Reflection and Plans

Student Feedback

Six students filled out the course evaluation for me after the course. Below are some of the comments students added at the end of their evaluation forms.

• In response to the question, "Which aspects of the course did you find the most helpful to your learning?"

• "The AAC competencies, the case study, and creating our own project."

• "I think it was helpful to have live classes. The discussions and group work during the class was helpful to apply knowledge.

• "The reading reflections were beneficial for self–evaluation of the content."

• "I thought the AAC competencies were very helpful. I also liked when we looked at specific case studies."

• "I enjoyed how the instructors went over our questions from the readings during class."

• In response to the question, "Which aspects of the course could be improved or changed?"

  • "More emphasis on the devices and their functions vs. the laws."

  • "I honestly didn't see the point of the article review."

  • "I don't think there is anything that I would change."

  • "I felt like the class was very IEP heavy. I understand that as a school–based SLP you will be doing ALOT of IEP work, however, sometimes I felt we focused more on the IEP than the AAC."

  • "I did not love all of the breakout rooms and activities. Sometimes they were beneficial, but it often felt like we weren't learning anything when we were sent away to do some activities. I would like more of a lecture."

• In response to the question, "Is there anything else you would like the instructor to know about your experiences in this course?"

  • "Super organized, always came prepared to class. Very respectful to all students and acknowledged questions, suggestions, ideas, etc."

  • "Susan was really awesome during this course. I really felt like she wanted us to succeed and always reached out and responded quickly to my questions. I REALLY appreciated her!"

Reflections and Plans

Through this directed teaching experience I learned so much that can be applied to future teaching experiences. I am encouraged that feedback from both my instructor and students highlight my openness and the positive classroom environment I helped to foster. Within a virtual class, it was at times challenging to come up with creative ways to engage classroom discussion. While some opportunities that the virtual lectures afforded were great (like student option to participate via the chat), in the future I would like the opportunity to teach a similar course using an in-person format. The in-person format would allow for hands on opportunities with AAC systems during class time and easier opportunities small group discussions and role play activities. The opportunities that would be available for in-person small group discussion and in-class activities may also address the student feedback about not enjoying the breakout room activities.

The student feedback questioning the emphasis on IEP law versus AAC systems made me reflect on how this connection could have been fostered more. While the course objectives of SPLH 838 do not include AAC assessment competencies, AAC feature matching, or fostering understanding of AAC as a whole (there is another course that has these objective), we did provide students with opportunities to experience technology by completing an online AAC module that explains AAC basics and assigning time in the Pardee AAC Lab completing competencies. In the future, I would like to provide students with opportunities to complete observations on both pull out and inclusive school based services for children who use AAC. Completing observations, reflections, comparing and contrasting service delivery models, and thinking about how to address goals in the classroom might be a concrete way for students to make the connection between technology and the course objectives of understanding IDEA.

In this course, assigned readings mostly came from two textbooks. The required texts will be great for students to use as a reference in future clinical work. In the future, I would like to continue to expand the methods of accessing information that students have (e.g., podcasts, blogs, perhaps even social media). In a digital world, it is one of our professional responsibilities to know how to evaluate information from various sources. Including different modalities and perhaps even a "fact check" assignment will help students to know how to evaluate evidence from different areas (such as social media) and compare it with what is peer-reviewed.