Literacy and AT

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

I have been working with iPads for three years now and my feeling towards them have developed as I see different users working with them. iPads can do amazing things, there is no question in that. We have heard in this class hours of testimonials on how they can be utilized to assist students with their writing, reading and organizational challenges. iPads have revolutionized the AT world they are a convergent technology like none other before them and at a price that many can afford. They are easy to use and the apps are incredibly priced. I do love them!

BUT!

They must be treated as a tool, not the only tool under the realm of Assistive Technology. iPads still face the threat of abandonment if they are not tested in each case before purchase. Over the past three years I have seen too many cases where "buy them an iPad" has been stated before any other tool has been tried. If there is currently no programming in place and the proper tool selection process has been ignored, the iPad will not 'cure' the challenges people face. There still needs to be proper consideration of the task they are trying to accomplish, the environment in where they are using it, and MOST importantly if the user is on board. You can have the best intentions and the best support if there is no buy in by the user there is no deal! end of story! They will tell you or show you if it works for them. Not everyone is suited for an iPad. There are issues that need to be considered before making the leap.

There is an ever increasing amount of apps out there and what I have seen over the three years is that many are the same. There are some apps that stand out but after you have seen one it is hard to get excited about every app until you witness a really amazingly well thought out app. In class we were able to experience some of these apps. Co-Writer, symbol reader, read iris and claro PDF were wonderfully useful.

When the iPad is selected as an appropriate tool after going through a proper AT assessment and having access to on going support it can be life changing. Just make sure its not blindly the go to when it may not be right for the client or student.

iPads are amazing but without the proper training and imagination they become glorified fish ponds and game machines. Teachers need to have their horizons expanded in the ways iPads can be useful in class. There were many times in class that we were shown how iPads can replace frustrating scenarios so students can have success. With thoughtful practice, and breaking the idea that compensatory strategies are 'cheating' exciting new developments for students will occur.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Sixth Class

This class we had presentations.

First up was Donna who showed us some great supports in app format that she found for her Granddaughter. It was really lovely to see Sophie show us what she had learned, and see how happy she was doing her work. This presentation showed again how important the iPad and apps are to conquering hurtles and getting down to the work.

The second presentation was Helen. She focused on two boys in grade 2 who had difficulties with writing. The first boy had very limited work when writing a journal, some days only three letters. His writing progress does not match the reading progress.

The second boy had ADHD and learning challenges. He is a kind boy who is interested in fish and other animals. He has great pictures describing what his experiences were but his writing lacks the same depth. The class is a very complex class where there are many needs from other students.

Helen introduced the co writer app, Book creator, cricker sentences app. These apps allowed them to get their thoughts down and she was surprised that the boys were able to pick out words that she thought they may not be able to read.

The after samples were impressive in that they consisted of three sentences and the date. It was reported that they were motivated and willing to write when using the iPad.

Because it is difficult to get to all students during the time allotted the apps allowed for immediate feedback which helps to correct mistakes.

The third presentation was by Sandy. She teaches a class where 6 out of 24 kids are at grade level. We met four children who had many different learning difficulties and family and community challenges.

The children have fine motor skills, executing functioning problems, phonic awareness and many more. Sandy focused on the co-writer app with Taylor. Taylor's output was extremely minimal. After using the cowriter app she asked to share her work, which was amazing for her. She wrote almost half a page and was proud of what she wrote.

The difference in their before and after work was astounding. The details and the level of language were so amazingly different!

The fourth presentation was by Selena who chose two students. They both have their own iPads purchased by their parents. One student has headphones, and uses text to speech on his iPad. He showed how his work has been converted to a PDF and and he has it read to him in iBooks.

The second student has his own iPad as well. All of his work is on the iPad so he only has to remember that, which makes him much more organized. He uses text to speech and many other apps to assist him with his challenges. They have folders set up in pages for each class which helps them to organize their work.

Selena started iTunesU course where these two students are able to still be apart of the class and finish their work using the technology that they need.

The fifth presentation was by Lee. The school was given 15 iPads and Lee's goal was to train the students to use iPads to their benefit. Lee arranged a training session for all 37 students and showed them how to use their iPads and which apps they would benefit from. The students were amazed at all the accessibility features.

iPads are amazing, but they are paper weights if you do not have training,
buy-in, and imagination. Training is key.

The sixth presentation was by Elaine. She focused on a grade 8 student who has an LD in reading and writing. He's a hard working student and has responsibilities at home on his farm. He is very good at math and reasoning. Before using the iPad his writing was arduous. Now he can produce written output using cowriter, book creator, pages, read iris, google drive, graphic organizers, notes HD, claro pdf, and others.

His frustration level has decreased because he can complete his work in a much more efficient way. He also is able to show what he knows in a different way.

The Seventh presentation was by Angela. Apps can create success and make students feel successful. They have immediate feedback they aren't looking at a page stuck on a word they can't figure out. With the app the student can just click on the word and be told what the word is and they can move on. The iPad mini is user friendly and a nice size for primary hands.

The students needed writing support. The kids were frustrated with how their writing looked and how long it took them to write. Using book creator helped them get their thoughts down. The students were so proud of their work.

The eighth presentation was mine where I used low tech and mid tech tools to help someone over come their challenges and increase their independence.

The ninth presentation was Theresa's who looked at a grade four boy who has challenges with writing and spelling. They have used an iPad and the co-writer app. On the computer he uses google crome, talk typer. His output has increased immensely and he is now teaching other students how to use it. This app is changing his confidence level and how he is learning in class. The drawback is that he does not have one at home and he has to revert to pencil and paper.

The tenth presentation was by Amy who did her case study on Ben a grade 4 student. He has a lot of support from school but no resource support because it got cut back this year. Used co-writer because he doesn't have the beginning sounds. She then used the dragon dictate app and it helped more than co-writer. His speech impediment makes dragon dictate difficult.

This student needs to start using voice recording and get away from text.

The eleventh presentation was by McKenzie who focused on Thomas who has a grade p/1 reading level. He is good at information retention. He has speech issues and its hard to understand him. She started to use Socrative. because it can read to you and it is an online tool. He was able to use it independently and show evidence of his learning. She will try to teach more iPad skills so that he can have even greater success.

The twelfth presentation was by Shawna who did her presentation on Jack. He is a very responsible little guys and loves to play with trucks and outdoor stuff. He needed some help on sight word. She has Jack do sight word activities on the iPad. She introduced little speller sight words and Kids Learn sight words. He was able to practice his sight words and she found that he improved.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Fifth Class

This class we created an iTunesU Course. It was much easier than I thought it would be. We developed a class on rocks and minerals and were able to add many apps, activities and websites. When going through this process I could see the benefits iTunesU provides when designing UDL classes. It was also nice to see all the resources in a linear fashion so that I could see when I was presenting and what I was asking the kids to share back. It was an easy lay out to work with.

There are so many wonderful resources on you tube, teacher tube, websites that are done and ready to share. This format allows someone to gather resources and stitch together the knowledge they wish to share instead of spending their time reinventing the wheel, in probably not as a fun and exciting way. It just makes sense to teach this way.

This way of presenting a lessons is completely UDL. The learner chooses how they want to receive the information and how they share what they have learned. So much of the curriculum documents tell the teacher to assess using pencil and paper activities which excludes many learners.

iTunes U course selection is very vast and that many courses are free allows everyone with access the opportunity to learn something new. I have signed up for many fun courses myself and am now a student of Yale, Harvard, and Dartmouth :)

Article on why teachers should be using iTunes U
http://www.edudemic.com/itunes-u-courses-methods/

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Fourth Class

Writing

This week we started class by watching a great presentation done by Elaine. We were able to see how iPads are making learning so much easier for these students. It was a great presentation and it was so nice to see these kids having success.

We covered many apps this class that continue to blow my mind. To think what was available and what is now available is incredible. We explored symbol support which allows symbols and words written together to provide additional support for students. This has been a computer program and is now an app.

We worked with Clicker Sentences. I really like this app and can think of a few students who I could use this with.

This app was easy to set up and could be very helpful to students.

We quickly looked at Proloquo2go. This app is one of the more popular apps and does have a large price tag of almost 200 dollars, but compared to how much this type of technology use to cost it's a steal!

We tried garage band, which is a fun app that allows all people to access music.

We looked at iBook Creator and iMovie which are both really great apps.

We briefly looked at iBooks Textbooks, which are amazing interactive books that allow access to all students. There are movies, voice over, close captioning, and many more features. Truly amazing!

iReadWrite is a good app for children who need to have word definitions and it shows a symbol to help the student see if they have the correct word.

Pages is an app that can help you develop content on your iPad. There are a lot of templates that you can use when you are trying to create a published piece of work. It interfaces with iCloud, e-mail, webdav and imessage.

Keynote is simple to use and is basically powerpoint for the iPad

The final app was explain everything. This is similar to Khan Academy and Educreations with some differences.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Writing

Third Class

This week we were able to present on some of the apps that we had discovered to help reluctant readers. Many wonderful apps were shared that could be used with lots of different students. It was a great way of discovering what is available.

Later in the day we focused on writing and all that goes into the writing process. We were asked to pick up a pen using our non dominant hand and write about our Thanks Giving Dinners. I found this very difficult. It took me a long time to figure out how to hold the pen and then how I was going to make letters on the paper. The letters were very difficult to form and by the end of my sentence I was wanting to stop. It was a good learning exercise and a reminder how writing can be difficult to some students.

We were shown a writing task analysis to see all the elements it takes to write.

We then were asked to pick up our iPads and use the co writer app. The task then became easy and enjoyable again. Co writer is an amazing app. I was hooked on iWordQ CA but now I am leaning to co writer.

I like the cowriter because it allows the user to create their own word lists on any subject. the app then gathers words from the Internet and creates theme specific word lists. Its a great app, and less expensive than iWordQ CA.

This exercise just showed me again how the right technology can be world changing for students.

There are many apps that can also assist reluctant writers to get their thoughts down. Students can try dragon dictate, text pro, voice to text on the iPad and many more.

Articles

Harnessing the potential of Technology to Support the Academic Success of Diverse Students

This article is promoting UDL as best practice. If we look at the curriculum as the challenge and not the student many more of our students with have success. We need to stop be reactionary and start to be proactive. If students are given choices of how to receive academic information and how to share what they have learned in the best way that works for them we as educators will have a much better understanding of what our students truly know.

Printed text books are the barrier. They are good for some and so wrong for so many others. Paper texts are static; they cannot have font increases or engaging extra material in audio format. They can’t have videos added or updated. You can’t write notes in the margins. E-books are so much better for everyone.

As teachers is it likely that we did well in school and enjoyed being there. Most teachers are visual learners because this is how most of the information was transmitted when we learned. We must remember that not all of our students learn this way and that we need to present material that will be favourably received by all. Technology can be our ally in this pursuit.

Take the Pencil out of the Process

This was a great article. After reviewing the task analysis of writing and seeing how much goes into writing it is not a mystery why problems arise when writing occurs. Just having to write with my left hand I realized how taxing the writing process can be. I had to think about everything I was doing instead of concentrating on the thoughts that I wanted to get down. We have the available technology and live in a world where typed text is expected. There are so many reasons to stop the pencil and paper battle and get on board with a UDL approach to writing.