Rather than completing a wiki, my group, Gerald, Cherie, Chelsea, and me, opted to present our information in a Prezi, “Differentiating with Assistive Technology.” Although we began casual discussions via email, we met after class on Monday using the Twitter hashtag #techassign to divide the project. We opted to each review the process of differentiating using assistive technology within one of the four elements of classroom instruction: content (me), process (Chelsea), product (Gerald), and environment (Cherie). We agreed to publish our content in Prezi, working on our individual sections throughout the week, and follow-up with each other on Thursday evening. I located a Prezi template that supported four concepts and shared it with members of the group; I also set up the Google Hangout for us to meet.

On Thursday, we met in Google Hangouts to review how Prezi was working, do any necessary troubleshooting, and discuss any issues we were having with the project. Although we initially had issues with my microphone working, we switched to the chat feature and were able to work that way. I also tried to get the Uber app to work so we could use phones, but Google was having none of it that night. While chat isn’t the most ideal way to have a conversation, we were able to work through how we wanted to use the Prezi, changes we wanted to consider, and how to list our references. It was easy to become lost in the chat and, since I had suggested the technology, I tried to answer group member questions as they came up.

Although there was discussion of including them as a separate bubble on the Prezi, we voted to use a tiny URL to link to a publically viewable Google Document. Since I use these regularly for work, I set it up and added the link on the second to last Prezi slide. We also agreed to reach out to each other for assistance, if needed, and complete our individual portions by Saturday night when I would make the link public.

For my section of the project, I began with Tomlinson’s definition of content as an element of differentiated instruction. I then began to look for assistive technologies that could be used in content delivery. I’m not sure about my group members, but I struggled a bit with how to address the use of assistive technologies in differentiation without discussing the assistive technologies themselves. I settled on discussing how differentiation should occur for students in visual, textual, and auditory situations and then briefly mentioned examples of the assistive technologies. I also decided to highlight information about all content needing to meet the same accessibility and curriculum standards, regardless of student ability. As an instructional designer, I spend a lot of time working with content accessibility, which is part of why I decided to include it in my presentation. That said, I have worked with very few students with disabilities related to classroom content instruction, so beyond what I used as a Museum Educator, assistive technology is fairly new to me.

As far as my role in the project, I tend to be a bit Type A and I work in faculty support, so it’s really easy for me to slip into the “I’m happy to set everything up” role, which I am. Plus, I set up meetings in Hangouts and build collaborative presentations regularly, so it just seems like a bit more of what I do daily. Knowing this, though, I tried to regularly check in with the group to make sure I wasn’t stepping on anyone’s toes and that no one else wanted to take on this role.