Observing Visually Impaired Children Learning Through Play
Explore how blind children engage in play experiences to adapt your pedagogy and redesign activities to enhance their learning.
Duration
3 weeksWeekly study
2 hours100% online
How it worksDigital upgrade
Free
Observing Visually Impaired Children Learning Through Play
Demonstrate learning through play for children with visual impairment
Playful experiences support all children in practising and developing a breadth of skills that are essential for them to thrive and successfully navigate a complex and ever-changing world.
This short course will introduce you to a tool designed to provide a shared understanding and methodology of playful experiences for children with visual impairment. This knowledge will help you observe, reflect upon, and improve children’s playful experiences.
Learn how to improve blind children’s playful learning
The Learning through Play Experience Tool is designed to provide facilitators and designers with a comprehensive framework for understanding and enhancing children’s play experiences.
Throughout this course, you’ll learn how to use this tool to improve a child’s play experiences, particularly for children with visual impairments. This tool ensures the children develop all five essential skills, physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and creative.
You’ll also delve further into more nuanced concepts, including the characteristics of play and behavioural coding.
Gain insights from experts in play-based learning
By the end of the course, you’ll be equipped to advocate for and design equal access and quality learning experiences for all children.
Take your curiosity further and bring joy to all children by joining another course from the LEGO Foundation to gain more tools to support children with visual impairments in teaching environments, including [Learning Through Play with LEGO® Braille Bricks] (https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/learning-braille-through-play-with-lego-braille-bricks).
Syllabus
Week 1
The specificities of play for children with blindness
Welcome to the course
Practitioners and mainstream teachers will observe how children with visual impairments respond to play experiences. They will then be able to design better activities for them and enhance their learning through play.
The state of non-play
Play comes naturally to most children. But children who are blind may need to learn how to play.
The characteristics of play
How do visually impaired children react when playing?
The Learning through Play Experience Tool
Observe, reflect upon and improve children’s playful experiences
Week 2
Coding for the characteristics of play
Let's start coding
Dive deep in observations. Introduction to coding week with the Experience Tool.
Characteristic: JOYFUL
Joy is at the heart of play.
Characteristic: ACTIVELY ENGAGING
Learning happens naturally when players are fully invested in what they are doing.
Characteristic: MEANINGFUL
A new experience connected to something already known helps deep learning.
Characteristic: ITERATIVE
Learning is not about being told how to do something correctly, but to explore, test and try.
Characteristic: SOCIALLY INTERACTIVE
We can learn from others how to negotiate and compromise.
Next steps
What to expect for the last week...
Week 3
Applying the Learning Through Play Experience Tool in practice
Dynamic coding
From static to dynamic coding
A tactile observation grid
Discover how to build and use a tactile grid.
Testimonials
Listen to practitioners talk about learning through play for children with visual impairment.
Final steps
The final steps before you start coding your videos!
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Explore the characteristics of playful experiences that leads to deeper learning and development.
- Identify how children with visual impairment learn through play and harness that power to build a world of play in your classroom, home, or community.
Who is the course for?
This course is primarily designed for Teachers for the Visually Impaired (TVIs) as well as practitioners, assistants, and other specialised professionals working with children with visual challenges.
Who will you learn with?
Staunch defender of braille and author of specialized teaching methods, I travel the world training teachers in techniques specific to visual impairment to make inclusive schooling for all a reality!
Who developed the course?
The LEGO Foundation
The LEGO Foundation aims to build a future in which learning through play empowers children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners. Read about our different programmes, projects we support, our research agenda and more in this section.
What's included?
The LEGO Foundation are offering everyone who joins this course a free digital upgrade, so that you can experience the full benefits of studying online for free. This means that you get:
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn
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