Assistive Technology Tools

There are so many assistive technology tools that I have access to and use in teaching.    The three assistive technology tools that I am going to review are ones that I have available to use in my school.  They are ipads, Premier technology software and a SMART Board.   There are so many more tools that are available in the 21^st century and I enjoy learning about the benefits of each one and then exploring them myself to see how the tools can benefit my students.  There are always obstacles in the way of incorporating the tools in my classroom, as many tools have a cost involved. 

IPADS

Two years ago our school purchased 20 new ipads for students to use.  We currently have these 20 ipads and 4 ipads minis for the entire school.  Our grade 8 class has 8 netbooks and 8 ipad minis that the board purchased for them just this year.  This teacher does allow other classes to use those resources when she is not using them.  I have found them to be a great tool in the classroom.  There are endless possibilities of educational games and programs that any student would be lucky to have the opportunity to interact with. IPads are easy enough for students in elementary school to use, but have enough software developed that students in high school would benefit from their use as well. Ipads can be used in the classroom to deepen learning for students. 

This is why and how:

-there are more than 20,000 educational apps for all kinds of learners

-an ipad has video mirroring, so that educators can share their content with a classroom of students (iPad can be connected to a computer and therefore seen on a Smartboard or projector screen)

- iPads appeal to a variety of different learning styles for individual students and there are so many apps that can be used for differentiated  instruction and assessment, as well as these apps allow students to demonstrate their learning in a way that suits them

-dropbox is a great way for teachers to send documents and links to individual students’ folders, which contain their individualized learning materials.

-iPads can also be used to provide extension activities for students who need higher-order thinking challenges which can be  These can take the form of webquests, quizzes, and geocaching

-they also allow educators to create short instructional videos to provide support for those students who need it and the students that may need to watch the lesson several times have that opportunity (lessons are no longer a one shot deal)

- students who need support taking notes will find the app “AudioNote” useful. This app will record the speaker while the student types notes, creating an audio recording of the lesson to review learning.

-iPads can be used for students to create presentations and create videos, as well as they are able to work together with the iPads for projects, creating videos, to chat about their reading, etc. 

-iPads can be utilized in every subject area and can be used for various activities where students are to think critically and solve problems

Here is a link outlining more ideas for the use of ipads in the classroom:

http://www.teachthought.com/apps-2/62-ideas-for-using-the-ipad-in-the-classroom/

Here are 25 more ways to use ipads to enhance learning:

http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/25-ways-to-use-tablets-to-enhance-the-learning-experience/

See how iPad is transforming teaching and learning at all levels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24R1QJAXL4s

We use ipads almost every day in my classroom (depending on availability).  Students use them to collaborate, create videos, create presentations, use google docs and many more.  I use ipads for literature circle work.  Students are able to video their discussions (which allows them to watch it again, especially those students with memory difficulties), take pictures of work that was completed, as well as share answers to comprehension questions for each chapter and create a google docs presentation that can be worked on collaboratively by all group members (one page per chapter).  This would give all group members access to the same information and allow for better understanding of the book.  The ipad could also be used, in many cases, for the group to create a final assignment of their learning that could easily be shared with the rest of the class. 

Premier Technology Software

Premier Technology Software provides several programs all in one. It is a powerful easy-to-use literacy tool which

acts as a Word Processor for all students, provides text-to-speech capabilities on the web as well as with scanned or electronic documents.  It also provides word prediction; talking dictionary; talking calculator; and help students organize their note taking. 

How can this be used to support learning?

-each user has the ability to adjust the software options based on their needs as well as their individualized style of learning.

-any school using this program can also sign up for an “at home” use

-this assists students who have difficulty  reading, as it reads text for them, it assists students in editing their work, as it will read their written work over for them where they can then identify errors and the word prediction helps students with their spelling.

-this can be used in every subject area. Especially subjects like Language (responses can be written using Premier), as well as science and social studies when completing projects where research is involved, Premier can read the information for students that may have comprehension difficulties.

- it can help in all subject areas to assist students in organizing their note taking.

This technology is very useful for some, but good for all. It can help any student read or write more effectively. 

Click here and here to find out more.

Here you can access many training videos.

I have used this in the classroom with students with learning disabilities and without.  Many of my students have benefited from this technology.  I scan texts (readings, science, math, etc) for students to have it read to them.  Students use it to copy text from the web and then have it read to them (especially useful during research projects).  Another way that I have used this technology is by creating study notes.  By scanning notes and text readings, students are able to highlight and extract information to create a study note.  I found this to be a useful feature for many students in my class.   In addition, many of my students complete their writing using premier technology.  They are able to use word prediction, the talking dictionary and the text to speech capabilities.  Many of my students

students benefit from hearing their writing read back to them.  This allows them to make the necessary editing and revising to their own writing.  By hearing their own writing, students can determine where their ideas make sense and where they may not make sense. 

In all, I feel that Premier Technology Software can provide students with some of the necessary skills they may need to be successful in reading and writing.  This technology can definitely be helpful for many learners in your classroom.

SMART Boards

https://smarttech.com/Solutions/Education+Solutions/Products+for+education/Interactive+whiteboards+and+displays/SMART+Board+interactive+whiteboards

This is an excellent interactive tool that found in many classrooms across Canada.  Every classroom in our school is fortunate enough to have a SMART Board in it.  I use mine every day and I believe it helps to enhance student learning.  It is simply described as a whiteboard displaying the image from your computer monitor onto a large touch screen. The SMART Board helps you to make your lessons more interactive and fun by using the SMART Notebook software.  It can be used to show demonstrations, videos and to display student work.  The SMART Board can accommodate many different learning styles (visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners).  The SMART Notebook Software allows you to develop interactive activities for the whole class as it has many virtual manipulatives available, such as protractors, rulers.  This is particularly helpful in Geometry and rather than sitting one-on-one with 29 students, or trying to use the chalkboard where it is very difficult for students to see the protractor, you can demonstrate on the SMART Board how to measure and construct an angle, as well to construct polygons.  In addition, students can come up and demonstrate their learning for everyone in the class to see.  The more students are involved in the lesson, either by just verbally participating, quietly listening or writing something or interacting in some way with the SMART Board (even better because they love this) the more they learn.

How is this used to support learning?

-use it as a tool for taking up work. Students can come and write answers on the SMART Board.

-while you are having a discussion, you can have a student to type out notes on the computer while you talk, so that the other students can view and take them down.

-use it as a brainstorming tool.  You can put together ideas together as a class and you can also add images, diagrams or videos.

-classroom games can be played easily on the board, especially some board games

-all forms of media– videos, photographs, graphs, maps, illustrations, games, etc. – can be used on the board

-display student work on the SMART Board and discuss it as a class

- you have the ability to organize your lessons to account for all types of learners in your classroom (visual, auditory, kinesthetic learners)

- students are able to access virtual manipulatives to practice concepts

-an ipad can be connected to the SMART Board and whatever is on your ipad screen is displayed on the SMART Board (this is valuable when students are doing work on the ipads and you can quickly display (using a connecting cord) their work for ALL students to see, this allows for great discussions and feedback from the entire class)

Easy to use SMART Boards.  Learn more here.

I use my SMART Board for every subject area.  I find that it is a very valuable tool in the classroom.  All students benefit from the use the SMART Board.  I find that by using videos in a lesson enhances learning.  During our Space unit in Science, I showed students a video about the International Space Station http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doN4t5NKW-k .  This video provides students with a tour of the station and research facilities that is narrated by Commander Sunita Williams of NASA.  This clip allowed students to see and hear about this station.  It peeked their curiosity about space, wanting them to learn more.  They had many questions that we compiled as a group.  This allowed for more inquiry from the students about Space.  This is just one of the many ways that I use the SMART Board in the classroom in order to deepen the learning of my students.

In all, the SMART Board is a valuable tool in the classroom for ALL students.  Nowadays students are growing up surrounded by technology.  We need to embrace this and integrate, as much as we can, the use of technology in the classroom.  I am very lucky to have access to this technology each day.