June 2013


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Janadi Gonzales-Lord, UWI alumna, is a teacher at Bishop Anstey High School East. It was there that she took note of a hearing-impaired child who was isolated, almost invisible, and unable to participate fully in the rhythms of the school. She took note and took action.

They were 11 and 12 year old girls at the time - newly minted from primary school. They learned through the dedication, diligence and caring of their teacher that they could be instruments of change for the better.

With her students and members of the community, Gonzales-Lord developed a specialized science curriculum by using Microsoft technology to create interactive, accessible learning activities. According to the young chemistry and integrated science teacher, they brainstormed ideas for a science project that would incorporate content accessible to children of all abilities. A key learning objective, she said, was to help students better appreciate the challenges that people with hearing disabilities face each day while promoting the importance of inclusiveness for all learners. It helped that the school already had a culture of everyday use of computers so she was able to take advantage of software-based accessibility tools with which the students were familiar.

During the 2011–2012 school year, Gonzalez-Lord and her students devised a project called “The Solar System: Reaching for the Stars” and, in collaboration with students from the Cascade School for the Deaf, developed activities and learning assessments. In the first phase, they built a planetarium bringing the planets in the solar system to life and created video journals, chronicling the journeys of their peers through the planetarium. Next, the students invented a video game which teaches hearing impaired as well as hearing students about the solar system. Instructions are in sign language and written form. Finally, the project focussed on assessing performance against key learning objectives, again using a number of Microsoft technologies.

She contacted the Touch of Christ Community for the Deaf and arranged sign language lessons for the students of the five participating form ones and realized that it turned out to be less about sign language and more about learning about the deaf culture.

At Microsoft’s Latin America and Caribbean Partners in Learning Innovative Educators Forum, in Lima, Peru, last September, she walked away with first place in the category of “Innovation in Difficult Circumstances.” Gonzalez-Lord notes: "My students knew they were solving a real life problem that many students face every day. It made them try even harder; staying up nights, over and beyond studying from a book to make this a reality. If I had told them to go and memorize the planets, they would do that but it would mean nothing to them. But they will never forget this project—it was more than just learning about the solar system. This was about making changes."

Microsoft brought together more than 500 of the most innovative teachers, education leaders and government officials from 80 countries in Prague last November. She was amazed at the global impact of her project, changing her view of the education process:

“Seeing what other countries face in terms of minimal resources, gender bias in terms of freedom of choice to be educated, war conflicts among other things made me realize how lucky we are in Trinidad & Tobago and how much we take for granted especially in the field of education. We complain but many countries really have much less than we do but are able to use the little they have to effect great change.”

Her project was used as the basis of a case study for accessibility uses of Microsoft products and she plans to pursue research in game based learning especially in the areas of science, improving male learning and improving learning for the differently able.

“Being part of the Post Graduate Diploma in Education programme at The UWI has given me hope since many teachers in the programme really try to make a difference in students' lives. I remain hopeful and guardedly optimistic that change will come soon and that I will be a small part of that change.”