Live, Interactive Paraprofessional Training Using Internet Technology: Description and Evaluation
By Morgan, Robert L.; Forbush, David E.; Nelson, Jon; Journal of Special Education Technology, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 25-33Publication Date: Summer 2004
Paper focuses on a federally-funded grant project designed to develop and evaluate a distance education model for training special education paraprofessionals. The project involved providing training to groups of paraprofessionals at three sites via a live Internet-based, two-way audio/video system through a software application called iVisit from Eyematic. Course content was drawn from a text and video curriculum called Enhancing Skills of Paraeducators, 2nd Edition, which had been approved by the United States Department of Education. The curriculum included video exercises that displayed school-based situations that allowed paraprofessionals to analyze problems, make decisions, and decide how they would respond. During one ten-week course, an instructor worked with groups of sixteen to twenty paraprofessionals at three remote sites in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the course. The researchers ultimately found that the course was highly rated, and could represent an additional training delivery option for pre- and in-service paraprofessionals working in special education settings.
Published by: Exceptional Innovations (Website:http://www.exinn.net)
Technology and Media Division (TAM) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) (Web Site: http://www.tamcec.org )
