Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning: Two Sides of the Same Coin

         Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning: Two Sides of the Same Coin, was written by, David H. Rose, Ted S. Hasselbring, Skip Stahl, and Joy Zabala. It is about the similarities and differences of AT and UDL.  These two terms are not the same.  Yet the authors argue that they are quite compatible.
          Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a method of planning to optimize learning for all students.  Using UDL teachers start with what they want the students to know and then carefully plan the assessments that may be used to demonstrate this knowledge or skill with all of their students' needs in mind.  That way each lesson will be differentiated, and our mindset will be flexible, in pacing, materials, grouping and presentation of information. Rose, et. al argues that Assistive Technology (AT) is individualized, in that it targets the barriers in inividuals.  UDL is general, in that it is designed to reduce barriers to learning for all students.
             Designing for the individual, will mean excluding a lot of other people, "creating a need for AT that is prohibitively and extensive and expensive." Yet, building for everyone, will not make sufficient adaptations for individuals. "Assistive Technologies make Universal Designs more effective." The AT solution to learning disabilities are to remediate or compensate for individual needs. The UDL approach is that there are inadequacies in our curriculum. "Imagine a multimedia curriculum, that provides digital, universally designed media that offer diverse options for viewing and manipulating content and expressing knowledge." I found it very interesting to learn that copyright laws have made it difficult for many students to access textbooks. "...only students with qualifying print disabilities may be provided with accessible braille,  audio, or digital text versions of print materials..." I know that Apple has many apps that can be used to change text to speech(such as Claro), and vice versa (such as Dragon Dictation).
             The National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) set to work on making texts more accessible. They succeeded in getting students access to textbooks at the same time as the publisher put the books out. So now we have many options for the PC and iPad devices, such as Ibooks.
               Let's take a look at UDL.

http://barbarabray.net/2012/01/20/udl-and-personalized-learning/

A Breakthrough For Josh

          In A Breakthrough for Josh, Barbara McClanahan notes that there were very few studies that gave any evidence about the effects of Technology on students with ADHD.  After McClanahan was given the opportunity to see what the iPad could do at a PD, she was convinced that it would have significant impact on Education.  iPads present learning tasks in multiple modalities, they chunk tasks into more manageable pieces, and give repeated trials with immediate feedback.  It presents learning like a game, which promotes engagement and attention.  Even comfort is enhanced by iPads.
             McClanahan began her study, but she noticed a problem. There was one fifth grade boy with ADHD, who had adaptations, but his adaptations were not being adequately implemented.  Teachers' view of students with ADHD has affected the way that they are treated in the classroom. They do not get the help that is required for them.
              I thought it was interesting that they had planned to use the iPad for a reward, and decided that it could be used in the tutoring sessions. Traditional flash cards were not working, so she let him use the iPad and he stayed still for ten minutes, totally focused on his task. She began to search for a flashcard app and she began using the iPad to actually tutor Josh.  In many cases, using a computer can really help to focus students' attention, especially students with ADHD. The study showed that Josh improved more when he recorded his own voice, while reading, then when someone read to him.She introduced the INSERT strategy, in which he marks unknown words in his readings. He was very quick to internalize this strategy and used it consistently without prompting.  They did a great job of teaching Josh self monitoring strategies.  She noted that the results of the findings showed improvement in numbers, but it was the anecdotal notes that gave the best evidence of whether this plan was working. He asked to re-read a sentence to make it make sense, which, "strongly suggests that Josh understands that reading should be done to construct meaning."
           iPads help students with ADHD because of the higher levels of sensory stimulation. "The touch screen promotes the use of several modalities (Raggi &Chronis,2006), especially visual and tactile/kinesthetic more readily and effectively."
            I wonder if the higher levels of stimulation may help students other than students with ADHD.  For instance, I know that a lot of teachers have experimented with playing music during a free-write and it has helped with students' creativity.  During the Virtual Classroom, I suggested that a student who had trouble with fine motor skills, may in fact benefit from music.  I realize that this is not a matter of creativity, and yet I thought that perhaps stimulating one part of the brain, may allow for new networks of neurological connections. I was shooting for out of the box thinking.
           I think that iPads are becoming mainstream. We will see them in more classrooms very soon.

            Here is an interesting video about the prevalence of iPads. Tell me your thoughts.

Here is the link in case it doesn't play. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8267408/Singapore-school-uses-iPads-in-the-classroom.html
         

The Big take-away and Complexity of Writing Imovies

           Yesterday, we did iMovie Trailers to present the big take-aways from the course. It was a great way to tap into the creative side of people.  I think that most students would love this type of assignment.  It could be used for introducing a new topic.  Instead of drawing a title page for the topic, you could present the topic on iMovie Trailers. For example, if you were looking at magnets, you could ask student to look for information and images about magnets.  This is a good way to find out what a student knows ahead of time and it may help to spark an interest that may not have been there before.  You also could make great book reviews, using iMovie Trailers.  It gives good oral presentation practice, as well.
          Kathy Schrock reviewed iMovie Trailers and this is what she had to say. http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2013/08/01/imovie_trailers/ She also included
another good example. Take a look!
           I think that finding solutions in technology before trying other things is the most important thing that I learned from this course.  I just loved what these apps could do!  I look forward to reading your blogs, to see what you thought.

Some questions to ponder;
          How can we ensure that students are getting the technology that they need?
          When is technology a bad thing?
          What do you tell students/parents who feel that one child is given an advantage over another, when we give assistive technology to one student and not the others?
           Are iPads, accessible to everyone yet?  If not, who is left out?
Also, don't forget, It is Nelson Mandela Day.  So I leave you with this quote;

Blackboard Collaborate (virtual classroom)

            Today's class was very interesting.  I had never thought about how we know if a student's abdominal muscles are strong enough for writing.  The Occupational therapist in the video described some of the signs of weak abs. Such as, students who hook their feet around a chair leg may be compensating for weak core muscles, and students who lay on their desks, or hold their pencils too high or press down too hard. There are many devices, and exercises that can help to give students more control over their pencils. Pencil Olympics is a very useful exercise that I would recommend for all students.
            We also got to play with some very useful apps.  I loved the Clicker Sentences app. because you can reach students at so many levels. Then you can import learninggrids.com into Clicker Sentences and then you can have books broken into scrambled sentences. ClickerConnect even has pictures to help younger students and developmentally delayed students with forming sentences.  
           CoWriter can predict words by recognizing the words that children have tried to write, but are spelling incorrectly. It gives students a list of spelling suggestions. I was told that CoWriter now searches the internet to recognize the words, so you don't have to make a word bank. I think this app would be useful for so many students. Students struggle very much with Spelling.
            I was wondering if Spelling will be a lost skill. If the school has technology that allows us to speak into a program and it spells all words for you, then students may lose the skill of learning to spell..
         We had a rich discussion.  Lyndsey, Kate, Simon and I all talked about what the world will be like in the future. Lyndsey made the good point that, "it is not how students read or write, but how they access information that is important." We do need to use technology to optimize student learning. CoWriter can do amazing things to help students rid themselves of the barriers that once existed!  As long as we are prepared for long power outages, then we should be fine.

               Here is a video that just scratches the surface of how to motivate reluctant writers.  I agree with everything said, but I think to do this topic justice, I would have to give you a much longer video.

Gaining an appreciation of technology!

        Our iTunes U project is coming together nicely now. I have found a lot of apps that are very useful.  
        This course above all has engaged me in a desire to become more technologically inclined! I have been getting more and more interested in an iPad.  I think that there are apps that can help with so many things for students, teachers, parents, and the general public. I bet you will be interested in this, although you will find that we have already seen a lot of these apps, or at least the uses that they suggest. 


Guess how many uses there are to the iPad.  At least as many as you will find in this link;
            https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UJnqyK52X26az5zN5kr1ISTNPwbdUbxfG6M-9WMW4Do/present#slide=id.i0



       

I-tunesu Course Management Project

       Today, in class, we reviewed some more web apps, such as Read Iris, and Claro.  These apps go very well together.  Read Iris allows you to take a picture of text, while Claro allows for you to change the text to speech, so that it will read to you. Then we looked at the Settings for the I-pad, under General Settings---Accessibility. This is where you can opt to enlarge the do voiceover, which allows students to select text to have it read to them. It allows the zoom option for students who have trouble to see, or process small writing. It can have large text and bold text. I like the option that you have to control what students have access to.  It is called Guided Access.  It is essentially a parental control, to restrict access to unwanted websites, from students, so that they can use the I-pad independently. The I-pad offers subtitles and Captioning for the deaf.
         One of the apps that we looked at today, allows us to cut out part of the screen to help keep the students from leaving an app.  Some Autistic students obsess over a particular website, and may try not to stay on the assigned site. This helps to eliminate that option.
          We began our I-tunesu course Management Project. I wrote about the complexity of the Reading Process.  I feel like I am becoming quite familiar with the topic, and yet I still don't think that I have all of the steps memorized yet.  I will have to look for some good images or videos to go with my account.
            We began inputting some of the web apps that would help to remediate or compensate for various learning disabilities that affect students, particularly in the area of reading.  I did this for homework, and it was very fun. I found a web page, by a technology expert in the Halifax Regional School Board, and she had a set of apps, divided into the categories of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/121271/bloomin/bloominipad.jpg

More about our task analysis of reading, and exploring apps. for Reading remediation

         Today we reviewed our Task Analysis of the Reading Process.  There is a lot involved.  It starts with student engagement (a reason to read). Then the student must find a comfortable, safe place to read.  The student also must be free of distractions both externally and internally. He or she must have proprioception (the awareness of her or his body space, such as posture and how to hold the book). The student must know to look at the top left corner to start decoding the text.  He or she must use short term memory to recognize letters and understand the relationship between the letter and its corresponding sound, which engages another part of the brain, because this incorporates auditory sensory processing. It is also important to know the word is broken up into components of the sounds we hear. She or he must know that the space at the end of the word tells where a word ends, and must use this knowledge, along with any prior knowledge and phonics to make meaning of the very first word.  If the word is not instantly clear, the student will then use strategies to decode the unknown word, including using picture cues, and context cues, syntactic cues and predictions (which requires knowing to skip ahead and then try to use the additional information to uncover the meaning of the unknown word).  All of which must be done quickly enough to keep the attention and interest of the child.  This is the very beginning of the reading process, so it requires a lot of patience and perseverance to remain ready to read.
           Many students struggle, so we have Assistive Technology to help us to remediate or compensate for the area of difficulty.  We just took a quick peek at a bunch of apps. and they are exciting. I found Bitsboard, 60 Story Starters, Raz kids, Jigsaw Puzzle, Bugs and Buttons, and the Crack the Books Series very exciting.  I can't wait to explore them further!

The Myth of Average

       Hello everyone!  I am just posting my response to The Myth of Average.  My adjustable seat was mostly choice of challenge level. I would often have students choose among three levels of question in Math for example.  I often used break cards for particular students to use when they just needed to get out of their seats.
        I used the old style Comic Life program to bring you the three key points that I took from the video.  It started out as three separate strips going across the top, then the middle and then the bottom, but I wanted a background and now the strips are no longer visible and it looks like it is all on one page. But here it is; The top two dialogue bubbles are the first two things that I took from the movie and the last two bubbles combine to make the third.       

Complexity of Reading

           There are so many things to consider when we think about the brain processes  that children must use in order to read.  I just thought about elliptical sentences, such as, "Are you doing the library today?"  This means are you doing a trip to the library today?  We also must consider colloquialisms, and slang. It is not a simple matter of decoding texts, it is also a matter of using background knowledge which incorporates culture as well.  The amount that we take a sentence or paragraph literally, depends on our understanding of the culture from which the author's perspective represents. For example, take any song or  poem and look at what each line means. Are there double meanings that are important to the underlying message that the author is trying to convey?  We need to think about what clues there are from previous text on the page.
            It is also interesting that we can arguably be called "reading" even for logic puzzles such as this one; "All Worble are Goffels.  All Goffels are Shlankies.  Are all Worbles also Shankies?"  We use syntax to determine that the sentence structure allows us to deduce that all Worbles are infact Shlankies.  Even though English speakers will be reasonably certain that there are no such things as Worbles, Shlankies, or Goffels.

           None of these questions can even be considered until students can decode a vast majority of the text. Which itself requires a lot of brain processes to do successfully.  Here is a video about the things that are involved.

I hope you enjoy it and that it helps you with the project on reading processes.  Stay tuned for the group one that Darah and I are preparing.

We use Assistive technology to help students who struggle with an one of these processe.
     We take a screen shot and use read Iris, or Starfall, Tumblebooks, or other related programs to help remediate these disengaging, reading difficulties. 

Presentations

These are only quick notes, so pardon the jumbled look. Jonathon and Angela. I loved the way that they put two apps together.  Particularly, the Glow art and Tellagami.  Cursive writing is an interesting medium to include, as well. I loved our discussion of Universal Design because we even spoke about how it relates to differentiation.  UDL uses backward design to plan ahead of time to differentiate for all.  I was pleased to hear that Angela is going to make use of Apps that she hadn't before.  This course certainly has helped us all.  Pic Play Post and Tellagami put together allows two Tellagami speeches to play simultaneously. They used video scribe in a very creative way, as well.

Ashley M. and Ainsley used  Imovie trailer to make a really creative movie about frizzy hair.  They used Sock Puppet App. to make a fun presentation, in which they can record words and it creates a puppet  voice for them. I also loved how they created
a full analogy using hair technology, it really worked well with
Shauna and Liz used video scribe.  It costs $5.99, but it makes things very interactive.  Volume purchase program will make Apps half price. I did not know this.They used video design and video scribe. They also make a movie that had a lot of special effects to make it more engaging.

Kate and Greg
I love the way you put all of the Apps at the bottom of all the screens on a background.  Kate you did a great job of clarifying disruptive technologies. The imovies clarified UDL.

Janet and Lyndsey told us we can get Ipads and Apps from the imovie was filled with a lot different images and features. Kidspiration clarified UDL very well.  We all needed to improvise at some point to get the audio to fit.  They used Pic Play Post to show how versatile ipads can be.

Simon and Eleanor
Pic Collage and audio combined music and an image. They used Strip Design and Tellagami.  Itrailer allows you to create a personalized video drasing from many sources. Stephen Hawking has a video called everbody technology.  Popplet is a very easy graphic organizer app. There is an Assistive Technology for Learning and Literature course offered at Acadia University. They used Doodlebuddy to incorporate Art design.

Ashley F. and Natalie used Tellagami mixed with another App, I think it was pic collage. They used imovietrailer to show Temple Grandin, who is a perfect example of Assistive Technology.  They made a real comic on the strip design.  Ashley drew on Educreations, and they recorded it on a separate Ipad.

Meaghan and Candice used Cloudart to introduce themselves, and Pic Collage Download can be purchased to Google a topic, download it and then import it into imovie.  This makes a much more appealing view and it means fewer computers to do it. they used Color splash. They imported a youtube video and then showed it in full screen, which I really thought was a nice effect. The Tellagami required a lot of working to get it the way they wanted it.  Some of these Apps require a  lot of playing with to use them effectively.

Christy was able to use three Apps on one slide.  I need more time to play with the Apps to become more comfortable with this.  She used Kidsdoodle, and then imported it into imovie. She even linked a website into the page.  StripDesign was mixed with another App to make a great cartoon design.  The images and the Word bubbles went together to make a nice description of Disruptive technology.  She had a great video scribe page mixed with a lot of other designs to make the page much more appealing.

 I am certainly inspired to make these intergations of Apps.  I think that the kids will love this kind of App smashing project. I am even more inspired now that I have just watched The Myth of Average.  I feel invigorated and yet I need so much more time playing with technology.

Disorders of Written Language

         I read Margaret J. Kay's, Diagnosis and Intervention Strategies For Disorders of Written Language. Which talks about all of the complex neurological processes that are involved in writing. "It requires the simultaneous and sequential integration of attention, multiple information sources, memory,  motor skill, language, and higher cognition," according to Kay.
          Disgraphia is a disorder of written language.  It can be classified as, "Specific or non-specific", according to Kay. The specific form is when people have trouble with things that directly effect writing, and non-specific refers to when the problem areas indirectly effect the writing.
          I believe that having an understanding of what is the cause of the difficulty will help us to optimize the intervention that we choose for the student. It's interesting that Kay quotes Stein, Dixon, and Isaacason (1994) as saying, "It may well be the case that many of the difficulties so many students experience with writing are due to the innopportune combination of difficult content to be learned and very little time allocated to learning it."  I know that the amount of complex curriculum is one concern that many teachers have.  How much do you think the size of the curriculum affects the amount of difficulty children have with writing?
            While reading about the Interventions, some of it makes perfect sense, such as "When difficulties are related to the child's age or grade, age-specific remediation of defecit skills is recommended." I assume that "bypass strategies" means strategies that allow the student to simply avoid doing any part of the task that is affected by his or her Learning Disability. The examples given are "shortening assignments, increasing performance time, grading first on the content of the work and then the quality, avoiding negative reinforcement, using oral exams and allowing oral presentations from the student and giving tests in untimed conditions."  I think of "grading first on the content and then the quality as being a remedial step, so I am not completely certain that my definition holds true.
             Direct instruction in areas that need attention is a key.  Another important intervention is to ensure that the writing task is authentic.  I found a website from the National Center For Learning Disabilities http://www.ncld.org/types-learning-disabilities/dysgraphia/seven-important-facts-about-supporting-students-with-writing-learning-disability. Pay particular attention to the Self-regulating strategies and the part about Assistive Technology. I also added this short video about how we may engage reluctant writers using Wordle.

             

Summer Institute

       Today we had our Summer Institute.  In the Keynote Address we were called to use creativity to find solutions to those hard to answer questions that face our society today, such as poverty. Poverty deeply affects Nova Scotian students and communities.  Schools are shutting down, unemployment rates are too high, and poverty is far too prevalent.  As teachers, we must continue to search for new and innovative ways to educate our students in hopes that students can be gainfully employed, and that they may figure out ways to create new job opportunities to help to minimize poverty to a great degree.
      Technology is the medium that we must use to achieve this goal.  We must teach technology so that students will be prepared for the increasingly technological world in which we live. The use of computers has become such a large part of everyday life that we don`t even notice how incredibly dependant we are on them.  It doesn`t appear that computers will be going away any time soon, so we should embrace technology. 
       The types of incredible Apps that are available now can help to solve a lot of the problems in schools today.  Some apps. allow for text to speech translations that can help students who are blind, others involve speech to text, which can help students who are deaf, or who need a scribe for a variety of other reasons.  There are apps to allow students to access computers in a number of other ways.  For example, I think of the student who uses his tongue to access his computer screen, because he doesn`t have use of his arms or legs.  These things help students to be involved in school.  It was not long ago that this student would not have had access to public schools in a meaningful way.
         This brings me to the part of the morning in which Martin Morrison and Micheal Corbett. They spoke about the self identity and race.  I think that the Inclusive Education  program is designed to teach teachers to look for ways to make classrooms more accessible to everyone.  So, I think that this section of the morning spoke to us about the purpose behind the Assistive Technology course.
          Finally, the Summer Institute ended with a section about Counselling students.  We must collaborate with Guidance Counsellors and School Psychologists, so it is important to know what they are faced with on a daily basis.  It is also important to have strong relationships with students, which is an essential component in the Counselling process.  The stronger our relationship is with our students the more we can hope to engage them and assess them.  However, the afternoon was less relevant to this course in my opinion.   

Getting acquainted with Assistive Tech

         This was the first time using the apps that we worked with this morning.  I don`t even have an I-pad at home, so I was just familiarizing myself with the apps.  I spent most of my time this morning using the Strip Designer App.  It allowed me to create comics by selecting pictures from the internet and displaying them in a customizable template.  Then I could add dialogue bubbles and thought bubbles. I could type in text of my choosing to create an interesting report in a fun way.  I think that it may help reluctant writers to view writing as far less daunting than paper and pencil assessments. It was somewhat reminiscent of Powerpoint, but the template gave it a much more comic-style look.   It is a free App. so it is far more accessible than Powerpoint, as well.  The fact that you can input pictures makes me think of using this App. as a way to create visual stories for students to read, or even a visual schedule. I got this idea from a comment a classmate made today.  I loved the idea, and only wish I had thought of it first.

        I only got a chance to view one other App. It was called Tellagami.  I was intrigued by the fact that anything that I pointed the camera at became digitized.  It looked like a cartoon.  I know that children would love to use this.  I am not sure how I might use it in the classroom.  I think that perhaps it would be best used to make an otherwise dry presentation more bearable for the students to make and for the audience to watch. I need to see what else can be done with the app. in order to get some more ideas.

         I also heard some other students using the text to speech apps, that I think would be ideal for teaching the content areas to students who have trouble decoding text. Give me your thoughts. I felt a little technologically illiterate today in class.  I am open to ideas.