Toolbelt Theory and the TEST protocol meets social networking in this presentation from the CSUN Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference 2010
1. Toolbelt Theory 2.0 Universal Design and Global Access through Student Technology Choice Ira David Socol Michigan State University CSUN 2010 San Diego
2. Enabling the tool use and tool choice skills of our students is at the heart of giving them the power to succeed in their future .
5. "Toolbelt Theory" suggests that we must teach our students how to analyze tasks, the task-completion environment, their own skills and capabilities, an appropriate range of available tools… and let them begin to make their own decisions
6. • Break the dependence cycle • Develop lifespan technology skills • Limit the impact of limitations • Empower student decision- making • Prepare students for life outside of and beyond school
7. Students learn to employ a specifically ordered version of Joy Zabala's SETT Framework (Student, Environment, Tools, Tasks). Specifically ordered because, in human experience, the choice of tools is always Task - dependent.
10. Task. At the most basic, I need to know if I need to cut wood or join it before I start looking for a tool to use.
11. Environment is next because it makes a huge difference whether I am cutting the wood in my garage or in a forest.
12. Then, I need to know my Skills – Am I strong? Am I exhausted? Is my right hand broken? Am I simply a danger to myself and others with power tools?
13. Once I know all of that, I need to know which Tools exist – if I have never seen a chainsaw, as many dyslexic students (for example) have never seen a good digital reader, I will spend long hours hacking ineffectively with an axe.
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15. Intake and Output “ Reading is defined as getting information from a recorded source into your head, Writing is defined as getting information from your head into a form which others can access.”
16. Intake and Output Information is freed from any specific delivery system.
17. Task 1. What needs to be done? (when possible, break the task down into component parts)
18. Environment 1. Where must this be done ? 2. Under what time constraints? 3. What is the standard method of task completion? 4. How does this student interact within this environment? 5. Who is the task being done for? (specifics of teacher, employer, other expectations)
19. Skills 1. What specific strengths does the person with the disability bring to this task? 2. What specific weaknesses interfere with that person's ability to complete the task? 3. What is that person's "tool acquisition aptitude" and what tools are they currently comfortable with?
20. Tools 1. What tool best "bridges the gap" between the current skill set and what is needed? 2. If the tool is not already "in the toolbox" (successfully trained in its use), how does the environmental timeline match with the needed learning curve? 3. If it is not possible to use the "best tool" within this environment what is the "back-up tool"?
22. The goal is to empower students to continuously assess their changing needs and the ever changing technological environment that surrounds them, and allow them to build their own toolbelts of appropriate solutions to their life challenges.
