The Revolutionary Art of Assistive Technology

The Revolutionary Art of Assistive Technology

While watching the video on Assistive Technology, EnablingDreams, I engaged my full attention because I was never aware of the different types of technological devices available for disabled people.  According to the National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education, “Assistive technology is technology used by individuals with disabilities in order to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible. Assistive technology can include mobility devices such as walkers and wheelchairs, as well as hardware, software, and peripherals that assist people with disabilities in accessing computers or other information technologies” (NCAITE, 2002).  In order to successfully integrate all students, even with disabilities, the teacher has to perhaps, use the methods of technology, for example, when I become a teacher, I will utilize the methods of power point to project over a white board so that each student can review at the same pace, and perhaps use devices in my classroom that translate or interpret the lessons for my disabled students. I would also allow my students to submit assignments online, through email, perhaps a “moodle” page, etc. I will not encourage different styles of submitting or participating, but I will integrate such lessons that require everyone to be on the same page. It is crucial to understand just how much needed these devices are to promote learning in research, exploration, and creativity. In the video, we see that early technological lessons begin as young as preschool, in which preparation is ongoing to see which technological devices are best suited for which students. For assistive technology, the video also explains that teachers, lab managers, etc. are not aware of the technology that is out there this is why it makes it difficult for assistive technology to progress in the public elementary school.  I believe that this course, Technology in the Classroom would be the perfect solution to assisting students with disabilities to be included in all lesson plans, with voice activated projects, with all necessary and abundant tools that can be used that are disabled user-friendly. This is what they meant in the video that teachers are not aware of these tools available, even for disabled students. I have a cousin who suffers from dyslexia. According to David Perlstein, MD, “dyslexia is "a disorder in children who, despite conventional classroom experience, fail to attain the language skills of reading, writing, and spelling commensurate with their intellectual abilities” (Perlstein, 1996). Fortunately, for my relative, he did not attend school on Guam but in California. I remember going to visit him one day in his classroom at about 7^th grade, and he was fully equipped with software that read to him instead of him having to read, his problem did not lie in whether he could think critically, but in reading and writing. The other software allowed him to speak into a mic and it translated all his thoughts on to paper where he was then able to submit them through an educational based online classroom. It was amazing at the amount of assistive technology there was in that classroom. We have seen numerous ways in which students with disabilities are able to prosper and be successful in the traditional classroom. I will definitely be using these tools in my classroom when I begin teaching. According to the NETS standards I believe that we as teachers are engaging in “design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.”

References

1.     Johnson, Kurt.  (2002).  What is Assistive Technology?  In The National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education.  Oct. 4, 2011.  http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?109.

2.     Perlstein, David, MD.  (n.d.) What is Dyslexia?  In Dyslexia.  Oct. 4, 2011.  http://www.medicinenet.com/dyslexia/article.htm .  

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The Ideology of Space Invasion as a Technological Learning Tool in the Classroom

The Idea of Space Invasion as a Learning Tool

Space Invasion is a game from funbrain.com, which is an online educational game website that provides comprehensive lessons in most educational fields such as: Math, Reading, Language Arts, and the Creative Arts. It teaches children the use of technology in using the mouse and keypads on the computer and to enhance intellectual and traditional learning at the same time.

In the midst of creating a presentation and learning atmosphere for our online game, creating the rubric was probably the most difficult task. However, in doing such a task, the most difficult part was creating the template for “learner content.” I found this difficult because our game was so simple that it would be hard to create such a template. I mean to say that learner content is not always the easiest task to accomplish especially with a game so simple. As a secondary education major I really cannot utilize this in my content area, however, if I am an elementary school teacher, specifically first grade, I would integrate the use of these educational online games and basic technology in general. According to the online website Technology and Educational Reform, created by the U.S. Department of Education, “The most common--and in fact, nearly universal--teacher-reported effect on students was an increase in motivation. Teachers and students are sometimes surprised at the level of technology-based accomplishment displayed by students who have shown much less initiative or facility with more conventional academic tasks” (Educational Reform).

            I agree that with a game-based enhance culture with probably every household on Guam and the Untied States possessing game consoles and computers, the integration of technology in the classroom is not that far fetched. With online and digital gaming, according to Erik Klopfer, and the entire authors of “The Education Arcade,” “Digital games, whether computer-, game console-, or handheld-based, are characterized by rules, goals & objectives, outcomes & feedback, conflict/ competition/challenge/opposition, interaction, and representation of story (Prenksy, 2001) or more simply, “Purposeful, goal-oriented, rule-based activity that the players perceive as fun” (Klopfer, 2008). They are distinguished by two key elements: (1) an interactive virtual playing environment, and (2) the struggle of the player against some kind of opposition” (Klopfer, 4).

 I think that in general, technology is crucial in this every changing society, especially in the developing parts of the world; if technology can be implemented then it should be taken advantage of.

I believe that I would utilize this game during mathematics, teaching “geometrical” shapes and in the general creative arts portion of my classroom. I will definitely be using a rubric in all lessons and activities in my classes when teaching. In creating the rubric, I will revise my rubric and add more of learner content, to be more specific as to what it is they will and should be learning [objectifying the lesson], this part of the rubric and my missteps within it is probably the only thing I would change in order to enhance student learning.

          According to NET’s standards I feel that the following was achieved post-online educational game project: use technology to support learner-centered strategies that address the diverse needs of students. I was unaware at just the value of online educational gaming until this project was completed. We evaluated our projects based on the game we chose. Each group displayed the diversity of learning and the diverse needs of students by attempting to evaluate their technological game with rubric that would suffice for the viability of the game.

References:

Singh, Ram & Barbara Means.  (n.d.).  Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students.  In Technology and Education Reform.  Retreived October 04, 2011, from http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/effectsstudents.html

Klopfer, Eric, et.al.  2009.  Digital Gaming.  In The Instructional Power of Digital Games, Social Networking, Simulation, and How Teachers Can Leverage Them.  Retrieved October 4, 2011, from http://education.mit.edu/papers/GamesSimsSocNets_EdArcade.pdf