Reflection on Case Study Activity 2

Reflection of Theories and Ethics

Hannah Collins

3/24/2023

1. Provide an overview of what the article seeks to tell us -- what is the article about and who are the target audience?

In 2000, “Assistive Technology: Meeting the Needs of Learners with Disabilities,” was published by Laurel Garrick Duhaney and Devon Duhaney. As identified in the abstract, the purpose of the paper is to highlight the importance of integrating assistive technologies into the classroom for students with special needs. Additionally, the paper seeks to explain the usefulness of technologies within schools. To accomplish its purpose, the paper discusses two learning theories: behaviorism and constructivism. It explains their relation to assistive technology by describing how technology supports learning defined by the theories. Furthermore, various examples of assistive technologies for different disabilities are presented. The targeted audience is educators. Throughout the paper, teachers, and their role in integrating assistive technologies into an educational environment are referenced. The paper serves as a partial guide to how to successfully utilize technologies to support teaching. It provides educators with a list of technologies and their usefulness.

2. Describe ways that this article deals with the issues we have been exploring the last 2-weeks.  How does it reflect on, or detail, aspects of theories and/or ethics in the field of assistive technologies.

Over the last few weeks, the topics of learning theories and ethics have been discussed. Within this article, learning theories, specifically behaviorism and constructivism, are a prominent focus. The paper begins with detailing and defining the two theories as seen from a learning environment. Behaviorists define the teacher as the “manipulator of the environment that is experienced by the learner” (Duhaney & Duhaney, 2000). On the other hand, constructionists describe that “learners construct knowledge… on what they already know” (Duhaney & Duhaney, 2000). Additionally, the link between the learning theories and technology discussed the previous week is reflected in the paper. The article uses theories to identify the importance of technology. It describes how technologies can address the problems with the implementation of learning theories within the classroom. For example, the paper states that self-instructional material and tutorials can teach skills to students in high student-teach ratio classrooms that focus on behavioral learning strategies. The paper then goes into different examples of assistive technology and how to support different disabled groups. For example, it discusses how text-based software helps people with learning disabilities and how voice-controlled devices support people with physical disabilities. Overall, the article explains the relationship between learning theories and assistive technologies to explain their importance to one another. Additionally, it brings attention to the idea that for technology to be successful, educators must recognize this relationship and learn how to use the technology in a classroom setting.