Mike Marotta interviews Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles for his Inclusive Technology For All podcast just after a July 2019 workshop they’ve done together on Inclusive Technology and Universal Design For Learning using Innovators’ Compass, in conjunction with the SETT framework.
Episode 49 (Listen)
Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. In this episode, an inclusive Interview: Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles & the Innovator’s Compass.
Hey there, welcome to Inclusive Technology for All episode 49 scheduled to be released on July 15th, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and this episode will bring you information about inclusive and assistive technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more available for everyone.
OK – let’s dive in!
I am so excited for this episode’s interview. I have been working with Karen Janowski for the past week conducting UDL training for a school district in Lynn, MA. This is our fourth summer conducting this training and introducing educators to the UDL principles and ways to provide flexible learning environments that promote success for every student.
Mike and Hillary working with the educators in Lynn, MA
For one of the days this week, we had Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles join us and share her passion for providing effective learning experiences. Hillary and I have been talking about doing this interview since ATIA in January and it finally happened this week.
So Hillary – welcome to the podcast.
Hillary: Hey Mike I am so glad to be here today. We’ve had so much fun today with the folks in Lynn Massachusetts doing UDL. My name is Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles. I’m an assistive technology specialist UDL lover and accessibility advocate and I teach in Maine but I love to travel and find new experiences and sharing the joy of UDL interwoven with this wonderful framework of the Innovators; Compass. The Innovators Compass is a framework that was developed by Ela Ben-Ur who’s also from Massachusetts and it’s rooted in design thinking principles but it’s a proactive process to help you get unstuck.
It consists of five questions that you ask and the process can be messy, it can be clean, it can be whatever you want it to be but the end result of that is you actually have tangible action steps that you can build from as you are trying to get unstuck with everyday problems.
Whether it be an issue in your classroom or how to use assistive technology or learning about the UDL guidelines it’s a very very powerful framework to use.
Mike: Hillary mentioned that we were in Lynn MA. We were able to run through the process with the group and it was exciting to watch them embrace it.
Hillary: It really really was. To see their mindset and to also give them this tool that really lets their own expertise shine. Educators come with such a variety of knowledge and expertise that as a trainer when you come into that, I want to tap into that, and the Innovators’ Compass is beautiful for doing that.
It was nice to see people having choices of whether they wanted to work on their own or work in a group and find a guideline that made the most sense for them that inspired them. As something they really wanted to tackle and look at this through this lens of actually solving some problems around “How do I implement this particular UDL guideline?” or “How do I even big-picture implement UDL?” or “How do I find out what’s currently happening?” or “Wow I really want to dream big about something and I don’t have a vehicle to do that.”
This allows you to do all of that but it allows you to do it in a way that makes sense for you as a person and you can go back and revisit it because just like the guidelines they’re not static. It’s dynamic and it was great to see everybody just embrace it and really be uncomfortable with this kind of the flexibility, in the fluidity that we had going on.
It was interesting to see that we don’t know what’s the time frame, what’s this, what’s that and we just said whenever you’re done let’s just make it rich and it wound up being a very powerful gallery of Compasses now that we have around the room that are living breathing artifacts that they can now refer to and actually use to inform practice and inform how the guidelines are being implemented in their setting and where they want to go from there. It’s very empowering.
Mike: So Hillary, walk us through the five steps of the Compass and I will make sure to add a link to the website in the show notes.
Hillary: There are five questions. So you always focus on the it’s People—as Ela always talks about POPIE – it’s a neat acronym. But it’s the People, the Observations – so what’s currently happening, the Principles, which is what matters the most, the … people, observation, principles and then the dream big. This is where I get stuck this is a dream big part you kind of thinking without limit – that’s the Ideas and then the E is experiment. So that’s something you’re willing to try and it comes kind of from that and it doesn’t always have to go in that order.
You can mess around with that but it really helps you really bring yourself to a more compassionate, empathetic and heart centered place when you’re solving problems as opposed to – oh my gosh I got to get this put this fire out and I’m panicking. It allows you to pause and really get to the root of what’s going on and figure out okay I do have a solution this isn’t an intangible, this isn’t an impossible. I really can do this.
It’s powerful to use with teachers, it’s powerful to use with students. I use it as part of the evaluation process when I do assistive technology evaluations.
Mike: In fact we talked about this during the group discussion, the idea of marrying this process to the AT evaluation process and with the SETT framework to help figure out what a student needs.
Hillary: Yeah, Joy Zabala—I have to give a shout out here to Joy because as a new AT specialist 10 years ago, I had no idea. It was, I was literally, there was nobody in the state of Maine in the school district so I had no idea what I was doing and I went to our State Technology programs – by the way are amazing. I went to Maine site and Kathy Adams and John Brennan and Cynthia Curry were instrumental in making me, you know, kind of aware of what was going on, and Joy, and finding the SETT Framework gave me a compass for lack of a better word on how to do that. Then I met Ela and I was like it’s like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
Mike: It is, it really is when you think about it. It is a yin and yang – they fit together so perfectly.
Hillary: Yeah, It was great and so it’s almost like “SET(T) your Compass” for lack of a better thing. But I float that over the SETT and what it does is it gives the people that are part of the team – because AT decisions, as you know, are team-based. It’s not just me telling you what to do, it basically gives a voice to every member of the team and it also give ownership. That’s a huge thing. We can make recommendations all day, but the people that are in the team, including the learner especially the learner, because it brings the learner to the center in a more powerful way.
With that SETT mindset and they really explicitly connect it’s beautiful, and then you have the end action step that is the person that puts that on there that’s what they’re committed to doing. They’re going to try that and there’s also this it’s okay if it doesn’t work. It’s okay if it failed. We’ll try again when we run through it again. It makes it fluid I feel like it brings the SETT to life and I feel like it makes the Compass just so much more dynamic with the two together.
Mike: Yeah, that’s why I think about it as complementary because the Compass adds depth to the SETT and the SETT adds the framework on top of the Compass. And they kind of feed cyclically into each other.
Hillary: Yeah, absolutely. Joy talks about the re SETT – when you reset because it’s not just static. That’s where the Compass really makes that re SETT powerful because I can send that out to my team. I don’t have to meet face-to-face – I can be virtual (on icompass.me)– and Ela’s resources are all free just like Joy’s. You can go to innovatorscompass.org and download. All she asks is that you use the hashtag #InnovatorsCompass or tag @ElaBenUr on Twitter, tag myself (@hillarygfphdatp) too.
We share those, you know we just love to see how those stories unfold and how it’s being used to solve everyday problems. But it’s been a transformative in terms of providing training, meaningful learning experiences and an assistive tech evals.
Mike: Great stuff! If people want to reach out to you and connect – what’s the best way?
Hillary: The best way to reach out to me is on Twitter my handle is @hillarygfphdatp You can also check out my site www.hillaryhelpsUlearn.com or send me an email at hillary@hillaryhelpsulearn.com either way.
Mike: Thanks Hillary – I really appreciate you taking time to chat. Make sure to connect with Hillary and check out the Innovators’ Compass for a powerful tool for problem solving.