As part of our commitment to deliver maximum value for our customers and to develop evidence-based products and services, AbleNet designed the AbleNet Research Consortium. This consortium is a group of people interested in collaborating to improve the lives of people with disabilities.
This website is part of the effort to encourage more collaboration, to share research evidence from anecdotal to scientifically-based and to discuss positions and learning that will help improve lives. You’ll find case studies, white papers and peer-reviewed, scientifically based findings from researchers, graduate students, administrators and educators. They are partnering with AbleNet to create more objective data about how our company’s products and programs work for our customers.
Learning what works and why, as well as what could work better and how, is a priority for AbleNet’s research and development team. In the end, our outcome – our ultimate criteria – is the betterment of the customers we serve by being an engaged research partner internationally.
Make sure to visit the Call for Proposals for detailed information on grant funding opportunities to support your research efforts. Also, don’t miss the case studies we are co-writing with people who are doing great things in their classrooms and organizations. The case studies are written to help our readers understand the specific challenges posed, the interventions used and the outcomes achieved. To add more value the stories also include research-based documents that support the strategies used and the additional research questions that would be helpful to answer in the future.
We invite questions, ideas and additional partnerships to help us move our work ahead.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Volkman
NCTI interviews Cheryl Volkman
(transcript and audio) November 2009
Cheryl Volkman is co-founder and former CEO of AbleNet Inc. She stepped down as the company’s CEO in 2006 to drive a new initiative that focuses on merging academic research with market research. Her efforts are dedicated to delivering assistive technologies and curricula that consistently meet the highest standards for academic rigor and that can also be brought to market in a timely manner to benefit persons with disabilities. Prior to launching AbleNet, Cheryl, a certified occupational therapist assistant, served as the director of United Cerebral Palsy Center’s Preschool Developmental Achievement Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She also founded, and serves as CEO of, White Pines Concepts LLC, a company that holds several U.S. patents for accessibility products used by people with and without disabilities. Cheryl has served as board president, board member, and/or advisor to the Alliance for Technology Access (ATA), the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA), the National Center for Technology Innovation, the Illinois State University Special Education Assistive Technology Program, and the Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities.
What do you do when your customer base changes? AbleNet went out to meet them and listen to their concerns. Cheryl describes what they learned and how AbleNet worked with NCTI to help spread the knowledge about how administrators prioritize technology purchases.
http://www.NationalTechCenter.org/index.php/2009/01/15/conf09-speaker-interviews