Learning to Fish

Irene Hughes

Evergreen School District

Irene Hughes is an Instructional Coach, Special Education Teacher and former Occupational Therapist who collaborates with school staff, students and families to discover and use technology to improve an individual’s quality of life. Throughout Irene’s career, she has worked on finding student-centered solutions that promote equity and access. She is now working at Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, Washington to expand the knowledge and use of assistive and other technology for all students.

Session Description

“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.”

“And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.” That’s the part of the analogy that’s missing.”

― Trevor Noah, Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood


The field of assistive technology is evolving at a rate that makes staying familiar with new and updated applications, extensions, programs, and devices a full-time job. However, as AT/AAC specialist, teachers, coaches, instructor, etc. we are charged with not only staying abreast of all the new option but keeping our stakeholders current on new applications, extensions, programs, and devices too. Given the speed of change and breadth of options, this is a daunting proposition, especially when using a side by side, small and large group instructional or expert model. On the other hand, by teaching others how to explore and learn new technology, giving them the tools to fish, changes this part of the job from implausible to potentially doable. This presentation provides practical strategies for teaching others how to learn and use new applications, tools, and digital curriculum. In other words, participants will leave with the rod need to catch all of the fish.

Learning Outcomes

In this webinar, participants will

  1. learn strategies for overcoming techno-phobia;
  2. reduce the time it takes to use new apps/digital curriculum in a meaningful way;
  3. increase the likelihood of implementing new apps/digital curriculum with fidelity.

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