Special Education Assistive Technology (SEAT) Center Coordinator Jodi Nibbelin has been working with assistive technology (AT) for 23 years and has been in the Department of Special Education for seven years. She is dedicated to continuous learning about AT so that she can best assist pre-service teachers and professors.
Nibbelin’s main responsibility is to support faculty as they use and present AT tools in their classes. The SEAT Center allows students to get great hands-on experience with a variety of different AT that they can use for lesson planning, IEPs, and in their future classrooms. In order to help faculty with classes, Nibbelin maintains the inventory of AT, makes suggestions for new AT, and prepares AT for classes that are hosted in the lab. She also develops presentations, labs, and instructions for equipment use in classes. She even guest lecturers in a few classes in SED, other departments, and for community groups.
For the last several years, Nibbelin has taught SED 207: Intro to AT and this semester she is teaching SED 361 Education of Learners with Severe Disabilities.
“I hope to inspire future teachers with the knowledge and skills that they can go out in the world and make a difference in a child’s life,” said Nibbelin.
Nibbelin still works in schools on a regular basis and loves learning about AT so she attends a couple professional conferences each year. She loves being able to bridge the gap between knowledge and implementation.
She also enjoys sharing stories of people with a range of disabilities using AT in different ways. These stories bring real-life AT experiences to the classroom and share how the tools impacted a person’s life. Nibbelin supported the recent SED Hatch campaign to raise money for AT in a variety of ways, but was especially helpful by appearing in videos showcasing a few products. Her expertise and passion really made on impact on the campaign and on the department’s social media followers.
“I want to ensure we are giving our pre-service teachers the widest range of hands-on experiences we can possibly give that will be relevant to their teaching experiences throughout their time at ISU and after graduation,” said Nibbelin.
Fun fact
One fun fact that you may not know about her is that she has been an avid scrapbooker for over 27 years and works on genealogy, with a current project to combine her interests through scrapbooks about her family’s past.
