Alex Dunn Honoured as 2012 SEE of the Year for Canada
(Oxford Mills) – Alex Dunn, a speech language pathologist with the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) has been selected as the 2012 SMART Exemplary Educator (SEE) of the Year for Canada.
The award, presented by SMART Technologies, a Calgary-based high tech company, recognizes Dunn for helping to lead a team of teachers, learning resource coaches, educational assistants, and other specialists at the Board in the creation of Smart Inclusion.
Smart Inclusion involves using a Universal Design for Learning Toolkit including SMART Boards and other SMART Solutions, iDevices, Nintendo DSi and traditional teaching tools with what has historically been thought of as ‘special needs hardware and software’. The tools are set within a framework of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Differentiated Instruction (DI), Aided Language Stimulation, and the Participation Model (PM) to support: communication and participation for students with significant communication disabilities; and inclusive educational programming.
“I was flabbergasted,” said Dunn of winning the award. “I would have never guessed that I would have won with so many exemplary educators across Canada up for the award who have done such incredible work. I am so very proud.
“However, it is really the UCDSB Smart Inclusion Team as a whole that has achieved this honour. I think we would all agree that the real exemplary educators are the students who teach us something new every day. We all have something to teach and we all have something to learn.”
Alex said she is excited because, through the work of the team, educators have not only been able to use SMART Solutions and other assistive technologies to include students with special needs in classrooms across the UCDSB, but Smart Inclusion research and experiences have been used by SMART Technologies and other companies to design products which are accessible to all.
Smart Inclusion began four years ago, when Dunn and the team were challenged to try to ensure students with the most severe challenges could achieve meaningful academic and social participation alongside peers. Smart Inclusion involved using SMART products and other assistive and emerging technologies to increase participation and achievement for ALL students – including those with the most severe disabilities. After its success at the Board level, the program caught on in other areas and has inspired many teachers across Canada and around the world to embrace Smart Inclusion.
Dunn was selected for the honour based on her self-reported record of SMART-related professional development, content creation, research, peer education and advocacy activities over the course of the last year as well as internal nominations, Deena Zenyk, a program manager with SMART Technologies said in a news release.
As the 2012 SEE of the Year for Canada, Dunn will receive a commemorative plaque, an all-expenses paid trip to the 2012 SEE Summit in Calgary, as well as the 2012 European SEE Summit in Bonn, Germany. She will also receive her choice of one device from a selection of SMART products which Dunn says will be donated to the students she serves to continue to ensure that ALL students have access to an education.
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For more information, visit smartinclusion.wikispaces.com or contact:
Alex Dunn
Speech Language Pathologist
Upper Canada District School Board
Alexandra.Dunn@ucdsb.on.ca
Posted January 24, 2012