Assistive Technology

The presentation of the disability services that the University provides for students was enlightening.  Jennifer Weir gave a great walk through and explanation of the 13 tools that can be found in their lab.  These tools are provided to ensure that students with disabilities are encouraged to be independent in their pursuit of an education.  One of the first things shown during the walk-through was an adjustable standing desk that helps students in wheelchairs use the machines otherwise not at their reach.  Among the assistive technology tools used to help students with trouble with such things as hearing, the Echo LiveScribe Smart Pen which is used to record everything you and write and records everything the Professor is saying in class.  Another tool I found to be very helpful was the Comfort Contego FM System, this device can either be used to catch sound throughout the classroom for class discussion or directed at the Professor during lectures.  If the students isn't shy enough to ask, the Professor can be given a microphone to clip to themselves to ensure clearer hearing.  It was brought to our attention that the University will be installing a looping system on campus to help protect the FM system from interference.  Students with vision impairments are provided with the Victor Stream DAISY Player that reads books that are saved to an SD card.  This device has navigation buttons that allow you to skip to chapters and pages needed.  I found this to be very intriguing, but learned that this is time consuming and cost is high for signing students up for the program in order to receive SD cards.  It was encouraging to learn of the helpful tools that are provided to students with disabilities. 

Session 1 for Service Project

I was thrilled to be able to conduct this service project with my stepdaughter, niece and nephew.  They are all in the second grade so the information we would be covering would be help reinforce the material learned in their classrooms.  The first thing I did was give a letter to the parents of Madison, Andrea, and Jose to ensure permission to have the children' s voices and images open to the public, on their blog.  This blog will allow the students to share their experience with how they used technology to research the activity we will be conducting on the insect life cycle.  The activity was started using a KWL chart.  After filling in what the students already know about insects(life cycle), I began with some inquiry-based learning techniques to fill in what they wanted to know. It was helpful to connect to the students interest in order to promote the "want" to know because the activity was broad.  The students are learning about not only the insects themselves, but also their life cycle.  Using the Internet search engines to research the questions the students imposed was another opportunity to expose them to helpful ways to use the Internet.  No matter what there interest, when they are faced with a question, they don't have to stop there or rely on someone to help them.  If they have access to the Internet, which most do, they can search independently.

Copyright! Don't copywrong!

As individuals, we use the Internet and things we find like pictures and videos without thinking twice before we post them to Facebook or other forms of social media.  Technology is a part of our everyday lives, some more than others.  Using technology in our classroom is a great way to engage our students.  In order to utilize the Internet and material we want to use with our students, it would be our best interest to be familiar with the do's and don'ts of copyrights so not to cross any legal boundaries.  As educators we must be aware our responsibilities and resources regarding copyright knowledge in Education.  There is always new information so it will be a never-ending learning process.

 One thing to keep in mind when it comes to using information you find on the Internet is fair use.  Fair use is a provision that ensures a balance of the rights of copyright owners and the public interest.  This law allows you to use material after you have evaluated four factors with are:  purpose and character, nature of copyrighted work, amount used, and market effect. After you have weighed these factors and have doubt about whether you can use it or not, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder.  On the other side of copyright is you being the publisher.  If you want to share your work, creative commons is a website that can help you do so with conditions of your choice.  Whether it be blogs, songs, videos or academic material you would like to use or share this organization guides you through.  As educators we have a separate set of rights in addition to fair use, to display and perform others' work in the classroom found in the TEACH Act.  On their website you can find information about the rights and limitation you need to know when using material from the Internet in your classroom.  There you will learn about distance education and what you as an educator are authorized to use.  The important things to remember when using others' material you find on the Internet is to give credit and ask permission.  For more information, feel free to view my notes.

Spreadsheets and Inquiry-Based Learning

I haven't used spreadsheets recently so when searching for ways to use them in education I was excited to see how helpful they are to not only teachers in their lesson plans but also for students in learning the information presented to them.  As a student, science and math were not my favorite subjects, so as a teacher I want to find ways to engage students in those areas.  As a teacher, spreadsheets are very helpful in the task of maintaining a budget and calculating grades.  In viewing examples of how spreadsheets can be used with lesson plans I saw how time lines can be used to help younger students get familiar with typing in boxes.  Older students can use spreadsheets when gathering information for an interview form, this is helpful for organizing question for many people and many questions. 

Using my wedding plan budget I designed three inquiry-based questions that could be used.

1.  When working with a budget, which area of the wedding are you willing to spend the most money in?

2.  If needed, which are cost can you do without?

3.  Would you be willing to go over budget?