Thursday July 3rd

Today was the first day in Educ 5163: Assistive Technology. Before the class began, I was unsure if I would truly appreciate the content, as I am not a literacy teacher. This ideal changed as soon as the course introduction was given. My immediate thoughts turned to the program I oversee in my school board and how many students struggle with English. I believe that I will be able to take what I am learning back to the teachers I work with who can in turn use these ideas with students. In today’s class we looked at a few basic apps before diving into our first assignment. I liked the idea of pic collage and what students would be able to accomplish using this specific application. This app provides students with a creative way to present their work and incorporates technology into the classroom. The app is accessible for most students and can be used to help them express ideas that they do not normally know how to express. This app demonstration was paired with the use of airdrop. I was familiar with the term but had never really used the application myself. I was surprised as to how easy it actually was to use. This would be a great way for students to submit assignment to teachers or to provide answers for a demonstration. A teacher could pose a question, such as a math problem, and the students could develop the solution. Once they have a solution, they could air drop their file to the teacher’s device to display for all students. The students could then explain their work and present to the class. This would be very doable in any classroom due to the simplicity of the program and the speed in which it takes.

The next app that we looked at was prizmo. This app is used to scan documents and create an electronic version that you can essentially do what you want with. You can copy the text from the document and translate it to another language, how the technology read the document to you, magnify the document, and much more. The advantages of this app are huge. Students with learning difficulties can use this app to help become more self sufficient and independent. Providing ways for these students to experience things on their own goes a long way for their confidence and self worth. Students quickly learn that they are capable of much more then they originally thought. This opens up doors to potential new careers that they have never considered in the past, as they believed they were not capable. If a $10 app has the ability to do this for students, it is hard to imagine what else is out there or possible with advances in assistive technology.

I am interested to complete the first assignment and learn more about the many apps that we are required to use throughout the process. I will be commenting on several of these apps and where I see them being integrated into the classroom during my Monday Blog.

The idea of making literacy available to all students no matter the challenge fascinates me. As a consultant for the school board, my job is to provide teachers with resources that help them provide a better learning environment for students. I look forward to exploring assistive technology further as I progress through the remainder of this course.