Keynote

Melissa-Ann began as a high school English teacher and then transitioned to an IU position where she was thrust into the world of Training and Consultation (TaC) - putting her side-by-side with special education experts in the fields of Transition and Assistive Technology.  Her work with those incredible people motivated her to dive into the depths of copyright, universal design for learning, and accessibility, and she has been bringing this knowledge to colleagues at conferences like ISTE and PETE&C since 2018. Her current position as a K-12 Teacher Development Instructor at York County School of Technology allows her to bring this awareness to high school students as they prepare to enter college and the education field. 

Melissa-Ann's philosophy can be summed up in three simple words: Try. Rinse. Repeat.  To her, the purpose of learning is to instill the want to try something unknown, the courage to make mistakes, and the wherewithal to do it all over again.  Failure brings about success.  One of her goals as an educator is to create environments where everyone has access to information and learning in a way that allows learners to be curious so they can discover, innovate, and thrive while being comfortable and safe to make mistakes. 

Removing barriers and lightening the cognitive load are KEY to helping ensure our educators and our learners can access information in order to create, innovate, and thrive! Join her as she gives you some tools to try and some tricks to consider to help create an accessbile environment in your classroom!