The SEAT Center offers a teacher education students the opportunity to participate in the SEAT Center Volunteer Program. The SEAT Center Volunteer Program allows teacher education candidates to develop skills in using assistive technology and helping others learn to use assistive technology as well.

Purpose

The purpose of the SEAT Center Volunteer program is to provide experiences to undergraduate teacher education candidates around the areas of assistive technology and using other technology with students with disabilities along with various service learning opportunities within the SEAT Center.

Benefits

Teacher education candidates who participate in the program will be afforded the following benefits:

Learning about assistive technology and other technology tools that can be used to meet the needs of students with disabilities.
Gaining practical skills in technology management.
Develop skills in providing professional development and technical assistance to others related to assistive technology implementation.
Earn the right to list the exclusive experience on their resume.

Potential Activities

While the volunteer experience will be different for each participant, below are some of the potential activities in which a volunteer may be involved:

Developing online learning resources related to assistive technology and other technology tools to meet the needs of students with disabilities.
Providing face to face instruction (small group or one on one) on different technology tools to other teacher education students and faculty.
Conducting webinars related to different technology tools to teacher education students and faculty.
Implementing user groups to support effective use of authorware and other assistive technology tools by teacher education students and faculty.
Developing a podcast program on various assistive technologies and/or technologies to support UDL.
Assisting to manage the SEAT Center Volunteer Program.

Desired Qualifications

The SEAT Center Student Volunteer Program seeks individuals who:

Have excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Have a desire to learn.
Would like to gain skills in using technology and helping others use technology.
Can commit at least two hours per week of volunteer time.
Demonstrates responsible and ethical practices.

Certifications Available

For a given tool, volunteers may achieve the following certifications:

Tiered Certifications:
- Level One - Peer Coach - Volunteers have been trained on a particular tool/topic and can provide 1 on 1 assistance to others who are learning the tool.
- Level Two - Co-Trainer - Volunteers have been trained on a particular tool/topic and can assist in a workshop or online training.
- Level Three - Trainer - Volunteers have been trained on a particular tool/topic, assisted with a past workshop or online training,and can independently provide a workshop or online training.
- Level Four - Master Trainer - Volunteers have been trained on a particular tool/topic, independently conducted a workshop or training successfully, and can serve as a mentor to a future Trainer.
Non-Tiered Certifications:
- Podcaster
- Volunteer Assistant

Informational Meetings

For more information, please contact Brian Wojcik at bwwojci@ilstu.edu.