Day #1 ejournal Response

EDUC 5173 - Assistive Technology

Class #1 Journal Entry

July 5, 2016

3 Main Take Aways

Video “Climbing the Wall”-the video was showed how a young boy with physical challenges was able to climb a large climbing wall with a aid of a man and some climbing ropes.  Once the boy reached the top, he was so elated and proud of his achievement. It was a very moving start to the assistive technology class. 

We were then given the following task:

Tell us in one word, what your emotional main take-away is from this video.

We were asked to use Poll Everywhere which is great application which you can use your handheld device to either text or email

Link: www.polleverywhere.com to get started

PollEv.com/assistivetech

As a teacher you sign in and you can use up to 40 student responses for free

This would be a great tool for engaging students, brainstorming or just sharing ideas in a very short time as it can be easily displayed without having to share each students individual ideas. 

My thoughts-this tool is a great tool that can be used by most students as many of my students have these devices as they are grade 9-10. Also at our school we have access to computers and class sets of laptops as well as iPads. This tool could be valuable for sharing of ideas efficiently. It is also a very inclusive tool as it is anonymous so students who are anxious or too shy to share their ideas can feel free to participate without being judged. Love this!

2. Activity 1-was in pairs, use a different free app to create a display which explains a new term related to AT

My partner and I used videoscribe app to explain SETT technology

Thoughts-this app was a very easy and free app that is designed to amp up presentations by using pictures and images and test which looks like the presentation is being drawn in real time like a cartoonist. It was super fun and easy to use. I could use this as a presentation tool for my colleagues as well as students. It makes the presentation much more engaging for people as most of us have tired out the hype of PowerPoint. It was also a great way to get introduced to a common model for assessing student needs for AT. 

SETT-Student Environment Task Technology

I learned that the clinical model for assessing AT needs was:

HAAT- Human Augmented Assistive Technology

Some of the apps that I would use in class that was shared by my classmates are:

Adobe Spark, StripDesign, Chomp, POWtown Website, Telegami, ihouse, iMovie, 3D timelines

Key terms presented:

Disruptive Technology-

AT Devices and Services-the different ones

SMAR mode- Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition-helps teacher to use AT in the classroom

UDL-universal design for learning-choosing tasks that everyone can be successful regardless of your ability

EADL-electronic aids daily living

3. Video-Aiden and Eyegaze

Thoughts-a grade 3 student who is non-verbal and with physical impairments is able to use his eye movement to communicate. I did not know that this technology existed. It was very enlightening. I am elated to learn that this technology is readily available to students in the province of Nova Scotia. It is nice to learn about such an important opportunity is actually being utilized in the SSRSB. Great to see such life changing AT at work within 100 kms. As a resource teacher this knowledge can be shared with the resource team at my school if there are students that can benefit from it.

Final thoughts

I have learned so many practical tools and ideas that I can easily implement as a collaborative member of several program planning teams. Thank you EDUC 5173!