The Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education brings innovations to its program.
The Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at USU extended the availability of its courses by launching the first online American Sign Language course in January.
The courses, which were designed and developed by Curt Radford, instructor in deaf education and former USU student, became possible to implement after the department had received a grant of $25,000 from the AT&T Foundation.
“Our online courses are the first ASL courses in the nation that can be turned truly interactive,” said Freeman King, the director of deaf education in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education.
King said due to the video conferencing technology, students all over the country can get instructions from the specialists of the department as well as find all the necessary materials online.
“There is a nationwide shortage of qualified teachers for the deaf,” King said. “Our courses provide additional opportunities to train specialists in this sphere.”
The Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education will continue to develop distance education programs, King said.
“We expect to offer our second ASL online course for the Fall Semester 2009. The course will be an extension of ASL I with more ASL concepts and vocabulary,” King said.
In addition to the online courses, the department will continue with it’s highly credible traditional classes.
“USU program of deaf education is one of the best in the nation for preparation of bilingual and bicultural teachers for the deaf,” King said.
The program of the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at USU is one of the few programs in the country that was certified by the Council of Education of the Deaf in three different areas: early childhood, elementary education and secondary education, King said. To work with deaf children, students have to be certified not only in deaf education but also in one of the three above-mentioned fields, King said. In general, King said, during the course students are required to get over 600 hours of teaching experience.
“We make every attempt to make sure that teachers graduating from our program are regarded as the best in the United States,” King said.
The department enables the students to participate in various residential programs all over the country, King said.
“We have our students teaching in schools for the deaf in Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas, California, New Mexico, Washington D.C. and other states,” King said.
Typically, the department has about 10 graduate students each year. However, now the number of students will be limited due to the shortage of practicum sites.
“We expect that in spite of existing economic problems our programs will continue to grow and turn out quality teachers for the deaf,” King said.
The department has applied for the Federal Personnel Preparation Grant and hopes to hear soon it was funded.
“If we receive funding, we will be able to assist our graduate students in getting enough teaching practice as well as to have better recruitment of out-of-state students,” King said.
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