Supporting New Special Education Teachers

Teacher Leadership

Supporting NewSpecial EducationTeachersHow Online Resourcesand Web 2.0 TechnologiesCan Help

Bonnie Billingsley | Maya Israel i Sean Smith

20 COUNCIL FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN

Jane

Jane sat down exhausted after anotherlong day. It was just the first week ofNovember, but it felt as if the schoolyear had been in session for months.She expected her first year to be toughbut having nearly 30 children with dis-abilities, including, it seemed, everycategorical disability, on her caseloadjust seemed to be beyond her initialexpectations. Back in early Septemberworking with fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students seemed reasonable.Because she was new, the districtassigned her a general education sixth-grade teacher to serve as a mentor to"show her the ropes." Although theydidn't have common planning periodsor lunch schedules, the first couple ofweeks did offer a few times to meet.However, since mid-September, she hadnot been able to talk with her mentor,and Jane often felt lost about where tofind information. Her primary-gradespecial education colleague, Susan, wasa second-year teacher with two youngchildren at home. Susan meant well,but being new to the field and build-ing, Susan had as many questions asJane did.

Althea

Althea wanted to scream. Hunter, oneof her students who she consideredchallenging, had once again disruptedthe class, the activity, and the verylesson she had worked so hard todevelop and implement. She knew asa first-year teacher there would be dif-ficult days; however, the challengingdays appeared to be increasingly out-numbering the "successful" ones.Behavior management was a top prior-ity and something her mentor support-ed during the initial weeks of school.As the year progressed, student behav-ior continued to present challenges;however, access to resources, includingher mentor, had been limited. Althealoves her students and the curriculumcontent, but finds the behavior and dis-cipline issues to be frustrating, timeconsuming, and taking a mental andphysical toll on her energies.

Juan

Juan, a new high school teacher in anurban school and a classmate of Jane'sduring their undergraduate years loveshis students and found the workengaging and rewarding. However, thedistrict special education supervisorwas planning to adopt a response-to-intervention (RTI) model and soughtJuan's help to expand RTI from the ele-mentary schools to one high schoolsubject area to provide a model of howit might work. Juan was familiar withthe basic approach but working withgeneral education tecLchers and build-ing administration to implement RTIwas beyond his skill level and paygrade. Juan's colleagues did not seeminterested in adopting a tiered-basedapproach in a content-based environ-ment. Juan wondered where he mightfind information on RTI at the second-ary level and how he should proceed.

TEACHING EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN MAY/JUNE 2011 21

New special education teachers (SETs)like Jane, Althea, and Juan face sometypical challenges as well as ones thatare specific to their particular work set-tings. Providing support that addressesteachers' unique needs is important forincreasing their effectiveness, helpingthem make a smooth entry into teach-ing, and reducing their stress andturnover. Nearly 20 years ago, the firststudies of new SETs were published

learning/using the curriculum (46%).Although mentors, colleagues, andprofessional development programs areexcellent sources of support for newSETs, research increasingly shows theneed for resources that explicitly dis-cuss effective instructional practices.In addition, instructional and behav-ioral solutions that are immediatelyapplicable are sought by new teacherstrying to prepare for tomorrow's class.

Providing support that addresses teachers' unique needs isimportant for increasing their effectiveness, helping them make a

smooth entry into teaching, and reducing their stress and turnover.

with a focus on their needs (e.g.,Billingsley & Tomchin, 1992; Kilgore &Griffin, 1998) and mentor programs ofsupport (e.g., Whitaker, 2000). Morerecently, conceptualizations of induc-tion have broadened to include onlineprofessional communities of practice(CoP; Farooq, Shank, Harris, Fusco, &Schlager, 2007) and numerous onlineresources have been developed to sup-port teachers, including Web 2.0 tech-nologies [Smith & Israel, 2010). Thisarticle considers high quality onlineresources that can be used by newteachers and incorporated into tradi-tional mentor programs or virtual sys-tems of support. In addition, emergingopportunities to further new teachersupport via Web 2.0 environments arediscussed.

Connecting New Teachersto Online Resources

New teachers often struggle andresearch is increasingly showing thatthe challenges new teachers face areconsistent across buildings, districts,and even states. For example, in a sur-vey of SETs in several states. Whiteand Mason (2006) found that manynew teachers needed assistance withpaperwork and IEPs (84%); referral,placement, and evaluation (75%);materials (70%); behavior manage-ment (60%); getting acclimated to theschool (66%); instructional strategies(58%); assessments (54%); collabora-tion with general educators (54%);parent-family conferences (48%); and

Finding up-to-date resources can betime consuming for new teachers andtheir mentors and when found, somematerials are quite expensive. Fortun-ately, excellent online resources existthat provide mentors and mentees witheasily accessible material relevant tomany aspects of teachers' work. Table1 provides examples of current, high-quality web sites that incorporateresources specific to using evidence-based instructional practices includingteacher tools, methods for creating uni-versally designed instruction, and dis-ability-specific resources. Given thatnew teachers' work contexts anddemands vary from school to school,mentors and mentees need to carefullyselect from the resources in Table 1 toavoid overwhelming new SETs.

Although not necessarily designedfor collaborative work, these resourcescan be easily integrated into tradition-al, e-mentoring, and online communi-ties of practice. That is, these materialsare available for use at any time in aformat suitable for an eariy careerteacher seeking to solve a problem inhis or her classroom. In Table 1, welink specific online resources to thedocumented needs of new teachers.Although the highlighted resources arenot meant to be an exhaustive list,they do provide examples of web-basedresources that were designed, devel-oped, and tested for preservice andprofessional development purposes. Forexample, Vanderbilt University's IRISsite and the University of Kansas'

Special Connections are high-qualityweb-based resources developed toenhance access to evidence-based prac-tices for general and special educationteachers seeking to meet the instruc-tional and behavioral needs of stu-dents, specifically those with disabili-ties. To better examine and understandthese and other online resources, weorganized content into six categoriesbased on a recent review of 18 studiesof new teachers' concerns (see Bil-lingsley, Griffin, Smith, Kamman &Israel, 2009). Across these qualitativeand quantitative studies, new SETsreported concerns about (a) contentknowledge and standards, (b) effectiveinstruction, (c) assessment, (d) behav-ior management, (e) collaboration withothers, and (f) managing the job anddealing with stress. Table 1 summa-rizes what is known about new SETs'needs across these six areas and identi-fies specific online resources that mightbe used by new teachers and/or theirmentors in each of these areas. Ourgoal is to help "connect the dots" ofwhat currently exists while also rein-forcing what is possible through e-mentoring and online CoP as we con-tinue to seek ways to support specialeducation teachers during the criticalinduction years.

Content iOiowiedgeand Standards

New SETs have extensive curriculumresponsibilities that may exceed thoseof general educators (Kilgore, Griffin,Otis-Wilborn, & Winn, 2003) andmany work across multiple contentareas and grade levels. Unfortunately,some SETs have minimal preparationin the content areas they are assignedto teach, leaving them with the addi-tional task of not only teaching thematerial, but learning it as well. Anew SET, for example, was surprisedthat she was required to teach govern-ment, social studies, and science andreported she was "learning the materi-al with my students" (Otis-Wilborn,Winn, Griffin, & Kilgore, 2005, p. 145).Gehrke and McCoy (2007) also report-ed that new SETs spent time outside ofschool learning content standards sothey could link curriculum, IEP goals.


Table 1 . Specific Oniine Resources Aiigned With New SETs' Learning Needs

New Teachers' Learning Needs Examples of Web Resources

Content Knowledge & Standards

IRIS Modules & Case Studieshttp://iris,peabody, vanderbilt,edu/resources,html

LD Onlinehttp ://www, ldonline, org

Special Connectionshttp://www,specialconnections,ku,edu

• CSR: A Reading Comprehensive Strategy• PALS: A Reading Strategy for High School• Improving Writing Performance: A Strategy for Writing Expository Essays• Applying Learning Strategies to Beginning Algebra (Part 1)• Cultural and Linguistic Differences: What Teachers Should Know• Teaching and Learning in New Mexico: Considerations for Diverse Student

Populations

• The Clarifying Routine: Elaborating Vocabulary Instruction• Vocabulary Assessment and Instruction

• Strategies for Accessing the Science Curriculum for Special Needs Students• Strategies for Accessing the Social Studies Curriculum for Special Needs

Students

Effective Instruction

CASThttp://cast,org

4Teachers,orghttp://www,4teachers,org

IRIS Moduleshttp://irls,peabody, vanderbilt,edu/resources,html

National Center for Response toInterventionwww,rti4success,org

Special Connectionshttp : //www, specialconnections,ku, edu

• Universal Design for Instruction resources

• Assistive technology web resources

• Differentiated Instruction Module• Five RTI modules

• RTI in middle schools webinar

• Direct Instruction• Universal Design for Instruction• Instructional Accommodations

Assessment

Intervention Centralwww,interventioncentral,org

IRIS Moduleshttp://iris,peabody, vanderbilt,eduresources,html

National Center for Responseto Interventionwww,rti4success,org

Special Connectionshttp://www,specialconnections,ku,edu

4Teachershttp://www,4teachers,org

• CBM Warehouse

• Classroom Assessment (Part 1): An Introduction to Monitoring AcademicAchievement in the Classroom

• Classroom Assessment (Part 2) : Evaluating Reading Progress

• Introduction: CBM for Progress Monitoring• Using CBM for Progress Monitoring in Reading• Using CBM for Progress Monitoring in Math• Using CBM for Progress Monitoring in Writing and Spelling• Using CBM to Determine Response to Instruction

• Curriculum-Based Measurement• Data-Based Decision Making• Quality Test Construction• Crading• Assessment Accommodations

• RubiStar for quality rubrics• QuizStar for online quizzes• Assessment web resources (e,g,, for managing assessments, alternate

assessments, authentic assessments, portfolios)

continues

TEACHING EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN | MAY/JUNE 2011 23

Tnbie 1. Continued

New Teachers' Learning Needs Examples of Web Resources

Behavior Management

IRIShttp://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/resources.html

Special ConnectionshttpV/www.specialconnections.ku.edu

• Who's in Charge? Developing a Comprehensive Behavior Management System• You're in Charge! Developing Your Own Comprehensive Behavior Management

Plan• Addressing Disruptive and Noncompliant Behaviors (Part 1): Understanding the

Acting-Out Cycle• Addressing Disruptive and Noncompliant Behaviors (Part 2): Behavioral

Interventions

• Functional Behavior Assessment• Positive Behavior Support Planning• Positive Behavior Support Interventions• Classroom and Group Support

Collaboration With Others

Beach Center on Disabilityhttp://www.beachcenter.org

IRIShttp://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.eduresources.html

Special Connectionshttp://www.specialconnections.ku.edu

• Family-related resources

• Collaborating With Families

• An Introduction to Cooperative Teaching• Keys to Successful Paraeducator Supervision

Managing the Job & Dealing With Stress

Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)http://cec.sped.org

IRIShttp://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/resources.html

Special Connectionshttp://www.specialconnections.ku.edu

• Reality 101: CEC's blog for new teachers

• The Pre-Referral Process: Procedures for Supporting Students With Academicand Behavioral Concerns

• Supporting Beginning Special Educators: Tips for School Leaders

• Creating a Schedule

Note, SET = special education teacher; LD = learning disability; RTI = response to intervention; CBM = curriculum-based management.

and instruction with the required stan-dards and their students' abilities.Table 1 identifies specific resourcesthat address specific content areas(e.g., reading, mathematics, socialstudies) as well as resources that maybe used to design a standards-basedcurriculum and accompanying lessons.For example. Applying LearningStrategies to Beginning Algebra (Part 1;IRIS) and Strategies for Accessing theScience Curriculum (Special Connec-tions [SC]) provide specific guidanceon instruction, resources, and materi-als for teaching middle and highschool students with disabilities. Here,early career teachers have access to

content designed for the practicingteacher offering tools and steps to inte-grate the content in one's class. Forexample, both IRIS and SC adopt aprofessional development model (e.g.,STAR Legacy Module, case-basedinstruction) that seeks to enhanceunderstanding and application by prac-ticing teachers. The resource, LDOnLine, has a variety of material toassist teachers, students, and parents(e.g., vocabulary, study skills, andmathematics).

Effective InstructionRecent evidence suggests that newSETs' instructional practices have a

significant impact on student achieve-ment in reading (Brownell et al.,2009), and it is expected that theirpractices affect all areas of the curricu-lum. A major goal of induction pro-grams is helping new teachers learnand use effective instructional prac-tices. The cast.org web site providesteachers with a range of tools for cre-ating lessons that allow students withdisabilities to access general educa-tion. New SETs may find that generaleducators are interested in thisresource as well. More specifically,several broad areas need to be consid-ered in developing strong instructionalprograms including: managing the


classroom environment, planning andpreparation, and instruction. Availableresources include the Differentiated¡nstmction Module (IRIS) that address-es important elements of systematicinstruction such as the role of model-ing, scaffolding, ample practice oppor-tunities, and immediate correctivefeedback. The IRIS site also includes afive-part module series on RTI as wellas additional modules on progressmonitoring. The module RTI (Part 5):A Closer Look at Tier 3 provides in-depth analyses about providing inten-sive instruction. Special Connectionsalso includes a range of instructionalresources for using Direct Instruction(DI), Universal Design for Instruction(UDI), and Instructional Accommoda-tions across teaching reading, writtenlanguage, and mathematics. In addi-tion, these web sites include resourcesfor teaching students at the elementaryand high school levels (SC and IRIS)and providing culturally relevant read-ing instruction and working withEnglish Language Learners (IRIS).

Assessment

The current policy context (NCLB,2001) requires attention to standards-based assessment. Recent studies ofnew teachers suggest they need assis-tance in addressing the assessmentrequirements of No Child Left Behind(Gehrke & Murri, 2006). Special educa-tors may have responsibilities for arange of assessment activities, assist-ing with RTI and other performance-based measures. The IRIS module.Accountability: High-stakes Testing forStudents with Disabilities and themodule, RTI (Part 2): Assessmentdescribe in detail the assessment pro-cedures that are part of RTI, how touse progress monitoring data to deter-mine if a student is meeting perform-ance criteria, and how to determine ifadditional intensive interventions areneeded. Special Connections alsoincorporates other assessment-relatedresources related to RTI, curriculum-based assessment, and grading. Inaddition, 4teachers.org includesnumerous assessment tools (e.g.,rubrics, quiz generators).

Behavior Management

Struggles with discipline are one of themost frequently mentioned concernsfor new general education teachers(GETs) and SETs (Billingsley et al.,2009). New SETs described a range ofproblems including getting studentbehavior under control and dealingwith power struggles (Billingsley et al.,2009; Griffin, Winn, Otis-Wilborn, &Kilgore, 2003). As a new teacher stat-ed, "How do you not let a few peoplespoil a lesson? I'm not sure how todo it" (Kilgore et al., 2003, p. 41). LDOnLine has numerous resources forclassroom and behavior management.Both IRIS and SC provide high-qualitycontent on developing comprehensivebehavior managing systems, address-ing disruptive and noncomphantbehaviors, and using functional behav-ioral assessment and positive behav-ioral supports. For example, SC fea-tures an entire section on behaviorplans featuring four distinct modules.

Coiiaiioration

Another major area in which new SETsstruggle is in establishing positive col-laborative relationships with teachers,families, and paraprofessionals. NewSETs inevitably face a range of barriersas they work to include students withdisabilities in inclusive settings(Gehrke & McCoy, 2007), establishexpectations with paraprofessionals,work with parents from diverse back-grounds, and establish positive work-ing relationships with parents (Billings-ley et al., 2009). As one new teacherstated, "I feel like I could have used aclass like that. . . dealing with otherpeople . . . . [It's been] very, very diffi-cult with older adults." (Gehrke cSiMurri, 2006, p. 184). SC resourcesinclude An Introduction to CooperativeTeaching with research, teacher tools,and suggestions for working with gen-eral educators. There is also guidancefor teachers in supervising paraprofes-sionals, with concrete suggestionsunder Keys to Successful ParaeducatorSupervision, as well as information ontraining paraeducators. Special educa-tors will also find helpful resources forcollaborating effectively with familiesthrough the beachcenter.org. The IRIS

module. Collaborating With Families(IRIS) provides information aboutworking with families from diversebackgrounds.

Managing the Joh andDealing Vfith Stress

New SETs often struggle to manageand organize various aspects of theirwork (e.g., individualized educationprograms [IEPs], schedules, paper-work, compliance with special educa-tion regulations) and cope with stress(Boyer & Lee, 2001). Providing teacherswith specific tools for managing andcoping with their jobs are criticalaspects of support. New SETs oftenhave questions about legal issues, IEPs,and evaluation processes. In additionto learning district procedures, SETscan access web sites such as NICHCYfor a wealth of information about thelegal requirements in special education.Creating a Schedule (SC) and The Pre-Referral Process: Procedures for Support-ing Students with Academic andBehavioral Concerns (IRIS) provide newSETs with ideas about addressing someof these practical concerns. A blog.Reality 101, sponsored by the Councilfor Exceptional Children (CEC) pro-vides opportunities for new SETs to seewhat other teachers are doing andreceive advice about many aspects ofthe job including budgets, managingstress, and planning. Another IRISmodule. Supporting Beginning SpecialEducators: Tips for School Leaders hasinformation relevant to understandingnew SETs and their concerns and pro-vides ways of supporting them. Byunderstanding areas in which newteachers struggle, mentors should bebetter able to understand how to sup-port them, and new SETs may realizethat they are not alone in their con-cerns.

Overview of What Web andWeh 2.0 Technologies OfferNew Teachers

The previous information emphasizesusing high-quality web sites to findinformation, however, there has beena paradigm shift with the advent ofWeb 2.0 technologies, which allowindividuals to create, share, and alter


Table 2. Coiiaborative Oniine Toois

Web 2.0 Tool/Software Examples Purpose

Web Conferencing

Wikis

Virtual WirelessHeadphones

Online Communities ofPractice (CoP)

Skype (www.skype.com)

iChat

Wikispaces (www.wikispaces.com)

Google Docs (www.docs.google.com)

PBWorks (www.pbworks.com)

There are many such devices including thePlantronics Voyager, BlueAntVl, AliphJawbone Prime.Tapped In (www.tappedin.org)

SharedWork (www.sharedwork.org)

LeadScape (www.niusileadscape.org)

Used for web conferencing; veteran and newspecial educators can meet virtually anywhereat any time.

Collaborative web sites for multiple participantsto collaborate, write, and edit documents (e.g.,including lessons, student specific data).

Can provide mentee with immediate feedbackfrom mentor.

CoPs engage groups of educators in discussion.

information. Such information sharingoccurs through online social mediasuch as wikis, blogs, social bookmark-ing, RSS (Really Simple Syndication)feeds, media sharing, and so on (seeTable 2). Social networks that rely onWeb 2.0 technologies are growing andcan provide teachers with collabora-tive, supportive environments in whichto gain expertise (Gutke & Albion,2008). Society is experiencing a transi-tion as more people begin to use com-puter-mediated social networks to gaininformation, make personal connec-tions, and network professionally. Thepopularity of social networks amongstudents as well as teachers has spreadrapidly. Research focusing on the useof social networks to connect teachershas primarily centered around e-men-toring, which is defined as providingmentoring and induction supportsthrough Internet-mediated communica-tion such as e-mail, discussion boards,chat rooms, web conferencing, andother online interaction tools (Smith &Israel, 2010). Studies in the generaleducation literature point to the posi-tive effect of e-mentoring on newteachers' practices and job satisfaction(Headlam-Wells, Gosland, & Craig,2006; Jacobsen, Friesen, & Clifford,2004; Johnson, Madng, Doty, & Fickle,

2006) as well as teacher learning(Schlager, Farooq, Fusco, Schank, &Dwyer, 2009). Schlager and colleaguesfound that online communities allowteachers to "interact more frequently,build more diverse networks, and gainmore equitable access to human andinformation resources not availablelocally" (p. 3). The authors discoveredthat, in studies that examined teacherdiscourse, the quality of online dia-logue was equivalent to face-to-faceinteractions. It is anticipated that e-mentoring will show similar positiveresults in supporting the induction ofearly career special educators (Smith &Israel, 2010).

Collaborative Web 2.0 OnlineResources

The available mentoring and inductionliterature suggests that although newspecial educators value mentoring andinduction supports, those supports maybe difficult to obtain because of limitedinteraction time (Smith & Israel, 2010).In their busy work days, new specialeducators often face difficulties associ-ated with shared time for planning, les-son feedback, and observing mentorteachers. The proliferation of collabora-tive software that promote "groupthink" and collaborative problem solv-

ing create an ideal scenario for veteranand novice special educators to collab-orate online and, thus, avoid many ofthe scheduling-related pitfalls associat-ed with traditional mentoring practices.Although not specifically designed forP-12 educational purposes, manyonline resources lend themselves wellto education-related online collabora-tion (see Table 2). For example, inaddition to the Reality 101 teacherblogs discussed earlier, CEC is alsopiloting a mentoring program betweenearly career special educators and vet-eran teachers through their PioneersProgram.

We are likely to see additional Web2.0 opportunities expand with applica-tions for special education teachers.For example, a technology now avail-able is remote coaching and communi-cation in which practicum students orearly career special educators receivereal-time coaching from mentors orpracticum supervisors who observetheir instruction through Skype andprovide feedback through a wirelessearpiece (Rock, Gregg, Tead, Acker,Gable, & Zigmond, 2009). Skype canthen be used to collaborate after theinstruction either during the school dayor at a more convenient time in theevening. In remote rural settings, an


early career special educator of stu-dents with significant disabilities maybe the sole practitioner in this area. Insuch cases, receiving consistent men-toring support may be quite difficultwithout such technology. Wikis or col-laborative web sites are options thatare gaining momentum in facilitatingonline collaboration. Wikis allow mul-tiple users to collaborate online withvery minimal knowledge of web designor even wiki text (see box "IllustrativeCase of a Small Collaborative Wiki").In fact, many wikis provide a visualeditor that can be navigated withknowledge of word processing. Figure1 provides an example of a case-basedcollaborative wiki developed by Israel,Moshirnia, and Anderson (2008) forthe assessment of complex "cases"related to inclusive education of stu-dents with disabilities. This passwordprotected wiki developed throughWikiSpaces allows preservice teachersto collaborate with their practicumsupervisors around common situationsfound in their practicum placements.

Illustrative due of a Small Collaborative Wiki

Layla is a third-grade student at Lincoln Elementary School. Layla has complexhealth and intellectual challenges that require her teachers, support staff, andparents to have close communication about her seizure disorder, her ongoinguse of augmentative communication, and her academic progress. Her IEP teamconsists of her parents, the general education teacher, the special educationteacher, the speech therapist, the occupational therapist, the physical therapist,and the nurse. Until this year, Layla's team communicated primarily throughe-mail. Her special education teacher, Mrs. Kaseff, was frustrated with constante-mailing to keep everyone updated and information that seemed to get lost incyberspace. This year, Mrs. Kaseff designed a simple, password protected wikiwithin WikiSpaces to allow for better communication. She designed pages forLayla's health forms, communication, and various routines and strategies thatfacilitate Layla's inclusion into the third-grade classroom. Although many of theteachers, as well as Layla's parents, were unaware of wikis, they found it to bemuch more efficient than the e-mail trees of last year.

Considerations for UsingWeb 2.0 Technologies

Although Web 2.0 tools, on their own,hold potential for facilitating onlinecollaboration between teachers, theymay not be readily adopted withoutsufficient forethought, scaffolding, andsupport. As new users, many teachersmay be extremely reticent to attempt to

communicate online. Several steps canbe taken to help scaffold teachers' useof these new technologies includingaddressing issues of confidentiality,professional online conduct, teachers'technology learning curves, and teach-ers' participation in collaborative net-works.

Confidentiality. One of the firstissues that teachers, administrators.

Figure 1. Case-Based Collaborative Problem Solving Wiki

J New Pace*

*** Recent Changes

^ Manage Space

Search ^

Home

Cases

Groups

People

Talk

Terms

Help

Resources

Case Study USWIn each Case study, you will fina a ortet wrttten description olttie Issue and prtmary documents or evidence of ttie Issue (such as examples otstudent work or video tapes of students Qehavior). Next to this you will find links to the IEP. Accommodations, and Sample Lessons Plans provided toaddress the issue.

Red introduces the dilemmaYellow Investigates and attempts to address the diiemmaGreen examines the effects of the interventions

Concern: Sentence Stf^cture and Spelling Difficulties

Narrative of Dilemma Reports Scanned Work Multimedia Data

USW Narrative of Diiemma USW Report USW Scanned Work iJSW Multimedia USW Data

Addressing a>e Dilemma IEP Accommodations Lesson Planning Investigation Data

USW Addressing Ihe Diiemma USW IEP USW Accommodations USW Lesson Plan USW Investigation Data

RevlsUnatheDtemma Report Scanned Worte Multimedia Data

USW Revisiting the Dilemma USW Revisit Report USW Revisit Work USW Revisit Multimedia USW Revisit Data

Note. From Case-based authentic assessment applications within wikis. Proceedings of the World Conference on Educational Multimedia,Hypermedia, and Telecommunications (Ed-Media) by M. Israel, A. V. Moshirnia, & S. Anderson, 2008, pp. 2608-2617. AACE.

TEACHING EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN MAY/JUNE 2011 27

and parents bring up when consideringthe use of Web 2,0 technology is thatof confidentiality. Confidentiality issuesextend to considerations such as pro-tection of student identities and theprotection of content shared betweenonline mentors and mentees. If collab-

be sent home to the child's family andmay involve the school district'sand/or university (if the virtual coach-ing occurs with preservice teachers)institutional review board. The last tierof consent, or research consent, is nec-essary if the virtual coaching and

Confidentiality issues extend to considerations suchas protection of student identities and the protection ofcontent shared between online mentors and mentees.

oration is centered on student data,confidentiality measures must be builtinto the online community. Thankfully,many social networks provide optionssuch as password protected sites inorder to allow for such communica-tion, WikiSpaces, for example, providesfree password protected sites for P-12purposes. For a small fee, this servicecan be extended into sites used inteacher education, online mentoring,and so forth.

When integrating Skype or otherweb conferencing software into remotecoaching for early career special edu-cators, issues of capturing digital videomust be addressed. Because recordingSkype or other web conferences is rel-atively easy, it is important to createprocedures for this occurrence. Preser-vice or new teachers may request toview their observations for futurereflection, so addressing issues of stu-dent consent should be addressedprior to remote coaching sessions.Levels of consent generally are negoti-ated with school administrators. Israel,Knowlton, Griswold, and Rowland(2009) described three tiers of consent.The first tier of consent, or tacit con-sent, falls within the Family EducationRights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and istypically sufficient when virtual coach-ing and video conferencing occurwithout recording and does notinvolve research-related data collec-tion. The authors explain that the sec-ond tier, or direct written consent, isnecessary when the primary use of vir-tual coaching with video conferencingis focused on specific students and/orthe video conference is digitallyrecorded. In this case, a letter should

video conferencing occurs for researchpurposes.

Online professional conduct.Another issue that sometimes emergesis the ability of online users to ade-quately maintain professional conductwithin professional social networks.This issue extends both to maintainingprofessionalism and providing andaccepting constructive criticism. Toaddress issues related to professional-ism, differentiation must be clearlymade between information freelyexpressed with their online friends(e,g,, Facebook) and the professionalcollaboration that should occurthrough the use of educationallyfocused Web 2,0 tools. In addition tofocusing on the use of respectful, stu-dent-focused interactions, teachersmay struggle with how to both provideand accept constructive feedback with-in social networks, as information maybe seen by other users. For example,in a study of preservice teachers' useof academic wikis, the preserviceteachers freely added content, butwere reticent to comment on, correct,or offer constructive comments for fearof offending the other preserviceteachers using the site (Moshirnia &Israel, 2010), The collaboration withinthis site was limited by the preserviceteachers' discomfort with challengingtheir peers. To mediate this issue, facil-itators should discuss expectations thatediting, modifying, and commenting toposted content enhances the collabora-tive processes, and they should modelprofessionalism in modifying contentand providing feedback.

Technology learning curve. Even thebest thought-out social networks will

not succeed if its users are unfamiliarwith how to utilize the Web 2,0 toolswithin them. Strategies to mediate thepossible steep technology learningcurves include the use of tutorials anddesignated orientation activities.Tutorials such as YouTlibe videos existfor most Web 2.0 technologies. Forexample, Wikis in Plain English(http://www,youtube,com/watch?v =-dnLOOTdmLY) provides a simplisticaccount of four participants planning acamping trip through the use of a wiki.In addition, screen capture softwarecan be used to illustrate navigation ofvarious social networks. For example,Camtasia Studio, a screen capture andrecording software, will allow users tocreate small podcasts of the computerscreen, including features such as ahighlighted mouse as it moves throughthe social network. The use of desig-nated orientation activities will allowusers to become familiar with variousaspects of Web 2,0 technologies.Within a social network site, for exam-ple, teachers may be asked to postinformation to their personal profilesincluding information about theirschool contexts, areas in which theyare struggling, and a profile picture ofthemselves. In this way, they will learnto upload documents (a picture) aswell as create some content within thesocial network site.

Conclusions

Today the increasing availability ofhigh-quality online resources and Web2.0 technologies can be used to sup-port both new teachers and their men-tors as they work together to addressquestions and solve problems. As wehave highlighted, many of these web-based resources are applicable to theneeds of early career teachers anddesigned in a manner to provideimportant information, as well as toolsand resources to help them apply thisto their work in schools. These onlineresources are readily available at nocost, and Web 2,0 technologies can beused for sharing between mentor,mentees, and others at a distance, SETsmay want to use Table 1 as a startingpoint, keeping a record of other rele-


vant web sites they learn about overtime.

In addition to outlining specific websites of interest to new teachers andtheir mentors, we suggest considera-tions for the use of Web 2.0 technolo-gies, including attending to confiden-tiality requirements, online professionalconduct, and learning new technolo-gies. Likewise, those engaged in earlycareer mentoring as well as profession-al development for special educatorsmay consider the adoption of theseresources and technologies to enhanceongoing efforts to improve teacher andsubsequent student performance.Higher education faculty may considersharing these web sites with their pre-service teachers to make them aware ofand orient them to these helpfulresources during their first years in theclassroom. These online resources andWeb 2.0 technologies may also provideneeded support to general educationteachers and school leaders given theshared responsibility for the educationof students with disabilities, as theseteachers increasingly take on greaterresponsibility for educating studentswith disabilities.

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Bonnie Billingsley (Virginia CEC), Profes-sor, School of Education, Department ofTeaching and Learning, Virginia PolytechnicInstitute and State University, Blacksburg.Maya Israel (Ohio CEC), Assistant Professor,College of Education, University of Cincin-nati, Criminal Justice and Human Services,Ohio, Sean Smith (Kansas CEC), AssociateProfessor, Department of Special Education,University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Correspondence concerning this articleshould be addressed to Bonnie Billingsley,School of Education, Department of Teachingand Learning, Virginia Polytechnic Instituteand State University, 39 War Memorial Hall,Blacksburg, VA 24060 (e-mail: billingsley®vt.edu).

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