GATHER - Discovering AT Together

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AHEAD, in partnership with AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation, and the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA), are delighted to bring you GATHER, a free 3 day online assistive technology (AT) event.  

If you are AT curious, an AT user or an AT advocate then ‘GATHER’ with us for this 3 day online Assistive Technology event by AHEAD. Join us as we all discover AT possibilities together - May 22nd-24th 2023 from 09:00 to 13:00 each day.

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This event takes place over 3 mornings fully online. Sessions will be recorded and made available after the event.

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Register to attend GATHER 2023 here

 What is GATHER?

AHEAD, in partnership with AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation, and the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA), are delighted to bring you GATHER, a free 3 day online assistive technology (AT) event.  

Did you know that between your phone, your laptop and whatever tools your workplace or educational institution provides, you likely have access to: 

  • Amazing literacy aids like digital reading coaches and advanced writing support to hone your reading and writing skills and the teaching of those skills 

  • Incredible technologies to help you type and edit through your speech and have documents read back to you in a voice of your choice 

  • Simple and beautiful organisational tools to help you and your learners manage their busy lives and studies 

  • Specialist apps that can do all sorts of tricks, like assist blind learners in navigating the physical world, provide ambient sound to support learners who are easily distracted to focus, or provide live captions of speech to deaf learners 

Pretty neat, yeah? And new assistive features and products are being released every week which can unlock learning for you and your students. But, we know it’s hard to find a community that can help you:  

  • stay on top of new developments,  

  • build confidence in using these technologies, and  

  • share insights from different learning contexts. 

That is why AHEAD, AONTAS and NALA have joined forces to host GATHER. This 3-day online event aims to: 

  • Bring educators and support professionals from community education, further and higher education together to informally learn from experts and each other about all things AT; 

  • Raise awareness about the broad range of available AT and how to use it, with a strong focus on assistive features within free and mainstream technologies;  

  • Encourage educators to model AT use in their teaching to increase awareness and normalise usage; 

  • Explore barriers to embedding AT in education; and  

  • Highlight success stories. 

If you are AT curious, an AT user or an AT advocate, then ‘GATHER’ with us for this 3 day online Assistive Technology event for fun, insight, and chats about all things AT. 

 Who is GATHER for?

This event is aimed at further and higher education educators and support professionals including adult and community education.  It will be very useful if you want to learn about technology that empowers learners who experience difficulties linked to a disability or an unmet literacy need. Learners are also welcome. 

Programme Information 

Day 1: May 22nd

Day 1: May 22nd

09:00 Opening Words

09:10 AT Usage Trends over Time

10:05 Practical Demonstrations & the AT Hive

  1. Erica Meslin, Education Manager, AHEAD James Wright, Aventido Ryan Peacock, Aventido

10:55 The transformative impact of AT on adult literacy learners

  1. Ailis Mardon-Egan, National Adult Literacy Agency Elaine Cohalan, National Adult Literacy Agency Pauline Hensey, National Adult Literacy Agency

12:05 Social Inclusion and AT

  1. Dr Aoife McNicholl, Dublin City University Dr James Casey, ILMI

12:55 Closing Thoughts

Day 2: May 23rd

Day 2: May 23rd

09:00 Opening Words

09:10 AI as AT? An interactive brainstorm on emerging tools

  1. Dara Ryder, CEO, AHEAD Dr Zeta Dooley, SETU Majella McCarthy, SETU Waterford Mary Walsh O'Shea, Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board Janet O'Neill, SETU

10:05 Practical Demonstrations: Glean and DigiAcademy

  1. William Nolan, University Limerick Dr Esther Murphy, Trinity College Dublin

10:55 Embedding AT into Everyday Practice - Apps and a Framework

  1. Trevor Boland, Dublin City University Laocín Brennan, AHEAD

12:05 Sustaining AT in the Future

  1. Rohan Slaughter, University of Dundee Sarah Boland, St. John of God's Patrick Fitzgerald, St. John of God's Doris Delaney, Lisa McEvoy,

12:55 Closing Thoughts

Day 3: May 24th

Day 3: May 24th

09:00 Opening Words

09:10 Building Capacity - AT & UDL in FET

  1. Treasa McGinley, Donegal ETB Angela McElhinney, Donegal ETB

10:05 AT in the Classroom

  1. Brendan Ryan, LCETB Cian O'Tiarnaigh, LCETB Angela Costelloe, SETU Deirdre Madden, UCC

10:55 AT Services

  1. Marie Cox, National Rehabilitation Hospital Sharon Leahy, National Rehabilitation Hospital Aoife Keaney, Rehab Group Anne Marie McDonnell, National Learning Network

12:05 Using your VLE to promote inclusion

  1. Emily Smith, UCD

12:55 Closing Thoughts

gather - in partnership with aontas and nala

AHEAD, in partnership with AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation, and the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA), are delighted to bring you GATHER, a free 3 day online assistive technology (AT) event. 

Logos of AONTAS and NALA

SUPPorted BY SOLAS

The core funding received by AHEAD for its further education activities on fostering inclusion is provided by SOLAS.

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This article appeared in the AHEAD website. Visit www.ahead.ie for more information