‘Making A Difference’ Through Technology

“Like the students they teach, I think educators learn best when the content is presented in an engaging way.”

Years ago I was involved in a discussion about the idea of “making a difference”. A debate began about how when someone performs a self-less act, like community work for example, that that was somehow extraordinary and hailed for making a difference, rather than being the norm. We ended the discussion by agreeing that our society is far from perfect, but if everyone attempted, at least once in their lives, to make a difference, things could improve.

I had an opportunity to sit down with someone who is doing just that. He is an Assitive Technology (A.T.) trainer with a mission – to help students in need by improving the use of technology in the classroom.

Christopher Bugaj is the host of the award winning podcast A.T.TIPScast which focuses on the implementation of assistive technology in public schools. As he prepares for his 3rd season of the podcast I sat down with him to talk about starting the podcast, its future, his audience and his future professional plans.

Why did you decide to put out a podcast?

About 7 years ago I was one of 5 people asked to create an assistive technology team for my school district. We were given an incredible amount of freedom from the administration to develop every aspect of the team including the policies, procedures, management, awareness and promotion. I found those first few years of "building" very exciting and some of the most rewarding experiences in my professional life. As time marched on, the team began moving upon its own momentum. So, the building aspect subsided.

I missed the feeling that accompanies the creating and building of something. During this time I was listening to a handful of podcasts during my commute to work each day. After a bit of research I found that there weren't many podcasts that centered on technology that could be used to help students having difficulties in school. There were educational technology podcasts and disability awareness podcasts but none specific to the topic of assistive technology in public schools. So I created the A.T.TIPScast, and now I have a project in which I’m building something and providing a resource for helping others.


How does your podcast inform your work, or, how does your work inform your podcast?

Really, the two overlap quite a bit. Although I make an effort to keep the time spent on each separate, the content in the podcast comes from my experiences of working in the field of special education. One of the principles that we adhere to when implementing technology in the classroom is to try to use the tools which are immediately available before looking to purchase additional tools.

Doing this is often less restrictive for the students and more effective and efficient than imposing something new. This principle influences the choice of content in each episode of the podcast. Almost every strategy, tool, or resource provided in the podcast centers around using some sort of technology that is already available in most educational settings.

For example, episode #39 of the A.T.TIPScast is about how to use the PhotoAlbum feature of PowerPoint to assist students. The MS Office Suite, including PowerPoint is something that most educators have access to.

Who is your target audience?

The target audience is any person who cares about a student or students in public education. The content in each episode is presented in such a way that any parent, educator, or future educator will learn ways to adapt and diversify the use of technology in instruction.

Do you know (roughly) how many listeners you have?

The host site http://www.cyberears.com provides statistics on the number of times each episode has been downloaded. One of the "learning experiences" I had was that on January 1st my first year of statistics were wiped clean. The statistics are only tabulated for one year. I didn't know this so I didn’t save that data.

I do have some information about the number of downloads prior to 01 January 2009, but the specifics are gone. What I find interesting about the specific statistics is the number of downloads to specific episodes. That is, it appears that many listeners to the show might listen, use, or share specific episodes based on the episode’s topic.

What Kind of feedback do you receive?

I have received quite a bit of feedback in the form of e-mails, Tweets (http://www.twitter.com/attipscast), messages via Facebook and face-to-face meetings at conferences.

A college professor has recently used the A.T.TIPScast as an assignment in his class. Students were asked to listen to episodes and then answer questions using the staff development booklets I created (http://bit.ly/attipscastsda). He provided me with the feedback from students as well. The feedback, in general, has been extremely positive and supportive. I plan to comprise all of this feedback into one "Listener Feedback" episode when I get a chance.

How do you come up with the subject matter for each episode?

The content for each episode comes from a variety of sources. I keep a list of running "ideas for future episodes" that I add to whenever I see a strategy, tool, or resource that looks like it might be useful.

There are certain strategies that I share with teachers in my job all of the time. According to them, these strategies have been very useful in helping students. I consider them "priority" strategies that I want to get out as soon as possible.

Some topics come from conferences I've attended. In an effort to break things up and to add some diversity to the show (so that the audience isn't just listening to me prattle in each episode) I try to include interviews when I can. Furthermore, I try to structure episodes in such a way that it might be entertaining to the audience. Like the students they teach, I think educators learn best when the content is presented in an engaging way. Therefore, I try unique ways of presenting the information.

How much work is put into one episode?

I would say that every minute of an episode equals roughly one hour worth of work. If you're listening to an episode that is six minutes in length then to outline the script, record the audio, edit the audio together, post the audio, promote that the episode was completed, and create a blog post takes approximately six hours. It takes a long time to complete an episode, but the more I do it, the easier (and faster) it becomes.

What are your future plans for you and the podcast?

Season 3 of the A.T.TIPScast is right around the corner. Currently there are two seasons, a total of 40 episodes. I hope to complete another 20 episodes in Season 3 including more interviews, guest hosts, additional bumpers, and more great tips for using technology to help students achieve in school.

As for me professionally, I was asked to co-author a book for the International Society for Technology in Education (www.iste.org) on the topic of building an assistive technology team to be available for pre-order in February of 2010. The title of the book is the The Practical (and fun) Guide to Assistive Technology in Public Schools: Building or Improving Your District's AT Team. There are many different questions that plague educators when it comes to assistive technology practice in public schools. This book provides answers to those questions in a fun and engaging way using analogies and humor. The book is written in a very similar style to the A.T.TIPScast, providing useful content in an entertaining way.


Christopher R. Bugaj, MA CCC-SLP earned his Bachelor of Science in Education at the State University of New York at Fredonia and earned his Masters of Arts in Speech Pathology at Kent State University.

Chris is the host of the A.T.TIPScast, an award-winning podcast on the implementation of assistive technology in public schools as well as the co-author of The Practical (and fun) Guide to Assistive Technology in Public Schools being published by the International Society for Technology in Education in February of 2010. Chris is an active member of the American Speech- Language-HearingAssociation and an adjunct professor at George Mason University.

He currently works as an assistive technology trainer for Loudoun County Public Schools in Northern Virginia and lives in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia with his wife and two children.

Connect with Chris!
Email: attipscast@gmail.com
Blog: www.attipscast.wordpress.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/attipscast
Facebook: A.T.TIPPERS Group