VIDBE-Q Volume 65 Issue 1
program soon received national recognition, attracting students from across
the country.
In 2004, the PSU VIL program was one of the first university vision
programs to offer an online delivery (with one campus summer intensive).
Director Jim Bickford (1987-1990 and 2001-2014), pioneered online
distance education in order to reach students in rural areas where access
to specialized graduate programs is limited. The VIL program prepares
teachers of students with visual impairments (TSVIs) to be highly qualified
in accordance with Section 300.18 of IDEA and is approved by the Council
for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and the Oregon
Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC). All coursework and
fieldwork experiences are based on Oregon and national CAEP/CEC
standards for the low-incidence area of visual impairment.
In 2016, PSU was awarded Project COMET, Certified Orientation
and Mobility Educators in Training, to prepare 38 O&M instructors in the
Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Hawaii. The O&M program reflects the
national professional standards of the AERBVI - University Review
Orientation and Mobility Curriculum Standards and Guidelines (AERBVI
University Review Curricular Standards, 2010). Curricula use the ACVREP
Standards and Competencies.
