EDTECH 541: Assistive Technology

At the school I teach at the students have access to the iPad cart to use in class to complete assignments or activities.  Richie (2016) defines accessibility as the ability make the technology work for a wide range of people as possible.  There are various features to make technology more accessible for students who need accommodations.  Accessibility features in the iOS operating system include:

Vision

• VoiceOver
• Zoom
• Invert Colors
• Grayscale
• Speech: Speak Selection, Speak Screen, Speak Auto-text
• Larger Text
• Bold Text
• Button Shapes
• Increase Contrast
• Reduce Motion
• On/Off Labels

Hearing

• Hearing Aids
• LED Flash for Alerts (iPhone only)
• Mono Audio
• Phone Noise Cancellation

Media

• Subtitles & Captioning
• Video Subscriptions

Learning

• Guided Access

Interaction

• Switch Control
• AssistiveTouch
• Call Audio Routing
• Home-click Speed
• Reachability (iPhone 6 and later)

Teachers or students have the ability to manage these features with the iTunes shortcuts.  Step-by-step instructions for managing these features on any Apple device is available in the Apple Support link on their website.  Apple also provides more information in the Accessibility section of the user guide on each iOS device.

The vision features are specifically designed to accommodate for users that have visual impairments that include blindness, color blindness, and low vision.  Apple provides options to increase the size and boldness of font to enhance clarity for low vision users.  This feature, once changed, will work across the device and in the apps as long as they include the dynamic type framework (Ritchie, 2016).  Users can change the contrast to make the screen more clear.  VoiceOver is a gesture-based screen reader that allows students with visual impairments to hear the device explain what is happening on the screen.

The auditory features are specially designed to accommodates users that may have deafness in one or both ear.  Apple allows users with hearing aids to connect their aids Some general features include both help for the visual and auditory impaired, like Siri and Facetime.

Other features available are for users with physical or motor skill impairments, which include limited coordination or range of motion (Ritchie, 2016).  Assistive Touch is a feature the user can enable on their iPhone or iPad.  Touch accommodations makes it easier for users with motor control, coordination, or other forms of physical impairment to make the touch screen easier to use and less frustrating.  Overall, any of these features could be used in a variety of ways in the classroom to help students with various accommodations.  AssistiveTouch gives students with limited motor abilities full control of their device and can be adapted for students with wheelchairs and is customizable with joysticks (Devaney, 2013).

Lastly, features can help reach users who have learning challenges that may include autism or dyslexia.  Bookshare provides textbooks with text-to-speech option to help readers who struggle with dyslexia.  Apple also has iBook with interactive features for readers including media, video, 3D images, etc.  Guided Access is a feature that helps students with autism by disabling the Home button and limiting access to multiple apps.  This helps the students stay focus on the task at hand, avoiding intentional or accidental, screen taps that could take the student to another app (Devaney, 2013).

For more detail on specific resources Apple has a website with apps and services specifically for special education.  Apple Education: Special Education

Resources

Devaney, L. (2013). 10 special-ed iOS features for students. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://www.eschoolnews.com/2013/08/30/special-ed-ios/

Ritchie, R. (2016). Accessibility for iPhone and iPad: Ultimate guide. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://www.imore.com/how-to-accessibility-iphone-ipad

Use Accessibility features in iOS. (2016). Retrieved November 14, 2016, from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204390

EDTECH 541: Obstacles and Solutions for Integrating Technology in a Selected Content Area

Ideally most teachers would love to create a classroom that embraces technology and enhances their students learning across curriculum.  Unfortunately there are many obstacles that come up that teachers and administration need to face, but there are solutions to help overcome them.  According to David Nagel (2013) there are six technology challenges that educators have to face:

1. Professional Development

Obstacle: As part of my school's technology committee, the number one reason that teacher's do not integrate more technology into their curriculum is lack of training and understanding of what the particular technology can do to help their students.  There is a overall lack of professional development for teachers across the U.S. to encourage the use of technology and help teachers become more comfortable using it.  Schools that offer various technologies are often underutilized or not used at all.

Solution: Our technology committee has decided to use its members to teach the staff a particular technology, whether it is at a staff meeting or via video lesson, to help other teachers understand the technology and how to use it.  Also, to help on a daily basis, each tech member was assigned a group of teachers who could come and ask questions about integrating technology into their classroom.  This small group setting was established to encourage team building and give teachers access to help when needed.

2. Resistance to Change

Obstacle: Many teachers who are used to teaching the same way they always have are resistant to change.  They don't want to go out of their comfort zone and don't know how to use the technology.

Solution: Our technology committee sent out a survey to the entire staff about what they are comfortable with, uncomfortable with, and what they would like to learn about.  Again, like the first solution the goal is to provide proper training and a staff contact to help teachers who are unfamiliar with the newer technologies.  

3. MOOCs and other new models for schooling

Obstacle: MOOCs (massive open online course) which encourages online courses with unlimited participation and open access on the web.  More K-12 new model school are challenging the traditional model of schooling.

Solution: This is a choice that the learner must make on what is the best type of education for that person.  For K-12 there should be limits to ensure that there is a personal aspect to the learning and it is not just another user name on the web.  Online courses are good options for various students, but there needs to be standards to ensure that those students are getting an education that is based on standards and have a connection with classmates and the instructor.

4. Delivering informal learning

Obstacle: There is a failure to challenge students in a rigid lecture-and-test model style of learning.  Students need to be engaged and challenged in the educational setting.

Solution: Flipped classroom, which blend formal and informal learning engage students and challenge them in the non-traditional classrooms.

5. Failures of personalized learning

Obstacle: Teachers are not being given the tools to personalize the learning in their classrooms and provide differentiated instruction.

Solution: There are many technologies that allow this to be possible and with proper training by the school teachers will be able to solve this problem.  Teachers can deliver instruction through multiple forms of media, one example is using an interactive whiteboard (Rubenstein, 2010).  Using response clicks to get immediate feedback from students and giving students options of how they want to present (PowerPoint or a comic strip) allows students to use their creativity and do their best on the assignment.  

6. Failure to use technology to deliver effective formative assessments

Obstacle: The assessment gap in curricula and new skill demands needs to be addressed.  As technology changes, schools don't always make the proper changes in assessments.

Solution: Some technologies that can be used are Socrative, Kahoot, Zaption, Backchannel Chat Tools like Chatzy or Google Docs. 

In a social studies classroom each of these obstacles are seen and can be addressed.  As a teacher who has tried to integrate technology into my daily lesson plans, it is sometimes difficult to use it as much as I would like based on the standards and information that I need to cover in a school year.  Because of the overall information that my students need to learn there is little room to add in a project-based learning activity, which I think would be beneficial to my students.  Each year I am trying to add in a new technology.  Currently I use media the most - CNN Student News is presented in part or whole each day depending on the news stories that are addressed.  My middle school students are engaged and it helps spark discussion in class.  My students then sign-up for a day to present a current event.  They are given options to how they will present their information - poster board, PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.

My lecture notes are presented in a PowerPoint, but I add in multimedia to engage my learners and maps to build upon their geographically knowledge (Google Maps and Google Earth).  I am working on using Google Classroom to connect with my students and their parents - as of right now I use a school program called SchoolSpeak.  I have learned new technologies in this course I hope to use to solve some of the problems with the integration of technology into the everyday classroom.

Resources

      Davis,  V.. (2015). 5 Fantastic, Fast, Formative Assessment Tools. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-fast-formative-assessment-tools-vicki-davis 

      Nagel, B. D. (June 4, 2013). 6 Technology Challenges Facing Education -- THE Journal. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from https://thejournal.com/articles/2013/06/04/6-technology-challenges-facing-education.aspx 

      Rubenstein, G. (2010). Ten Tips for Personalized Learning via Technology. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from https://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-ten-key-lessons 

EDTECH 541: Integrating Technology into the Content Areas

When planning to integrate technology into any content area there are a few things a teacher must consider.  First, the relative advantage of using the technology - does this technology truly enhance the learning.  Also, what objectives are to be met during the lesson and lastly the analysis of the instruction.  Meeting the social studies standards at various levels, for example, my husband teaches history at a public school that follows Michigan state standards, whereas my school follows the standards put in place by the Archdioceses of Detroit.  The themes seem to be the same and the integration of technology can help achieve meaningful learning (Roblyer, 2016).

To fully engage students in social studies we need to make them active learners.  Blogs can be beneficial to learning in a social studies classroom by having students answer historical questions, write opinion pieces, and participate in discussions on specific topics.  The relative advantage to this is give students ownership in the discussion and encourage overall participation in class.  Blogs could be shared globally with another classroom and help make global connections.  There are primary source websites and videos can help make a connection between a student and the person who experienced a particular historical event first hand.

The overall goal of social studies in the middle school and high school is to help develop responsible citizens who understand the world around them and the impact of the past.  Using project-based learning with the integration of technology - videos, blogs, graphic organizers, Google doc - help students reach specific objectives for a particular time period (Integrating Technology).  The incorporation of current events - possibly with video clip - or having students create a digital newspaper or use various apps to record their own newscast.  

Lastly, a simple way to use technology is to have a online textbook.  For school to provide updated textbooks at a more effective cost, online textbooks for students to access at home or if the school is a 1:1 school.  Students are comfortable using electronic devices to read books or news, so by provided an e-book students have access to many multimedia tools to enhance their reading experience.  Options may be available for ELL learners or students with learning disabilities (option to have text read out loud).

Resources

     Bernard, S. (2009, May 27). How to Teach with Technology: Social Studies. Retrieved November 2, 2016, from https://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-social-studies-lessons 

     Integrating Technology into the Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2016, from http://teachinghistory.org/teaching-materials/ask-a-master-teacher/23634 

     Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (7th ed.). Pearson.