Turning Lemons into Lemonade:
Teaching Assistive Technology
through Wikis and
Embedded Video
By Oliver Dreon, Jr. and Nanette I. Dietrich
W e teach instructional technology cours-
es to pre-service teachers at Millersville
University of Pennsylvania. The focus
of the instructional technology courses is on
the authentic use of instructional and assistive
technology in the K-12 classroom. Tradition-
ally, our Instructional Technology course in-
cludes a unit on assistive technology (AT) that
culminates with students visiting the AT lab on
campus. At the lab, we hope that our students
are able to apply the concepts we discuss in our
classes by getting hands-on practice with one
of the assistive devices available for use in the
lab. This semester, however, the entire School of
Education moved into a new building on cam-
pus and the AT lab was being reconfigured in
its new space. As a result of the move, our AT
lab was closed for most of the semester. This
created a serious dilemma. We did not want to
remove the entire AT unit from the course, but
we worried whether the unit would be as effec-
tive without students visiting the lab.
Inspiration came through a student’s sponta-
neous remark during class. During a discussion
on AT in one of our classes, a student described
a device that she observed being used in an el-
ementary school during a field placement expe-
rience. As she explained how the assistive tech-
78 TechTrends • January/February 2009
nology device functioned and how it aided the
student in the classroom, she remembered that
she saw a YouTube video that demonstrated
its use. Running to the front of the room and
using the instructor podium and projector, she
excitedly navigated the YouTube site and dis-
played the video on the screen for the entire
class to see. The streaming video showed a stu-
dent using the same assistive technology device
that she had seen used during her field place-
ment. The device transferred spoken word into
text through the use of a wireless microphone
and a student laptop. The level of access the
device provided for the student astonished the
class. The pre-service teachers were amazed and
excited. This spontaneous teaching moment ul-
timately lead to the solution to our dilemma.
The Solution: An Assistive
Technology Wiki
After seeing the pre-service teachers’ reac-
tions to the YouTube video, we considered
how we could utilize these streaming videos
in some educational manner. For our assistive
technology unit, we wanted the pre-service
teachers to reflect on the technology available
to K-12 students with special needs but we also
Volume 53, Number 1
wanted our pre-service teachers to share their re-
flections with their classmates. These objectives
seemed perfectly suited for a wiki assignment.
Wikis allow multiple editors to contribute in a
single online space. Because they are relatively
simple to use and freely available on the web,
wikis encourage collaboration between users
(Goodwin-Jones, 2003).
While there are many explanations for what
makes wikis work in educational settings, we
prefer to view their ability to promote learning
from a sociocultural perspective. Based on work
by Vygotsky (1978) and Dewey (1933), sociocul-
tural theorists believe that learning is situated in
social and physical contexts, occurs through in-
teraction within a group, and is distributed across
the individual, the community, and the tools they
use (Brown et al., 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991;
Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2003; Wertsch, 1998).
Embracing this perspective, learning is not based
solely on an individual’s ability to acquire knowl-
edge and skills but also on an ability to partici-
pate in a community. Applying this perspective
to wiki use, when students use a wiki they par-
ticipate in and help to develop an online commu-
nity. By collaborating with other students, they
contribute to the construction of new knowledge.
In this assignment, the wiki would not only serve
as the tool for mediating the flow of information
between pre-service teachers but also work to
develop a community of learners through joint
participation and shared practice.
We created our class wiki and asked our pre-
service teachers to post YouTube and Teach-
erTube videos that demonstrated AT. We gave
each section of the course a short tutorial on how
to modify the wiki’s content and how to embed
video within the wiki. We asked the classes to be
conscious of how the K-12 students were por-
trayed in the videos and to only post videos that
were respectful in nature. We also explained that
we wanted each pre-service teacher to post a dif-
ferent video and to comment on the posts from
their classmates. Without access to the AT lab,
we hoped this experience would offer something
meaningful for the classes.
As we watched the pre-service teachers’ wiki
activity over the following weeks, we realized
that the project was not just a solution borne out
of necessity. In many ways, it offered unique ben-
efits that a visit to the AT lab could not provide.
While the wiki project did not give pre-service
teachers hands-on contact with any specific de-
vices, it provided powerful experiences that will
benefit our pre-service teachers as they begin
their teaching careers. Here are just a few obser-
vations we made as we watched our students par-
ticipate in the AT wikis with their classmates.
Volume 53, Number 1 TechTrends • January/February 2009
Personalizing Assistive
Technology
When pre-service teachers visited the AT lab,
it was usually empty. While the lab houses many
different assistive devices, our classes never ob-
served special needs students actually using the
devices. In a way, having our pre-service teach-
ers visit an empty lab taught them that assistive
technology focuses more on specific equipment
and technology rather than the benefits that the
devices foster for K-12 students. With the wiki
project, our pre-service teachers were able to
watch a child with cerebral palsy write a paper
and an autistic boy communicate to his teacher.
The technology became secondary as the class
witnessed the access that the devices helped to
promote for the individuals featured in the vid-
eos. Previously, when the class had visited the
AT lab, the pre-service teachers’ reflections of-
ten focused on how a specific tool functioned
or what it could do. In the wiki, the pre-service
teachers often included background informa-
tion about the individuals in the videos such as
“Jim is a young man with spinal muscular atro-
phy …” or “John is blind …”. Because the vid-
eos usually contained biographical information
about the featured individuals, the pre-service
teachers saw the technology not just as pieces
of equipment but as powerful tools that can af-
fect lives. For example, one of our pre-service
teachers discussed her impressions after watch-
ing a video one of her classmates had posted on
the wiki.
This software was awesome. It seemed
like a very effective device that is easy to
use. It was awesome to see how the soft-
ware not only made Mike able to play vid-
eo games, but also to write a novel, talk
to peers, and many other things. I would
have never thought with just the touch
of your thumb so much could be accom-
plished.
Undoubtedly, when they visited the AT lab,
our pre-service teachers became proficient in
using assistive technologies. They gained hands-
on experience with devices that watching vid-
eos via a wiki could never replace. Still, the wiki
project has its own advantages. The wiki helped
our pre-service teachers see the profound im-
plications that assistive technology can have on
the lives of individuals with disabilities.
Visualizing Future Teaching
Studying the pre-service teachers’ comments
on the wiki, there were many posts that includ-
ed information about our pre-service teachers’
roles as future teachers. The pre-service teach-
79
 ers began to visualize themselves as practicing
teachers and reflected on how the technology
could support student learning in their class-
room. Here, one of our pre-service teachers dis-
cusses a book-reading device and the access it
provided for a young boy named Josh, who is
autistic.
What a great tool! If I had a student who
was primarily nonverbal and I had exhaust-
ed all of my ideas to help him, I would never
have thought or known there was a tool out
there like this!
After watching a video that showed a young
man named John using an alternative keyboard,
another student posted the following comment to
the wiki:
Being able to use this device in a class-
room opens up so many opportunities for
students who are like John, but also maybe
someone that needs help with communi-
cation. It can give students the ability to
feel equal in the classroom. This would be
a great piece of equipment to know more
about. I know just watching this video
makes me want to get out and help more
people and by knowing about products
like this helps me accomplish my goal.
When visiting the AT lab, the pre-service
teachers never included this type of visualization
in their reflections. While neither the visit to the
AT lab or the posts to the AT wiki specifically
required our pre-service teachers to think about
their future roles as teachers, seeing individu-
als using the equipment in the videos helped to
prompt this type of reflection.
In a way, the wiki project served as a virtual
field experience that allowed the pre-service
teachers to observe specific technologies in use
by individuals with special needs. With the visit
to the empty AT lab, the pre-service teachers had
to imagine how an individual would use a tool
and what possible benefits the device would pro-
vide. In contrast, the wiki project gave the pre-
service teachers an “eyes-on” experience where
they could witness these benefits for themselves.
Without being a central focus of the project, the
AT wiki helped pre-service teachers visualize
their roles as future teachers and how they could
better support individuals with special needs in
their classrooms.
Now that the AT lab has reopened in its new
space, we are reconsidering how best to prepare
new teachers to enter schools and work with
special needs students. The wiki project helped
our pre-service teachers visualize their roles as
future teachers and focused the assistive tech-
nology discussion on the individuals who ben-
efit from its use. On its own, the AT wiki does
80 TechTrends • January/February 2009
not adequately prepare future teachers to man-
age assistive technology or to understand how
they operate. To meet these goals, pre-service
teachers need to visit the AT lab and experience
firsthand how different devices function. After
the wiki project, however, we realize the best
approach is to couple the assignments together
and have our students visit the AT lab and col-
laborate in the AT wiki. Through these coordi-
nated experiences, our pre-service teachers will
not only learn how to operate different assistive
technology devices but also see that the tools
can provide access for individuals in real class-
room setting. While the wiki project was borne
of out necessity, it helped us reconsider how we
prepare new teachers to work with special needs
students.
Oliver Dreon is an assistant professor at Millersville
University of Pennsylvania where he teaches instructional
technology and science methods courses. Prior to coming to
Millersville, Dr. Dreon taught science for fifteen years in the
public schools and was a 2001 Christa McAuliffe Fellow (PA).
He obtained his BS in Physics and his MA in Teaching from
the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Dreon recently completed a
PhD in Curriculum and Instruction through Penn State Uni-
versity. His research interests include teacher development
and professional teacher identity.
Nanette I. Marcum-Dietrich is an assistant professor
in the Educational Foundations Department at Millersville
University of Pennsylvania where she teaches Science Meth-
ods and Instructional Technology. Prior to completing her
PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Del-
aware, Dr. Dietrich taught high school chemistry and biol-
ogy for nine years. Her research interests in science education
include: writing to learn, scientific literacy, and technology
integration.
Dr. Marcum-Dietrich and Dr. Dreon recently published
the book Authentic instruction with technology: A student-
centered approach.
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Dewey, J. (1933). How we think. New York: DC Heath.
Goodwin-Jones, B. (2003). Blogs and wikis: Environments
for on-line collaboration. Language Learning & Technol-
ogy, 7(2), 12-16.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate
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Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2003). Knowledge build-
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Volume 53, Number 1