Southeastern educators recognized for innovations in deaf education
Contact: Rene Abadie
12/13/10
HAMMOND – Two Southeastern Louisiana University faculty members were presented with the second place award in the National Center for Technology Innovation’s 2010 Bright Ideas competition.
Becky Sue Parton and Robert J. Hancock, both assistant professors in the Department of Educational Leadership and Technology, were recognized following presentations at the NCTI’s recent conference in Washington, D.C. Individuals who had received a Steppingstones of Technology Grant or a NCTI Tech Innovation Grant were required to make presentations on their work. Twenty-three presentations were made, with the top award going to a team from Auburn University.
Parton and Hancock made a presentation on LAMBERT (Language Acquisition Manipulatives Blending Early-childhood Research and Technology), a system they developed to teach young deaf children American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary by using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Toys tagged with RFID codes launch multimedia presentations when scanned.
A subsequent presentation showcased a related, interactive book titled “Lambert’s Colorful World.” The pages of the book are embedded with RFID tags and launch ASL translations performed by native deaf signers when scanned. The book was funded by the NCTI in collaboration with Burton Vision.
“Our goal with the book is to use the LAMBERT method of learning but in a manner appropriate for kindergarten age students through enhancing the parent-child bond and laying the foundation for bilingual fluency among the children,” Parton said.
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