Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is a technology used to assist individuals with disabilities who would normally have difficulty or might be impossible to perform a certain task. Assistive technology could be as basic as hardware and as complex as software. These technologies could assist people with technology such as computers or simply function easier. Some people with disabilities might have limited hand function and might not be able to use a completely use a computer, so a keyboard might have special keys or a custom mouse. Assistive technology can have a wide range.

I figured since I’m an education major I would look up assistive technologies in school. The first website that I cam across was Assistive Technology to Meet K-12 Student Needs, this site listed technologies that would be an aid to disabled students working with technology.  Below are assistive technologies that I found interesting or especially helpful.

Visual aids:

• ·      Braille translation software (translates inputted text that can be Brailled)
• ·      Braille printer
• ·      Computer with speech output or feedback
• ·      Operating system special-accessibility options (screen enlargement, adjustment of keyboard, sound, display, mouse)

Communication aids:

• ·      Voice out-put devices
• ·      Augmentative communication devises (visual displays or speech output)

Physical aids:

• ·      Joysticks
• ·      Adapted mouse
• ·      Tilt board
• ·      Touch screens

      Hearing aids:· 

• ·      Technology captions
• ·      Audio-voice amplifications (for teachers, computers, or televisions)
• 
  

This website gave a huge variety of assistive technology aid for students with all kinds of disabilities.  I was very impressed with the range of idea available on this site but I wish there was more information on how certain technologies work.

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te7assist.htm

The next site that I looked at had a description and picture of each of the technologies listed. The technology that surprised me most was a “page turner” I didn’t realize that something so simply could be so difficult and complex for someone.  The page-turner holds a book for a student, so that they can focus on the book with out struggle. The page-turner switches the pages of a book with a simple press on a switch.

http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/ATBasics/Foundation/intro/introbasic.php

Overall I was pretty impressed with the information I found on assistive technology. I learned that these technologies are adaptive and customized to help individuals move about, communicate, or control their environments. Some technologies are simple and others are more complex and specific to the user. Now that I have a better understanding of these technologies I will keep in mind availability, If I have students with disabilities I might try to push for easier learning for them through use of assistive technologies.

WIKI

The tech tool I chose to explore was wikispaces. Wikispaces are new to me this year and I this is only the second class I have ever used them in. The first class that I used a wiki in was Math 205, with a partner I created three different lessons. The first was a game for students in the 3rd grade, the game was math based and a version of egyptian solitar. The wiki was very helpful for my partner and I to gather our ideas and create these projects together with out ever actually being together. My partner and I could both go in and edit the page and post comments that no one else could see about the project. Having the ability to both edit the space was a huge benefit because we could catch little mistaks or add more details to one anothers ideas. I think that wikis are really great educational resources, thats why I chose to look at Tech & Learning's Eight Ways To Use Schools Wikis. 
Eight ways to us school wikis was a great resource and I wish I had a chance to look at these sites before I ever started a wiki myself. I think it would have been benefitial to have a technology class outlining or introducing these ideas earlier on in my education so that I could have been better prepared to use these tools. I especially liked that this website gave really great examples of how to use a wiki for school. Wikis have decrease confusion and clutter in school, now everyone knows where to look for important information. Wikis are great for displaying: Announcements, attendance, visitors, recognition, and notes or surveys.
Other ways that wikis in school are beneficial include:
Make meetings more efficient
Collaboration
Enhance professional Development
Saves time
Lesson portal
If the school that I'm hired at doesn't already use wikis I would definitely suggest that they look into getting one started for the school to collaborate through.

Other wiki pages I looked at included: Teachers first wiki walk through, and Examples of educational wikis, both of these sites had great information for someone looking to start a wiki.

Tying it all together.

I have been following the 2 cents worth blog and have noticed that many of my classmates have also been following this blog. I was reading the posting from June 13th called Examine Your PLN, I enjoyed his thoughts on fellow bloggers. I enjoyed all the tools that were shared on find blogs to follow. I have never used twitter and am very new to blogs but I was surprise that they are so closely connected. I still don't know if I understand twitter but it seems like it's a way that people can closely follow eachothers blogs with out actually going out to look for them. The people and ideas that you have chosen to be interested in come up on your wall paper?
Reading Marina's blog I noticed that we had very similar ideas about finding blogs to follow, we also chose some of the same blogs to follow. Though I could relate to Marina's blog I found Kevin's blog very interesting. Kevin takes you though an adventure as he describes his experiences with technology and blogging. I'm still a bit confused by who I am following and how to look at everyone that I am following so I'm working on that now. I hope to add more blogs to follow soon.

I'm now following 13 blogs but I'm still confused about how to look at the list of who I am following. Any help would be appreciated!

Copyright or Copywrong?

Originally copyright laws only applied to the copying of books, over time other uses for copyrights have become popular. Copyright is a law that gives ownership to something of which someone has created. It could be a novel, a painting or a poem, if someone created it some one owns it. The copyright law itself assures the owner ship. A copywrite proves ownership which grants certain rights to the owner, including:

• The right to reproduce the work
• To prepare derivative works
• To display the work publicly

These rights are allowed to the owner and the owner alone. The owner must willingly give up the rights to even allow someone to allow copies made of their work. Copyright owners have the exclusive statutory right to exercise control over copying and other exploitation of the works for a specific period of time
While reading about copyrights I read the following example: "It’s no different than owning a car, a house or a pen. One can lend it out to a friend, sell it, modify it or even destroy it. In short, if you own the copyright to something, you have the same rights that you do with anything else and, in some instances, even more." I thought this quote gave a good illistration of how a copyright works. 
http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/stopping-internet-plagiarism/your-copyrights-online/1-what-is-a-copyright/


I looked at the Copyright and Fair Use Guidelinees for Teacher from the resources provided on Blackboard. The chart explained what teacher are allow to by law. I also liked the the chart states that the chart may be copied and spread to others. It's interesting that copyrights are so important for teacher to follow, before this class I wouldn't have thought it was so important to have permission to pieces of work. Citing sources is as far as I have thought into copyrights, very interesting!

Making a following

This whole blog thing is new to me, so when I had to find blogs to follow I didn't know where to start. I looked through some blogs and found that some of them were really not what I was looking for. As I continued to search I decided I would follow: http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/, I like this blog because it's observations and experiences from an actual educator. I enjoyed searching around the blog and checking out the different categories at the top of the page.  I also liked that 2 cents worth admits that he does not have all the answers, what a relief that this is a blog that values others opinions.

I also want to follow: http://blogs.scholastic.com/top_teaching/. I thought that the ideas provided in this blog were great. I also thought it was great to have so many contributors to the blog, that way you get multiple views.

Other blogs I explored:
http://www.techfridge.com/
http://mscofino.edublogs.org/