On-Line Module for Early Intervention  

Setting Language in Motion: Family Supports and Early Intervention for Babies Who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

This web-based product is a collaborative effort between the Clerc Center and Boston Children's Hospital for early intervention providers, educators of deaf children, early childhood specialists, allied professionals, parents, and other caregivers. Seven modules are provided to share information critical to promoting early language acquisition for young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. This product is available in both American Sign Language and spoken English, with closed captions.

LINK TO THE MODULE:
http://www.gallaudet.edu/clerc-center/learning-opportunities/online-learning/setting-language-in-motion.html

Director of Master's Degree Program in Deaf Education

The Department of Education at Flagler College invites applications for a new full-time position as Director of a Master's Degree in Education of the Deaf program at the rank of associate professor/professor to begin in May 2016.  

Application deadline: March 1, 2016

Job Description and Application Information

Bilingual Learners: Assessment and Intervention for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing - THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI MAILMAN CENTER FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Tuesday, February 16, 2016 from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM (EST)
Information and Registration

Applying Universal Design for Learning in Online Courses: Pedagogical and Practical Considerations
By Cindy Ann Dell, et al, December 2015
 
Inclusion of the universal design for learning (UDL) model as a guiding set of principles for online curriculum development in higher education is discussed. Fundamentally, UDL provides the student with multiple means of accessing the course based on three overarching principles: presentation; action and expression; and engagement and interaction. Guidelines are also provided for incorporating UDL into an online curriculum for teaching both general and diverse populations including students with disabilities.
The growth of online learning in higher education has opened up exciting possibilities for students by providing access to courses without the constraints of a traditional brick and mortar classroom. However, even with the increase of online access to higher education, barriers continue especially for students with disabilities. A recent approach to assisting students with disabilities to be more successful with online classes is Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Ideally, UDL allows students with disabilities to access courses without adaptation, and also allows the coursework to be available in a variety of formats for the non-disabled, making it easier for everyone to access.
 
To that end, the purpose of this paper is to present guidelines and recommendations for designing online courses using UDL. In higher education UDL is based on the principle of inclusion of diverse populations which is consistent with society's evolving attempts to provide equal access for all. The goal for using UDL in online course design is to reduce the barriers for students with disabilities, but to also maximize the learning for the non-disabled.
To read the complete research, go to http://www.thejeo.com/Archives/Volume12Number2/DellDellBlackwell.pdf.

UPenn Linguist Researching Philly 'Accent' in American Sign Language
By Michael Tanenbaum, 12-2-2015
 
Every region has a vernacular that displays the characteristics and quirks of the people who make up its communities. In Philadelphia, we don't blink when we say things like hoagie, jawn and pocketbook because they're part of our vocabulary and refer to things and concepts we readily grasp. But is Philadelphia's identity so strong that it actually has a distinct "accent" for American Sign Language (ASL) - which relies on finger-spelling, facial expressions and body postures?
 
Jami Fisher, a Linguistics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, believes the evolution of deaf education in the United States may have produced a unique dialect of ASL that can be documented today through a series of interviews with members of Philadelphia's deaf community, according to Phys.org. Fisher, together with Meredith Tamminga at UPenn's Language Variation and Cognition Lab, plans to conduct lengthy video interviews with 12 deaf individuals both young and old to sort through five decades of subtle morphology in Philadelphia's ASL.
 
For Fisher, whose parents and brother are deaf, the research project is both personal and academic. Randy Fisher, her father, will be the man conducting the 12 video interviews, whose laborious annotation process will take up to two hours for every minute of signing captured. Fisher and Tamminga hope that Randy's involvement will help ease and naturalize the interview process. Part of the pair's hypothesis is that the status of deaf education in the U.S. before the appearance of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in the 1970s led to a more localized learning experience at boarding schools. Between 1820 and 1892, deaf children in Pennsylvania were sent to boarding schools where they interacted primarily with deaf peers, both adults and children. Since then, the deaf population has been assimilated into more mainstream schools, diminishing the influence of distinct forms of expression.
 
To read the complete article, go to http://www.phillyvoice.com/penn-linguist-researching-accent-american-sign-language-philadelphia/.

Newsela: Daily news at the just-right reading level for you

Now available online or as an iPad app!

Website
iPad App

Newsela builds reading comprehension by delivering relevant, daily articles from trusted news sources at the reading level that's just right for your students. It is effective, engaging, and easy to use.Articles span such topics as arts, astronomy, economics, geopolitics, music, sports and zoology. With every article published at five different reading levels, even the most hesitant readers can become news junkies.As they read and take quizzes,  Newsela automatically adjusts the reading level to keep them challenged and engaged. You can also keep track of their improvement over time as Newsela visualizes their progress for you. 

With the Newsela app, you can:

• Receive four new articles a day from top news sources like the Washington Post, Associated Press, and Scientific American.
• Browse and search our entire library of leveled articles both online or offline.
• Adjust the reading level with a simple two-finger swipe.
• Take quizzes both online or offline.
• Track and view your progress in real-time.

If you are a teacher, you can also:

• View all assignments
• Check aggregate class binder data

[You need to check with the website to get a quote for the PRO version. The cost will depend on the number of users/schools.]

 

Features	Newsela	NewselaPRO
Multiple new articles every day - each at five reading levels	X	X
Students take quizzes and view progress	X	X
Archive of more than 1000 articles, organized by category and reading standard	X	X
Daily "articles of the day" emails	X	X
No advertisements on any page	X	X
One-click assignment of articles to classes	X	X
Teachers' view of class-wide results	X	X
Teachers' view of individual results		X
Student and class-wide dashboards		X
Track student, class, and school progress against Common Core standards		X
Weekly Insights emails		X
Annotations on articles / personalized reading experience		X
Ability to sort and filter student performance data and print reports		X
Write: Encourage and assess student writing with customizable writing prompts		X
Administration views of consolidated school-wide and district-wide information		X
Live chat support		X