Journal 9: Adaptive Technology

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is a term used to describe a substitute way of communication for individuals with restricted or no communication capabilities.  There are low tech and high tech tools that provide special needs individuals with opportunities to be more included in the regular classroom setting.

A no/low tech tool is one that does not require any electronic support such as batteries and serves as an alternate means of communication.  An example of this is, “American Sign Language (ASL).”  ASL can be taught to students as a form of communicating by using their hands.  For more information click here.

A high tech tool is an electronic device that provides students with support by a speech output system.  One tool that is being used to support non-verbal special needs students is the “ipad.”  The ipad has apps such as “icommunicate” that provide students with visual and verbal support.       

For a video of how this works click here.






An input device is a tool that is used to put information into a computer such as a mouse or keyboard.  There are many different types of input devices that are available to special needs students that allow them to be in a mainstream setting.  There are numerous hardware and software options that I could use as a future special education teacher.  

One hardware input device that provides special needs students with assistance is the “SAM – Trackball (Switch-Adapted Mouse devices).”  According to one website the SAM trackball is, “A switch-adapted alternative mouse device. The SAM Trackball functions as your regular mouse device AND your switch interface. Using SAM with your switches lets a user with gross-motor hand control (or fine-motor head control) move the mouse, and click, double click, and click-lock (for drag) with other parts of their body” Website Here. This could be implemented in a technology classroom by providing special needs students with an easier alternative when putting information on the computer.   

One software program that would facilitate special needs students in the classroom is “KeyStrokes.” KeyStrokes is a program for mac computers that utilizes a mouse in order to allow special needs students to type onto a virtual keyboard.  The websites elaborates on how KeyStrokes assists a student with special needs, “KeyStrokes provides advanced multilingual word prediction. Thanks to its revolutionary PolyPredix™ word prediction engine it can do word completion, next word prediction and even multi-word prediction” Website Here 

Journal 8: Find the Truth about the Pacific Tree Octopus

Ferrell, K. (2011, August). Find the truth about the pacific tree octopus. Learning and Leading WITH TECHNOLOGY, 39(1), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-august-2011.aspx

This article, “Find the Truth about the Pacific Tree Octopus” was about making an effective lesson plan for doing online research.  A teacher accomplished this with his fourth grade class by giving them a list of key terms to research and not informing them about the possibility of some inaccurate websites.  The students realized that the information they found was inaccurate when they presented what they found to their classmates.  After the students realized this the teacher redirected his students by providing them with words that would help them find more factual websites.  The words they used were, “who, what, when, where and why.”  The teacher also provided them with good URL suffixes to look for such as “.edu and .gov.”   I take away an imperative lesson from this article and that is the importance of allowing your students to first get their feet wet and make mistakes and then providing them with the scaffolding they need to become more critical researchers.

Q:1) What is one way that teachers can make their students more critical researchers?

A:1) By allowing their students to first take the initiative and try and figure something out on their own.  Then once they have made mistakes you can provide them with necessary information they need to conduct a more precise study.   

Q: 2) What are some good things to keep in mind when conducting more accurate research?

A: 2) Some good things to keep in mind are the URL suffixes like, “.edu and .gov.”  Websites that end in these will yield more precise results because they are more educationally related.       

 

Journal 6: "Students Voices for Change"

Miller, S. (2011, June/July). Student voices for change. Learning and Leading WITH TECHNOLOGY, 38(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2011.aspx

This is an encouraging article about how students are taking advantage of technology to make their voices heard. In Iowa there is a school called VanMeter Community and they have afforded every student in grades 6-12 a laptop.  Some of the multimedia devices that the students are using include; Prezi, Skype, iMovie and many others.  I was especially moved by what superintendent John Carver pointed out.  Carver states, “Our children are our greatest resources, and yet today we do not listen to or empower them” (as cited in Miller, 2011, page 22).  Which, I think is essential as community to realize because our students are our future and with out them we do not have one.

Q: 1)How are schools providing students with new opportunities to be leaders in the classroom?

A: 1)Schools like VanMeter are providing students with laptops where they can take advantage of various multimedia tools such as Skype, iMovie and Prezi.  These programs provide students with alternate opportunities to express themselves and build self-confidence. 

Q: 2)How are teachers facilitating the use of technology usage?

A: 2)They are encouraging students use of technology by one providing them with the right tools.  Also, teachers are giving students the opportunity to present and openly discuss their blogs with their classmates.        

Journal 7: My Personal Learning Network (NETS 3,4,5)

1.)   My PLN (personal learning network) is basically my public domain on the web where I perpetually become more technologically informed.  This network allows me to collaborate and connect with other professionals in the education field.  Some of the tools that I have used to develop my PLN include; Twitter, Diigo, and my blog.  The most key component of a PLN is the fact that these tools provide teachers with resources that were not available to them before.  In other words, a PLN allows teachers to draw from a greater pool of knowledge based on virtual relationships instead of being limited to their community.

2.)   On Tuesday August 2, 2011 I participated in the #Spedchat at 8:30pm EST.  This chat was a collaborative discussion that provided teachers with feedback and weblinks to a topic.  For this discussion the topic was about creating an inclusive classroom for special education students.  One example, which makes classrooms more inclusive, is through adaptive technology.  Some of the adaptive tools being utilized include but are not limited to; media tablets, ipads, netbooks and smartphones.  One of the important facets about using these types of devices is the fact that students specifically with physical disabilities are more capable of holding a media tablet as opposed to holding a pen and paper. Moreover, through the implementation of these types of multimedia devices special needs students are becoming more capable of learning in an all inclusive environment. After participating in this discussion I decided to follow several contributors to this conversation.  I am currently following autism2awesome, azautzmcoalishn, inclusive_class, asdhelp, autismspeaks, the autismnews and lynnesoraya (a woman with asperger’s).  I decided to follow these tweeters because they seemed to be providing a lot of information regarding the special education field and I feel they will be a good resource.

3.) Through the use of Diigo I am able to collaborate with other educators and build on my knowledge base.  Some of the people I chose to follow were from professor Heil’s list of fellow followers, and the other people were from my own personal search. For my search I typed in “special education” to see what type of followers that would yield.  This showed me several people who had an interest in this field and I chose people based on their bio and amount of follower’s they had.  After adding a few Diigo members to my site I decided to bookmark some bloggers who I thought would help in building up my PLN.  The first blog post that bookmarked was the, “Personal Learning Networks 101” that Professor Heil provided for us.  I choose this one because it gave me a better understanding of why having a PLN is so important.  The second blog post that I bookmarked was from Edutopia called “What tech tools should be required knowledge for teachers?”.  I chose this discussion because it explained why it is so important to have a basic understanding of technology in order to be the best educator that you can.  It even referenced ISTE, which we are using in class as a way to improve our future or current use of technology in the classroom.  The third blog post that I bookmarked was, “Summer PD: Web tools collective part 4-tools to help students create.”  I thought this post was important as well because it talked about the various tools that you can use and are currently being used instead of PowerPoint.

4.)   I decided to join the Educator’s PLN.  There I viewed a video that showed a teacher named Robert Pronovost who used grant funds to purchase iPads for his students.  Through these iPads these students were able to create stories using characters provided to them by their storyboard.  Also they were able to record their voice, which helped them to develop their stories before having to write them down.  This teacher remarked on how beneficial these ipads were in building on their basic foundation of prior writing capabilities.  Especially, for students who have learning disabilities or English is not their first language.   However, the funding is very limited when it come to paying for this technology.  So unfortunately, due to this issue, funding only allows this teacher to purchase four ipads, which leaves the rest of the students out from participating with the ipads.

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Journal 4: One Size Never Fits All

Courduff, J. (2011). One size never fits all. Learning and Leading with Technology, 38(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2011.aspx

Out of all the articles I have read thus far I found this one to be most pertinent to my future goal of becoming a special education teacher.  In this article Courduff explains how utilizing technology in the classroom was not as easy as was initially thought.  Courduff elaborates in how "tiers not years" is the more fruitful approach to getting the most out of technology in the classroom.  There are three tiers to explain how teachers will get the most benefits from technology.  Tier one explains how teachers can participate in workshops, tier two explains how teachers can collaborate using virtual portfolios and tier three is similar to tier three in that it utilizes technology to collaborate using digital storytelling and e-portfolios.  Moreover, what made me the most interested in this article was the real world examples of how technology has actually benefitted special needs students.

Q:  How would you get students more interested in public speaking in the classroom?

A: I would get a students more interested in public speaking by first allowing them to pick a topic that they are interested in.  Next I would allow them to utilize PowerPoint or prezi to make their speech and add their voice narration to their PowerPoint or prezi presentation.

Q: How would you collaborate with teachers if you do not have time to meet up face-to-face?

A: I would utilize e-portfolios or I would use interactive whiteboards to collaborate with teachers who might have useful information about a subject matter that I might need.          

Journal 3: Abracadabra - It's Augmented Reality

Raphael, R. (n.d.). Abracadabra it's augmented reality.Learning and Leading with technology, 38(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2011.asp

This article discusses the emerging use of AR (augmented reality) and how it can be used in education.  Raphael brings out that, AR has been around for some time but just recently is making it's way into education.  For example, they are now using AR technology with children's books.  In fact, there is a program called "Zooburst" that allows students to create their own virtual pop-up books.  AR has even made its way into the area of mobil apps.  Raphael informs the reader that you should be able to purchase these phone apps and point them at say a restaurant and from your phone be able to look at their menu.  These apps, which Raphael calls "virtual telescopes" have many different features that allow you to see "layers of information" from places as complex as the stars in the sky. 

Q: How could I implement AR in my future classroom?

A:   I could implement AR by having students sign up for the program called Zooburst and learn how to make their own pop-up books.  These books they create could relate directly to the topic that we are learning about that week.  This seems like a creative way of getting students involved instead of just having students draw using pencil and paper.  

Q: How might you see AR as a social network being a problem in the classroom?

A: AR as a social network could have negative consequences if bad information is written on a students facebook about another student, which could lead to bullying or fighting.  This could also be misused in the classroom with students and could get in the way of a lesson plan.