Special Education Services: A Manual of Policies, Procedures and Guidelines

H.2.5 Special Education Technology-BC (SET-BC)

Mandate and purpose
Special Education Technology - British Columbia (SET-BC) is a Provincial Resource Program established to assist school districts and group 1 or 2 independent schools in supporting educational programs of students through the use of technology. School districts receive services for students who demonstrate restricted access to the curriculum primarily due to the following:

• physical disability; and/or
• visual impairment.
• Districts base requests for service on the following criteria:
• how the disability restricts the student's access to the curriculum;
• the student's current academic/cognitive level;
• educational goals established for the student; and
• the student being enrolled in a public setting.

Services provided by SET-BC
The SET-BC program is implemented through a provincial centre in the Lower Mainland and eight regional centres throughout the province. Staff at eight regional sites assist local school districts in identifying and screening students for SET-BC services. They work with school-based teams to develop collaborative action plans involving the use of technology to meet educational goals, and monitor and follow up students within the region. Regional offices serve as preview and demonstration centres for special education technology and provide training in technology applications for educational purposes.

Services provided by the SET-BC program include:

• assistance with the assessment of students' abilities and needs for technology;
• assistance in program planning and transition planning, where technology is used to support learning outcomes;
• equipment loans and technical support of loan equipment; and
• inservice and workshops to train teachers and other staff in the use of the equipment.

Service and Maintenance
Technical difficulties with equipment should be referred to the SET-BC staff in the regional site. When staff in the regions require assistance with technical difficulties, they may forward equipment to the provincial site, which employs technical staff to deal with more complex service and maintenance problems.

Loss or damage of items should be reported immediately. The school district maintains primary responsibility for equipment on loan, and should ensure that it is listed in the school inventory for insurance purposes.

Returns/Transfers/Transitions
Equipment on loan remains the property of SET-BC. Accordingly,

(a) If the student leaves the province or if the equipment is no longer needed or appropriate, it should be returned to the SET-BC centre from which it was obtained.

(b) For students in their final year of secondary school who will be continuing their education at a B.C. post-secondary institution or who plan to become clients of Vocational Rehabilitation services after graduation, the school-based team should contact the SET-BC Regional Co-ordinator so that transition planning with SET-BC Adult Services can begin.

(c) When students are planning to transfer to another school district within the province, the school districts in which they initially reside should contact their SET-BC regional centre to determine standard transfer procedures. Equipment should be temporarily returned to SET-BC for transfer and should not be transported by the parents.

SET-BC Regional Centres
Requests for SET-BC service should be directed to the regional site by the SET-BC district contact. Information regarding access to services may be obtained from regional sites located online at SET-BC.

SET-BC Provincial Centre
105 – 1750 West 75 th Avenue , Vancouver, BC V6P 6G2
Tel: (604) 261-9450; Fax: (604) 261-2256

Previous Page ~ Next Page

Table of Contents