Inclusive Making: Designing Adaptive Technology in your Classroom

Whole School

This session will explore what adaptive and assistive technology is, and how it helps people with disabilities. We will discuss how to create and teach an adaptive technology unit in a design, maker, robotics, or applied learning environment. We will also create prototypes in our session to gain additional understanding of the subject. This sessions aims to create, discuss, and design student projects that make a difference. We will examine how ableism affects people’s daily lives. We will then explore how makers, designers, and everyday folks can and have created their own (or for others) adaptive and assistive technology solutions to help make the world a better and more accessible place. We will collaborate and create lessons and projects that incorporate these types of technologies and goals in makerspace, design and technology classes. I will discuss how my physical disability has affected my teaching and work, and how I have incorporated that into my class. We will also create a few prototype adaptive technology solutions and projects in the workshop utilizing Makeymakeys, and other hardware.

Kristoffer Munden:

Mike Bycraft has been teaching for 17 years. He teaches design, technology, robotics, and makerspace at Korea International School. Previously he taught science in the United States. He holds a Masters in Learning, Design and Technology. He is a certified Google Innovator. He has presented at Learning2, Google, EARCOS, and KORCOS on makerspaces, project-based learning, technology, and Dungeons & Dragons. Additionally, Mike was born with Poland’s Syndrome, missing 90% of his right hand, with limited mobility on his right side. He started taking apart and redesigning his Nintendo controllers in middle school, which unexpectedly was great preparation for his career.