Nathan+Armstrong

Hello World!

This is an html page that I made for ISTC 301/501 Spring 2012.

Voki:
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This is a Voki I made for technology standards.

UDL Personal Reflection Narrative:
As I completed the learning survey I was able to confirm what I had known from years of personal experience and reflection, as well as other learning style surveys that I have taken. I learn best through hands-on work, rather than reading or lecture. I find it interesting that much of the learning that I partake of in my chosen major is through reading, lecture, or personal reflection. I believe this is balanced by the hands-on internships that I am working in as well. The CAST website had a great wealth of information and tools available to the teacher. I thought that the use of material along with examples was particularly useful. I was thrilled to see that they practiced what they preached by providing the web browser the opportunity to complete hands on activities in order to better understand the content contained within. The availability of the text online was a great benefit as well. One of the more interesting pieces of information that I learned from the electronic version of the text was that the brain is composed of three small networks within the overall network, and that these networks work together to help students learn. By dissecting each student’s abilities, we can see where they have strengths and deficiencies, so that we may then focus our attention in those areas. I hope to be able to utilize this knowledge in my classroom to encourage my students to engage in their __l__learning. I enjoyed the activities that I completed. While I didn’t learn anything new about myself, I did gain a better understanding of each of the three networks within the brain. I think it would be very interesting to be able to graph where my eyes focused during the second activity. I feel that this method of differentiated instruction will be very beneficial to teachers and students. Being able to work with all the students and their capabilities and to get each one to create a work that is up to their level of learning is the goal of all educators. My concern with implementing the techniques is that it may eat up more time that teachers do not have already. I would love to learn more about generating lesson plans based off of the UDL theory. The lesson plans that were available on the website seemed very useful. I would love to be able to develop my own lesson plans based on the UDL theory.

Assistive Technology Narrative:
1. From visiting the websites and viewing the videos in Part I of the assignment, what information did you learn about assistive technology for disabled individuals?

I’ve learned that there are many different forms of interventions and assistive technologies available to students and persons with disabilities. It has also become apparent that these technologies, be they advanced computer programs__s__ or simple mechanical mechanisms, enable the person with the disability to participate fully as a member of society. I find it hard to consider a person as disabled once they have the assistance that they need to participate and be understood by those around them.

2. Were there any sites, products, or resources that particularly impressed you and that you want to remember as you prepare to become a classroom teacher?

I thought that the wiggle worm website was particularly useful in assisting young students with literature and language. Many of the tools used on the website are used in an analogous mode in the classroom, though I feel putting the same tools into a virtual world will give the students that respond well to technology the advantage that they need. I also thought that the ASL website was useful. The language was broken down into letters, words, and some short phrases. Though I was unable to explore the website completely because of a plug-in that wouldn’t install properly, I feel that the website will be very useful in teaching a deaf student ASL starting out.

3. What promises/potentials does technology provide for students with diverse learning needs?

Technology evens the playing field for all students. No longer should a student be labeled as disabled. Rather, we should view their capabilities and supplement their deficiencies with the technology to help them meet the standards that they are more than capable of achieving.

4. Have you ever had a personal experience with a student or other person who has used some form of assistive technology to help them function in learning or everyday life? If so, describe what you observed from that experience in terms of meeting the special needs of those individuals.

I have not had the opportunity to work with a child who was receiving support through technology. I would like to refer to the example of the student in the video who learned to play the horn with a joystick and solenoids. The student wanted to play music desperately, and would wait extended periods of time until he knew that the one note he could play would be available in the music. At that point, as his teacher at the time said, “He played that note with all of his heart and soul”. His mother found a specialty music store that worked with him to build a horn that could play from a joystick and solenoids, and the student learned to play his horn that way.

5. From this assignment, what will you carry with you as you prepare to become a teacher – one that will, most likely, face the challenge of meeting the needs of special education students along with non-disabled learners?

Students with disabilities will need the support that technology can give them to meet the standards of the curriculum. I don’t think that the bar should be lowered so much as interventions be put in place to help them reach their full potential. I believe that the one major obstacle in the way of getting students the assistance they need is funding. Should this be the case, I will seek out grants and write a proposal up to receive the funding needed to assist my students. Every child has the capability to succeed, we just have to help them out along the way.

Glogster:
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Virtual Field-Trip Narrative:
In a world of ever shrinking budgets and increased pressure to spend every second of instruction time on math and reading, virtual field trips seem to provide an answer for teachers who want their students to experience more than just the classroom. Virtual fieldtrips can be very useful, not only for low-budget schools who can’t afford to send their students out in the field, but also for classrooms geographically isolated from the experience. Students in California will still be able to tour the Smithsonian or visit Williamsburg without having to take a flight to do so.

The only downfall is the loss of the actual experience. People can look at a picture of the Grand Canyon all day long and still the miss the sheer majesty of standing at the top of the sides looking down the length of the rut. I have to agree with you on this, Nathan. However, I think that taking a virtual field trip - perhaps with an embedded video of a tour of the Grand Canyon -is far better than just looking at still photographs as children might have 20 years ago - cw . There is still something to be said about getting the experience of a field trip. Students get a better sense of dimension in real life than they do in the virtual world. That being said, virtual field trips in conjunction with actual field trips can be useful and beneficial to both the teacher and the student. The virtual field trip can be a primer for a bus trip to Washington, D.C., or it can be used to give the students the experience of a minor subject that doesn’t normally warrant a field trip.

Digital Story:
Here is a link to my Digital Story.

Final Reflection:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Technology can play a beneficial role in the classroom. It can be used to help the teacher differentiate instruction, to give the students an alternative method of assessment, or to provide access to otherwise inaccessible content. If used properly, technology can facilitate instruction and reach every student in the class. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Instruction can be differentiated with technology very easily. For example, developing electronic word walls that have an audio-visual component built in allow for students to be able to instantly recognize a word and receive feedback when getting a word correct. Computer programs provide a dynamic challenge system that adapts to the student’s capabilities and progress and changes the difficulty of the problems as the student finishes more and more work on the program. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students are capable of being assessed in more ways than a standardized test. They crave flexibility and the opportunity to be creative. There are several online programs that let students build, either from scratch or from a template, a collection of their knowledge that the teacher can then review and grade as an assignment or as a unit closure. Vokis, Glogsters, online presentation software and others are just the tip of the iceberg. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Field trips are prohibitive in cost, accessibility, and location. This is not to say that standard field trips are bad or unnecessary, only that the option for virtual field trips has opened and now students on the west coast can visit the Smithsonian without ever stepping foot outside of their classroom. The world has opened up to the classroom, and it is only let in if the teacher allows it to be. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Of all the reasons stated above, the most important aspect to remember of all this is that students in the classroom now are motivated by technology. They expect to be able to use technology and we should not prohibit that desire.