Technology Integration Specialist

Job Summary

Technology Integration Specialists help educators use technology effectively to support teaching and learning. Through coaching, professional learning, modeling, and implementation support, they build educators’ capacity to integrate technology into instruction, apply accessibility practices, and make effective use of available accessibility features. They also help educators recognize and respond to accessibility barriers that arise during instructional technology use and collaborate with appropriate personnel when barriers require additional technical or specialized expertise.

Job Essential Accessibility Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities related to accessibility.

• Integrate accessibility into technology coaching, professional learning, modeling, and instructional support.
• Coach educators to apply accessibility practices when integrating technology into lessons, educational materials, and learning activities.
• Model effective use of accessibility practices and features available in classroom technologies, learning platforms, and commonly used applications.
• Support educators in preserving accessibility when using technology to create, adapt, share, or provide digital educational materials.
• Help educators identify common accessibility barriers that arise when using instructional technology and determine appropriate responses, including when to seek additional technical or specialized assistance.
• Develop and facilitate professional learning, demonstrations, guidance, and resources that build educators’ capacity to use instructional technology accessibly.
• Collaborate with educators, special education personnel, assistive technology specialists, educational technology personnel, information technology (IT) personnel, and other relevant staff when accessibility concerns require additional expertise or support.
• Gather and use feedback from educators and students with disabilities to improve technology coaching, professional learning, and implementation support.
• Stay current on instructional technology and accessibility practices and features and emerging accessibility considerations relevant to classroom use.

Required Qualifications

Minimum requirements to perform the job:

• Knowledge of disability and digital accessibility principles and how accessibility barriers may affect the use of technology in teaching and learning.
• Foundational knowledge of digital accessibility requirements relevant to K–12 education, including ADA Title II.
• Knowledge of accessibility practices and features relevant to commonly used instructional technologies and digital learning environments.
• Understanding of how students with disabilities may experience accessibility barriers when using instructional technology.
• Foundational knowledge of common types of assistive technology and how students may use them with instructional technologies and learning platforms.
• Foundational understanding of the distinction between proactively accessible instructional technology and individualized accessibility-related supports, including assistive technology and accommodations.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with educators and relevant support personnel to identify and address accessibility barriers involving instructional technology.

Preferred Qualifications

Nice-to-have skills or experience:

• Additional professional learning or demonstrated expertise in digital accessibility or accessible instructional technology practices.
• Experience integrating accessibility into technology coaching, professional learning, or instructional support.
• Experience supporting educators in implementing instructional technology with students who use assistive technology or other individualized accessibility-related supports.
• Experience identifying and responding to accessibility barriers involving instructional technology, including engaging additional technical or specialized expertise when needed.

Success Signals

In this role, success looks like:

• Consistently incorporates accessibility into technology coaching, professional learning, and instructional support.
• Models accessible instructional technology practices and effective use of accessibility features for educators.
• Builds educators’ capacity to identify and effectively use accessibility practices and features in instructional technologies and digital learning platforms.
• Helps educators maintain accessibility when technology is used to create, adapt, share, or provide digital educational materials.
• Helps educators recognize and respond appropriately to accessibility barriers that arise during instructional technology use.
• Provides professional learning that enables educators to apply accessibility practices in their day-to-day use of instructional technology.
• Recognizes when accessibility barriers require additional technical or specialized expertise and engages appropriate personnel.
• Uses feedback from educators and students with disabilities to improve technology coaching, professional learning, and implementation support.
• Maintains current knowledge of instructional technology accessibility practices and features and integrates relevant developments into educator support.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Accessibility Knowledge (WHAT / WHY)

• Understanding of disability and how accessibility barriers in instructional technology can affect student access and participation.
• Foundational knowledge of digital accessibility requirements relevant to K–12 education, including ADA Title II.
• Knowledge of foundational digital accessibility practices as they apply to instructional technology, digital educational materials, and technology-supported learning activities.
• Knowledge of accessibility features available in commonly used instructional technologies and learning platforms and how those features may support access for students with disabilities.
• Foundational knowledge of common types of assistive technology and how students may use them with instructional technologies, digital educational materials, and learning platforms.
• Understanding of how accessibility barriers may arise from the selection, configuration, use, or integration of technology in lessons and learning activities.
• Understanding of the distinction between proactively accessible instructional technology and individualized accessibility-related supports, including assistive technology and accommodations, and how both may be needed to support student access.
• Understanding of the respective roles and responsibilities of educators, special education personnel, assistive technology specialists, educational technology personnel, IT personnel, and other relevant staff in preventing, identifying, and addressing technology-related accessibility barriers.

Applied Skills (HOW)

• Skill in integrating accessibility into technology coaching, professional learning, and instructional support.
• Skill in modeling accessible instructional technology practices and effective use of accessibility features.
• Skill in coaching educators to apply accessibility practices when integrating technology into instruction.
• Skill in helping educators preserve accessibility when using technology to create, adapt, share, or provide digital educational materials.
• Skill in helping educators identify and troubleshoot common accessibility barriers involving instructional technology and digital learning environments.
• Skill in determining appropriate responses to accessibility barriers, including when to adjust technology use or instructional practices and when to engage additional technical or specialized expertise.
• Skill in developing and delivering practical professional learning that builds educators’ capacity to use instructional technology accessibly.

Collaboration & Communication

• Competence in collaborating with educators to incorporate accessibility into instructional technology use and classroom practice.
• Competence in communicating accessibility practices in clear, practical ways that educators can apply when using instructional technology.
• Competence in collaborating with special education personnel, assistive technology specialists, educational technology personnel, IT personnel, and other relevant staff to address technology-related accessibility barriers.
• Competence in engaging educators and students with disabilities to understand their experiences with instructional technology and identify accessibility barriers.
• Competence in seeking, listening to, and responding to feedback from educators and students with disabilities to improve technology coaching, professional learning, and implementation support.
• Competence in clearly communicating identified accessibility barriers, their impact on instructional access, and the need for additional assistance when resolution falls outside the Technology Integration Specialist’s role or expertise.

Interview Questions

Behavioral Questions

• Tell us about a time you incorporated accessibility into technology coaching or professional learning. What did you do, and how did you determine whether educators were able to apply what they learned?
• Describe a time you helped an educator identify and address an accessibility barrier involving instructional technology. How did you determine what was causing the barrier, and what did you do?
• Tell us about an accessibility concern that required collaboration with assistive technology, educational technology, IT, or other personnel. How did you determine who needed to be involved? What did you do, and what was the outcome?
• Describe a time feedback from an educator or student with a disability changed the technology guidance or support you provided. What did you learn, and what changed?

Technical Questions

• An educator plans to integrate a new instructional technology into a lesson. How would you help the educator identify potential accessibility barriers and use the technology in ways that support access for students with disabilities?
• How would you help educators identify and effectively use accessibility features in the instructional technologies and learning platforms they use?
• An educator reports that a student with a disability cannot effectively participate in an activity using classroom technology. How would you determine whether the problem involves an accessibility barrier in the technology, how the technology is being used, or a need for individualized accessibility-related support? What would you do next?
• How would you incorporate accessibility into professional learning about a new instructional technology or platform? What would you want educators to be able to do as a result?
• When modeling instructional technology use for educators, what accessibility practices would you demonstrate, and how would you help educators transfer those practices to their own instruction?
• How would you determine whether a technology-related accessibility barrier can be addressed through your support or requires additional technical or specialized expertise?

Learning and Development

To prepare for this role, individuals should:

• Understand the digital accessibility requirements relevant to K–12 education. Start with NCADEMI’s A Primer on Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and Legal Foundations resources.
• Develop working knowledge of how accessibility requirements and standards apply to instructional technology. Explore Teach Access’ self-paced course on Instructional Technology.
• Develop an understanding of how students with disabilities access and interact with instructional technology. Refer to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Video Series for examples of how people with disabilities use technology and experience barriers to access.
• Build familiarity with assistive technology and accessibility features and how they interact with commonly used instructional technologies and learning platforms.
• Practice incorporating accessibility into technology coaching, professional learning, modeling, and instructional support for educators. Enroll in NCADEMI’s Accessibility Fundamentals Course on Canvas.
• Build experience identifying and troubleshooting common accessibility barriers that arise when educators and students use instructional technology.

Reminder

Use this toolkit to incorporate accessibility-focused knowledge, skills, and sample pre-screening and interview questions into your job descriptions and hiring process.