Blog Post #7

            Assistive technologies unlock learning for students with disabilities. For those who have trouble holding a pencil or pen and therefore writing, word processors eliminate the need for a pen, and text can be edited during or after the initial phase of writing. Recorded books provide audio books for students who cannot always understand what they are reading, but can better comprehend it if they hear it. Sticky keys let students press one key at a time, rather than having to hold down multiple keys. Besides for a word processor, I haven’t used any of these technologies. I have used text to speech but it was when I lost my voice and was therefore for a different reason than the textbook gave. I am not familiar with anyone else who has used these assistive technologies. The text book references three challenges of using adaptive technologies in the classroom which are having to determine “which technology solution will be most effective,” and then having to be trained as well as the student in how to use the technology, and finally the need for IT and AT workers to communicate to make sure the right assistive technologies are installed.

            I am excited by the skills I learned in creating a website which I can use for the author website I need to create for information on my books and for me to upload reviews of other books. I like the design I chose for the website and the layout for the announcements. I didn’t like how some of the spacing turned out. Trying to space and place pictures and text where you wanted using Weebly was awkward. I hope next time to figure out how to space things better.

My Website.

            

              Using Diigo, I have learned to annotate much better and how to organize webpages instead of simply adding them into a favorites tab where they become lost and cluttered. This can be useful in my classroom by helping me to organize lessons and websites that are good for educational use. I can create a discussion board for myself and my students to have discussions on. With Diigo collaboration between team members becomes easier as different articles we find can be saved, and we can annotate them for each other. In my professional efforts I can organize websites of book reviewers and sort news articles involving publishing.

Citation: McDonald, Jean and Judy Lever-Duffy. Teaching and Learning with Technology. United Sates: Pearson, 2015. Print.