03/23/09

I found that Mondays class was very beneficial. I like how we used the smart board and websites as a combination. I am really enjoying the smart board in the school that I am in right now, and think there are so many things that we can learn to do. In the class that I am in during the morning we use it to do all of our calendar activities. They kids love it. Who would have known that counting, and doing the weather would be so engaging and exciting. I am also excited to start learning about how to create a website. I have never done this so it will be a challenge but I think a useful thing to have for the future.

Smart board

Hey guys just wanted to let you know that there are some really neat things to do under the gallery section in the notebook page. If you go under Essentials for educators you can access things like dissecting a frog, you can put together a human heart and make the guy start breathing, and all sorts of neat stuff. One of the tutorials does touch on this, but if you play around with it even more you will find all sorts of neat stuff. Just a little update :)

03/09/09

I think that the tutorials were beneficial that we did on the smart board in class. I also wanted to let people know that I am familiar with it, I do not know a whole lot on it, but if anyone has questions on the basics feel free to get a hold of me. There are a lot of neat things to do with it all the way from lessons to just review games. I think that our conversations on the articles were interesting, and that it is interesting to see all the different things that are going on around us in education. I also enjoyed reading about all the adaptive technologies that people explored in our previous blogs. There are also a lot out there that we aren't to familiar with, but this is how we can learn about them.
I also think that the E-field trips was a great idea, and that we may have to start doing things along this line. It seems with budget cuts being made that field trips is unfortunately one of them that is being cut as well. Just something we need to keep in mind with the schools.

Adaptive Technology

After thinking about what kinds of adaptive technologies are out there, I decided to find one that I could learn about and possibly use some day with visual impaired. The one that I researched was a screen magnifier software using Zoom text 9.1. This software helped people that had low vision. It had two sections, one was the magnifier, and the other was the reader. Under the magnifier they person could zoom text, adjust magnification, adjust colors (background and font), adjust the pointer, font, and cursor, and can help them check for focus. Under each section there were different options depending on what that particular person needed. For example some may want a dark background with light writing font, and another might want a light background with dark font. Then the person also had control over the reader section. This could be turned on so that it would read everything that the person was pointing to, helping them get through each section, or the software program could be set up to read what that person was typing. This program has been upgraded, and keeps improving as it advances, allowing more options for people.
If i had a visual impaired student in my class, I would definitely consider getting this software. I think that having both options for that student is very beneficial and will help them in a classroom. I would have to make sure that my materials were accessible on the computer for that student to access, and I would also need to make sure that this person is comfortable with this software. I do think that as a teacher you need to be aware of how you would use this in a classroom, and I would definitely have this set up for my student to use at anytime they felt it was necessary. I would also have to update this each day for the following day. This would be a lot of work but feel that once you got a handle on the program it would be easy. I also think maybe you could scan things into the computer that you might be using to make it quicker. I would probably use this on a laptop that I would have available to this student, because I would want this student to be able to use this, but also be part of the group. Therefore, having a laptop they could bring it with them where ever they needed. I also think that this might be easier for the other students because you would have the class as a whole group and would not have to divide your attention between the two, which may cause some disruption. My strategies would also change in that if I had a hands on activity, I would have to make sure that student could join along with us. I also think that things in my room would change as well, such as making sure that things were labeled differently so that this person could read/or see these as well. For example I may have to create things in braille or I just may have to adjust the colors for this person. If I was doing a reading lesson I would have to make sure that this was available in text for the program, and the student. The arrangement of my class would have to be set up differently as well. So not only do you have to change your strategies in the classroom, but the entire dynamics of it as well. I will do my best to accommodate any student with any difficulty in my classroom. I found this software program fun to learn about, and also very beneficial for the classroom.

Here is a website that I visited that I learned a lot from and found it interesting to actually see a clip of it being used.

http://www.aisquared.com/