Technology and OT 
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Web-Kids

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Web-Kids is a project involving occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant assistant students (from Erie Community College, University at Buffalo, D'Youville College) working one-on-one with school children from Buffalo, NY in building personal websites. The primary objective of this program is to facilitate inter-generational and cross-cultural learning through collaborative partnerships. The program has been executed in Buffalo Schools, West Side Community Services, Erie Community College, and Baker Victory Services. Populations have included middle-school children in inner city school, adolescents within after-school community based settings, transition-age youth with emotional and psychological impairments within high school settings.    

College students and school-age students partner together to create personal websites that share about each individual's:
  • Self (interests, values, goals, roles, habits and routines, accomplishments)
  • Community (neighborhood, school, community issues, community assets and resources)
  • Culture (family traditions, ethnic traditions, ancestry, cultural values)

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Essentially, participants learn about others through shared goal-directed tasks of planning, researching, photographing, and writing. Through this service learning experience, occupational therapy students have the opportunity to practice and refine newly learned skills within a safe and supportive team environment.  They maintain reflective journals throughout the project as they encounter and think about their emerging understanding of culture, teaching/coaching strategies, therapeutic modalities, therapeutic rapport, and technology - skill and knowledge domains essential to occupational therapy competence.

Project Director:

- David Merlo, MS, COTA, CPRP, ROH

Read more CLICK HERE
 
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Anticipated Outcomes:

For School Students...

  • Transition (rehabilitation) "readiness":
         - commitment, need, self-awareness,environmental-awareness
  • Self-esteem
  • Empowerment
  • Self-expression and creativity
  • Awareness of college and career options
  • Technological literacy and competency
  • Critical thinking and problem solving skills
  • Cultural competency

For College Students...

  • Professional role development
  • Clinical reasoning and problem solving skills
  • Competency in using technology in rehabilitation and education
  • Therapeutic interaction skills
  • Cultural competency
  • Applying creativity to rehabilitation, wellness, and prevention
  • Teaching/coaching skills
  • Understanding of OT in non-traditional and emerging practice settings
  

Service-Learning

Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. Service-learning integrates service objectives with learning objectives. An intended outcome is to bring about measurable change in both the recipient and the provider of the service. The result is a radically-effective transformative method of teaching students. Learn more about service-learning:
  • Learn and Serve Clearinghouse
  • Western New York Service Learning Coalition