Bryan Thompson is the educational technology supervisor at Autism Ontario, a nonprofit that supports autistic people and their caregivers by providing advocacy, education and access to support. In this interview, he talks about the work his organization is doing and how D2L fits into that picture.
Personalizing Learning to Support More Learners
Being able to personalize our learning platform to serve the individual needs of different learners is important.
We build specific supports for caregivers for them to be able to help autistic children or adults in their care. In addition, we provide micro-credentials for service providers, behavior analysts or school supports that might be supporting learners who have autism. We’re also working on building courses for autistic people who want to develop specific skills and for service providers who need to learn more about autism to support the autistic community.
Why Brightspace?
We chose Brightspace mostly because of two things. The first was the ability to customize the experience so that right from the beginning when someone logs into our platform, what they see reflects what their needs are and what’s important to them. The second was accessibility and being able to think about it not just by the technical standards but by the overall structure, design and course experience.
Leveraging D2L’s Support to Build Better Courses
If I can imagine it, I can usually build it within Brightspace.
Where I’ve run into bumps in the past, D2L has been there to help me problem solve and build the learner experience I’m trying to achieve. That additional support, plus the flexibility within the system, makes it easier to build courses that better support learners.
Expanding Educational Opportunities
One of the things we’re looking to do is provide educational opportunities for autistic people across the province. Brightspace gives us the capacity, framework and foundation to be able to really do that. Having a system that provides a strong foundation that’s accessible, flexible, and able to support a large number of learners anywhere within the province is really a game-changer. Being able to access those services is going to change the lives of so many.
Written by:
Stay in the know
Educators and training pros get our insights, tips, and best practices delivered monthly