LiveScribe Pens, Round II: Illegal to use in the Classroom?

I remain bemused (saddened?  not surprised?) by stories in which schools actively reject new technologies on spurious premises.  Why can't they see the value of these new tools?  Why is there such a lack of creativity?

This week's tale of bureaucracy comes from a colleague of mine in the special education legal world.  One of her clients is a 10th grader with auditory processing dysfunctions.  On the recommendation of a neuropsych, his parents bought him a LiveScribe pen and he brought it to school to assist with notetaking and reviewing the lectures later on at home.  (This, by the way, is precisely one of the ways that the LiveScribe pen is SO AWESOME.  This is EXACTLY in line with best practices).

The teacher, however, told him he couldn't use it because it was "illegal".  Now, there is one potential legal issue at hand.  Some states prohibit you from recording conversations without the other party's consent (these are "two party" states).  Other states have no such restriction, and you can record away (these are "one party" states).  Apparently, this kid was in a one-party state, so the teacher was flat wrong. I love how people make these things up. 

Now, turn your legal brain on to the next logical question: would use of the LiveScribe pen be illegal in a two party state?  After all, you'd need the other party's consent to record.  Well, really, what thinking teacher would refuse consent to the student's recording?  What about the other students - would schools need to get consent from each and every student, if one student wanted to record a lecture (in which the other students are presumably participating)?  I would argue no.  Students don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy in what they say in a classroom, vis a vis the other people in the class.  Now, maybe you'd want the student doing the recording to agree to only use the recording for educational purposes, and that seems reasonable.  But again, nothing about the use of the LiveScribe pen is illegal.

So, back to the example.  What was the teacher's real concern?  Well, maybe the teacher was nervous that if the kid recorded her lectures, his parents would find that that she really couldn't teach!  Or maybe the teacher just didn't understand the potential of the LiveScribe pen to really help the student learn.  I really have no idea, but this really reinforces the principles I posted about earlier.  In sum, the coolest and best technologies for learning will be entirely useless if teachers don't know how to use them and if schools don't support their inclusion in the classroom.

School Budget Officers, this one's for you

I've been reading my county's school budget document - insert joke about how I must have time on my hands - and it's not pretty.  Because of the recession, our school district is facing a declining budget for the third year in a row.  I imagine most school districts across the country are facing the same issues, especially as the Obama stimulus money runs out, and administrators will make some tough choices that could be detrimental to our kids.

So.  Let's be proactive, and think about how we can use technology and the principles of universal design for learning to cut costs without cutting quality.

21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

Congress passed a surprisingly under-reported piece of legislation last October that's designed to make advanced communications, video (both traditional cable and broadcast TV, as well as Internet), and mobile phones more accessible to people with disabilities.  The chairman of the FCC called it "the most significant piece of disability legislation in 20 years".  He's probably right, which is why it's strange that no one knows about it. You can find the law here: 21st Century Communications Act.  Here's a short summary:

1. Browsers on smart phones must be accessible, and smart phones must be compatible with hearing aids;
2. FCC has the authority to ensure that people with disabilities can access next generation of 911 technology;
3. The top 4 broadcast and top 5 cable networks required to provide 50 hours of programming per week with video description;
4. Programs shown on TV with closed captioning must include such captions when reshown on internet; and
5. Emergency information typically shown as silent text crawl at bottom of screen must be made accessible to the blind.

Medicaid and the iPad

File this one under example #873242 of how the federal government gets things wrong.

As you may or may not know, kids with special needs often can qualify under Medicaid (where their parents do not), or a Medicaid waiver, to cover certain medical and therapeutic expenses that would otherwise be prohibitive.  One example that I'm personally familiar with is an AAC device (which stands for Alternative Augmentative Communication).  An AAC device is any kind of assistive technology that helps a child (or, perhaps an adult who has suffered a stroke) communicate to others.  Examples include low-tech PECS boards and run all the way to dedicated picture-based "talkers" like the Dynavox or Vantage Lite.  (If you're really interested you can learn more at Dynavox and Vantage Lite).  Note that these dedicated devices - which look like archaic throwbacks to computers in the 1970s, btw - cannot do any other type of function.  And for the privilege of getting one, you can expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $7-9,000.