Presented at 10:30am in Denver 4-6 on Monday, November 17, 2025.
#41108Speaker(s)
- Wink Harner, Assistive Technology Consultant, The Foreign Type
Session Details
- Length of Session: 2-day
- Format: Bring-your-own Device Workshop: Laptops or tablets
- Expertise Level: All Levels
- Type of session: Pre-conference
Summary
Adaptive technology is an ever-evolving field. The innovations & updates happen unexpectedly, making it a challenge for colleges, the respective DR offices, particularly their adaptive technology staff to research & evaluate the technology, make recommendations for adoption, upgrade, or purchase, then to be able to train & support students in learning the recommended AT. This AT training is tied to specific disability categories, divided into 8 modules & designed for professional growth.
Abstract
Based on an 8-module professional development course created for AHEAD in 2023, this workshop will be for the professionals in higher education, specifically those professionals who deal with evaluation, selection, training, & support of adaptive technology for students with disabilities on college campuses, with an overview of their role from campus inventory, to student intake evaluations, & implementation of the technology on campus(es).
The training has been expanded to a 2 day format in order to cover the 8 modules. Each module includes readings, discussion, and mini-quiz evaluation & a shared document.
"To achieve the principal goal of identifying & reducing and/or eliminating barriers regarding access to campus programs, services, educational materials, campus facilities & buildings, disability resource personnel must: - Provide leadership and collaboration in framing a commitment to disability access and equity as an interval aspect of their institution’s culture; - Advise and educate the campus community about disability and inclusive practices; - Provide services, strategies, and accommodations to mitigate the barriers faced by individual disabled people; - and [...] Enhance their professional knowledge and skills."
Citation excerpted from performance indicators from AHEAD: Association on Higher Education and Disability (2021). The AHEAD program domains, standards, and performance indicators. SOURCE: https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/information-services-portal/data-collection-and-management/performance-indicators
By the end of the course students will have a clear understanding of intake, evaluation, & training processes, data collection, campus involvement, learn about various laws involved, understand how to evaluate adaptive technology, develop evaluation criteria for student & campus use. An extensive reading list will be provided in advance to registered students in the workshop.
NOTE: a PG certificate pending AHEAD approval
Keypoints
- Learn about a wide variety of different types of adaptive technologies as they relate to specific disabilities
- Learn to link AT to specific disabilities, including neurodiverse students, & to adapt AT for specific needs
- Develop strategies for advising faculty, administrators and campus staff on campuswide accessibility & AT
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Assistive Technology, Other, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Wink Harner
Wink Harner - Has been an active member of ATHEN for 25 years and served for nearly a decade on the ATHEN Executive Board as Member-At-Large. Wink was invited as the keynote speaker for the 2019 Texas AHEAD conference. She is the former director of disability services at Mesa Community College in Arizona, the Adaptive Technology Specialist for the DR office at Southern Oregon University. She currently works in freelance adaptive technology consulting and provides specialized alternative text conversions in math, sciences and foreign languages. She has been a professor of multiple languages for more than 25 years having completed her doctoral studies in Spanish, Portuguese, & French. Since August 2016, Wink developed and taught the adaptive technology in higher education core course for CUNY's Masters of Science in Disability Studies Program. In 2023 she developed a course in professional development for AHEAD in adaptive technology in higher education. She has presented at adaptive technology conferences for decades. For fun, Wink plays trombone in 2 symphonic wind bands and a jazz band, as well as performing as a professional storyteller with the Portland Storytellers Guild.