Pre Braille Implementation into Early Education: Tactile Activities to Introduce Braille Concepts to Kindergartners

This study investigates the importance and affordances of implementing pre braille activities in a kindergarten classroom, regardless of whether students have sight or have sight loss. We question what tools and/or support are needed to conduct greater, inclusive-based lessons in the classroom, and how awareness about the braille writing system could be introduced. Semi-structured interviews and co-creation sessions were the methods used to gather information, in addition to the traditional literature review. Sessions were conducted with thirteen participants. Through listening and learning from a community of experts, teachers and parents, noted areas of support and needs were incorporated into the design process and discovery of design opportunities. The designed objects foster inclusive teachings, collaboration, and communication between students with all abilities. Our analysis shows a strong correlation between pre braille activities and kindergarten classroom teaching. Pre braille activities work to build two-handed coordination, finger sensitivity, light touch, dexterity and mobility, all important for reading braille, a tactile writing system. We propose that integrating multiple modes of tactile engagement in the kindergarten classroom will increase interest in pre braille and the braille writing system. This is especially important for those who later need to learn formal braille. The designed objects, a pouch fostering multiple modes of tactile engagement and an activity prompt system, act as inspiration pieces, allowing students and teachers to co-create activities in the classroom

Learning to be Human Together

This project is made possible with funding by the Government of Ontario and through eCampusOntario’s support of the Virtual Learning Strategy.I. Come On InII. The Modules (1-4)III. OutroIV. Some Things We Picked Up & Take EverythingThis resource explores what humanizing teaching and learning means: to acknowledge that our relationships are foundational to the work that we do. It means to make learning inclusive with connection, access, and meaning-making at its core. When you have something to say that you hope can empower people and encourage inclusion you yell it from the rooftops and in as many formats as possible. To that end, you will find the materials of this project in a number of formats — to meet you where you are and how YOU choose to interact with it. This is just the beginning of what we hope will be a deeply humanized experience. This material is not a book, nor a guide, nor a checklist–it’s an engagement with complex issues, with social entanglements, and with ways of doing (and not doing) things. This work also foregrounds the importance of twelve core super themes, such as trust, vulnerability, re-framing failure, and friction. These super themes are not discrete units or siloed entities, rather they are multi-layered ideas that intersect and weave together across the humanizing learning spectrum. Module 1: Unlearning & Unsettling. How do we know what we know and what is our educational value system? To move forward, we must interrogate our teaching and learning practices - the work of unlearning and unsettling. This module explores how the process is more important than the outcome, and highlights the importance of moving slowly, giving ourselves time to think, process, and reflect. Module 2: Students as Agents of the own Diverse Destiny. This module explores the importance and role of vulnerability and failure in humanizing learning. It emphasizes that we are all learning and explores how, since education is relational, power is especially present. Module 3: Co-Creating Inclusive Communities. This module acknowledges that diversity is our greatest asset, with inclusion being our most important challenge. It explores community guidelines, participation standards, ethics, social justice, co-design and co-creation, and highlights how these concepts can fundamentally challenge and disrupt power. Module 4: Sustaining Change. This module acknowledges that change is hard. How can we sustain change, complexity, and care in a system that was not designed for what our society demands of it? How do we foreground care and frame it as a reciprocal process? This module explores this apparent friction and highlights steps we can take to make this work both foundational and sustainable. This resource also includes an exploration of the co-design experience - the process of creating and nurturing a community that collectively did this work. Coming out the other side of this work are a group of people who came together to share our love for learning and our passion for education. We hope you find something here that changes even one small aspect of how you move through the world