A Descriptive Study of Special Educator Student Teachers Using Assistive Technology

Abstract This descriptive research study was done at a small, rural-serving, liberal arts university within an online, graduate-level special education teacher preparation program. Participants were graduate students (n= 9) who were provided a technology kit as a recruitment tool. All participants were completing their licensure coursework over one year in an asynchronous format while working full-time as alternative special education teachers. The descriptive research project will detail the impacts of authentic Assistive Technology (AT) use as part of the teacher preparation program. Participants received instruction on using AT for their learning and teaching, emphasizing two primary topics: multimodal literacy AT tools and AT tools for accessibility and accommodation using the features native to the devices supplied in the technology toolkit. The study's findings provide a lens into the positive impacts of implementing AT learning throughout a teacher preparation program resulting in increased implementation and teacher self-confidence.