in education programs at Valdosta State University in Georgia, the University of South Florida in Tampa and the University of Washington. Portland State University gives college credit for completion of ATSTAR curriculum. And there has been recent interest from universities north of the US border where accessibility has strong advocates and government support; see Common Look and Feel for the Internet 2.0. If we get ATSTAR into the Great White North, maybe we’ll call it CASTAR, eh?

ATSTAR stands for Assistive Technology: Strategies, Tools, Accommodations, and Resources. It’s an online curriculum that teaches multi-disciplinary school-based teams to build shared knowledge about students with disabilities, their assistive technology needs, learning environments and tasks. With ATSTAR teams of educators can make informed, evidence-based decisions about assistive technology needs of students and help them keep pace.

More than 1,410 teachers have completed the ATSTAR course and 132 school districts across US have used it. Because it works! ATSTAR has been shown to increase education outcomes for students with disabilities through the proper use of assistive technology.

ATSTAR:

  • Helps school districts comply with Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) by providing expertise to educators in these areas
  • Increases classroom participation and understanding from students with disabilities
  • Improves the quality of classroom time by providing resources for teachers
  • Creates a valuable history for each student that can be used throughout their K-12 education
  • Aids classroom teachers as well as special education teachers with tools and learning resources
  • Provides an online data collection and robust accountability system to monitor progress of students and teams