Dr. Lisa Dieker, a professor at the University of Kansas in the Department of Special Education, and Dr. Rebecca Hines, a professor at the University of Central Florida in the College of Community Innovation and Education, have worked with schools and parents across the country. Dr. Dieker directs a center in the Achievement and Assessment Institute called Flexible Learning through Innovations in Technology in Education (FLITE) and Dr. Hines directs several doctoral grants and the teacher preparation program. In this podcast, they take a fun and informal look at "practical" solutions from teachers, parents, and people with disabilities. The approach in this podcast is to provide fast, flexible thinking about "real" life problems. This podcast is not about the "legal" approach but their best advice from personal and professional experience.
Drs. Rebecca Hines and Lisa Dieker are back for season nine! This season we are talking all about "their favorite things." This includes topics such as co-teaching, technology, and a few special guests! Please tune in today as they kick off the first episode of the season and focus on technology.
Don't forget we love to hear from our listeners! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We look forward to receiving your questions on our Google Phone (407) 900- 9305, Facebook (Practical Access), Twitter (@AccessPractical), or Instagram (@Practical_Accesss).
Lisa Dieker:
Welcome to practical access. I'm Lisa Dieker. And
Rebecca Hines:
Hi, I'm Rebecca Hines. And Lisa, we're in yet another
Lisa Dieker:
season nine. How's that possible? Hey, wait a minute. Do folks know that you and I sat in a laundry room during the pandemic and decided this was a good idea?
Rebecca Hines:
Yeah, well, if they didn't, some of them may have guessed. So, in this season, the fun thing is, you know, we kind of made this some of our favorites thing as type of season. And for each of us, that means a little something different. You know, I'm so embedded in the teacher prep part. And I'm passionate about it, you are too but I've kind of taken it on a different layer and a
Lisa Dieker:
gotten your hands dirty.
Rebecca Hines:
So we have, you know, some teacher prep kind of things to talk about.
Lisa Dieker:
We both co teaching.
Rebecca Hines:
We both love to talk about co teaching. And I think we bring maybe some different ideas might have considered about co teaching. So suspend your judgment?
Lisa Dieker:
communication, all kinds of things we love, right? Yeah,
Rebecca Hines:
yeah. So even what I love Oh, Lisa, I know what you love what you tell our listeners
Lisa Dieker:
live. So So one of the topics, I wanted to just chat a little bit, and again, we we love it, we love it. We love technology. But I really wanted to talk about kind of this cliff that you and I are trying to jump over is the future of technology. And yeah, for those who don't know, I've had a crazy privilege of helping create something here called TeachLive simulation. But we both
Rebecca Hines:
fast. That particular tool, I'm going to give our listeners a one little bit more information about this because this this particular student is completely blind. And this is a fairly simple technology, actually, because it's literally like walking around with a camera. So she wasn't physically reading the menu, but somebody was on a remote call with her viewing what she's viewing and bacon. Yeah. And that's where I think we have to be ready. And I really struggle personally, with how do we prepare teachers for what's coming?
Lisa Dieker:
eggs
Rebecca Hines:
Well, yeah, this is the thing I think. I know for me, when it comes to AI, we're both working on AI project right
Lisa Dieker:
now artificial intelligence. For those who don't know,
Rebecca Hines:
we're fully immersed in the world of this right now. And yet, there are scary things about AI too. And it's, you know, we don't want teachers to be replaced by etc, etc, etc. However, there are ways to use technology as true specific supports, you know, and so it's about figuring out the place, you know, a place that we share Absolutely, so that I can do what I do best, personally,
Lisa Dieker:
So right and lowering the cognitive load, like like, as a teacher, you make 1300 decisions a day, if I could take 300 out of your hands, because AI makes the right decision for you. So now I'm not tired, grumpy, under caffeinated, over caffeinated, whatever that emotionally regulate. So that's the AI we're working on is an AI agent that helps kids self regulate. I as a teacher,
Rebecca Hines:
And for the, you know, I've been interested in the biometric part for a long time, and the whole idea of biofeedback and the whole idea of you know, for me, it can be as simple as creating the kind of technology and there's tons of things that exist, that that can do this kind of thing. But you know, that just if I'm, if I'm a student, and I'm feeling stressed, or upset or
Lisa Dieker:
Yeah, well, and that's so two things that one is all technology has bias, period, whoever created it, whether they like it or not, could have had 5 million panels, but there's still that one person whose XYZ LMNOP is not on that panel. So all technology has bias. I think that's the first thing. And the second thing is, I think we have to think about what is the ethical use of that
Rebecca Hines:
And I think as a teacher, I think the practical side of this isn't that you have to be the ones to create it or, you know, worry about it, I think, from what I'm seeing, and I know, professionally, things are being created that actually reduce the amount. It's not like the old days where I've got to learn 50, new programs, et cetera. It's not that it's more about how can I feel
Lisa Dieker:
going to expect. And my last two tips is one don't assume the more expensive is better. We've learned in the AI world, the cheaper maybe the more efficient it is to be able to learn what you want to know. The expensive thing tells you what the person who made it wants you to know what if there's something specific we found $5 got gets us more than $500. So sometimes the low tech
Rebecca Hines:
We realize it's kind of a controversial topic. That's how we roll. That's what we're doing these days. Lisa.
Lisa Dieker:
So these are a few of our favorite things. Please send us any questions you have @Accesspractical on our Twitter site, or you can send us a post on our Facebook site @practicalaccess.
