Keeping Up-to-Date with Partners in Learning

We live in world where it seems to be increasingly hard to keep up with the pace of new technology. As a parent of school age children and as the son of an elementary school teacher, I know firsthand that the pace of this change is even harder to navigate in the classroom and even more so by students with disabilities. One of the hardest challenges this pace of innovation presents is with the ability to keep current with the best practices for making technology usable for people with disabilities.

But, did you know that there is a place that you can go to network with other educators in the area of accessibility in the classroom? The Microsoft Partners in Learning Network is a global community of educators that are dedicated to improving student learning. One of the Partners in Learning Network’s Hot Topics is on Accessibility (http://www.pil-network.com/HotTopics/accessibility) and is moderated by Valeska Gioia. It is designed to be a place to come learn about what technology is available for students with disabilities and how accessibility can benefit students in general.

At times it seems the pace of technology change can be demanding, but it is also extremely exciting. Imagine that by empowering a student to use assistive technology to be successful in school today, they will have a greater opportunity to be a productive employee, inventor, artist, mentor, parent or even a teacher in the future.