AT Presentation

Dennis Campbell provided many additional perspectives and details about assistive technologies with a universal design for the classroom. The fact that he is the father of a disabled child made me take to heart his suggestions. It was cool to see the board he brought in that his daughter used.

I did not learn about any new assistive technologies from the guest speaker, other than the ones mentioned in the video we watched before his presentation. However, after watching the video before class I was able to learn more details from Dennis Campbell when he showed in class. I think that even though the assigned video about assistive technologies was an hour long it was worth watching the whole video because it allowed time for so many different assistive technology devices to be shown which helped me during the presentation. Maybe a change could be made so that the devices are presented in a different way, for example putting the devices into a PowerPoint presentation. The information would then be quicker to learn without having someone present each device individually and speak about them separately. I think that the PowerPoint option would save time because each person could look at each assistive technology at their own speed.

The details that Dennis Campbell presented included the idea of a universal design for learning. I benefited greatly from that subject in his presentation. Overall I believe I walked away from Dennis Campbell's presentation with a better understanding of the needs students with disabilities require and what it means to make a lesson or task available to all learning types.

Assistive Technology in the Classroom

Assistive technology is any device or product that helps a child with disabilities learn in the classroom. For example, assistive technology includes a pencil grip or a programmed button. I learned many ways to use assistive technology in the classroom from the assigned video. I found some of the devices hard to use in a regular classroom because every student would need to be involved and that many resources would be pricey. However, my favorite device was the writer that was compatible with word and allowed students to type papers. What sold me on this device was the print option.

The only assistive technology I have seen implemented into the classroom was in a high school that provided laptops to every student. I want to see more of the resources the presenter showed used in a classroom because they are so beneficial to the students.

How do we, as the teachers, get the assistive technology devices and convince the school that it would be beneficial?
Are there programs or grants to help pay for the resources needed to involve the entire class, while all the students are using a device?

Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX)

The Alabama Learning Exchange website looked like the main source for teaching material in Alabama. I made an account with ALEX and used an e-mail I always check so that I can use ALEX after college. I liked that I could create my own lesson plans, podcasts, or learning assets. ALEX is convenient because the website allows for a personal workspace while creating new lesson plans or podcasts. This keeps all of the work you perform in ALEX in one place for convenience. After looking through ALEX I noticed there is also a tab on professional learning that gives information for ALEX training videos or professional development opportunities. After college I would use the professional learning tab, while continuing my education for a master's degree, to help me gain skills for administration in public school.

The ALEX program also has an ALEXville tab which allows users to communicate with fellow teachers and receive ALEX news. Overall, ALEX contained more material than I could even make use of today but I definitely took a mental note of this website for my use in the future.  

EDPuzzle - Group Results

After finishing my EDPuzzle and assigning it to my group members, I reviewed the results. With three group members participating only one member missed a question at all and just the first question. I think that my EDPuzzle was effective because of those results. Concerning the missed question,  I think that my definition of a regular verb should have been simplified in the introduction. For a future class I would write out the definition on the screen instead of only saying it because the student could then pause the video and focus. Even though the video segments before a question could be replayed as many times as necessary, some students are visual learners. Writing out the definition in the future will help visual students even if they understand the material from hearing it.

EDPuzzle

EDPuzzle is a website where teachers can assign preliminary lessons to their students, track progress, and grade responses. The website was easy to use because the controls for making an EDPuzzle lesson are directly at the top above the video the teacher selects. Also assigning a class the lesson and checking progress were easy functions to use. The group did have trouble accessing the lesson I made and had to pull up the video in another browser however the extra step only delayed progress for a few minutes. The website made accessing my lesson difficult because EDPuzzle's site remembers where and when the user stopped working which is normally a user friendly setting.

The video search option from EDPuzzle was surprisingly extensive. The site lets the teacher choose from Youtube, EDPuzzle, and many other sources when picking a video. The range of the search helped me find a video that was interesting to watch, which I believe is important for participation. All in all I would definitely use EDPuzzle again because the site was easy to use, the students can watch the more difficult lesson segments as many times as they need, and I like the idea of assigning a lesson before class to free up class time.

Group Project Reflection

Reflecting back on the group video project, I learned more about how to work in a group and share ideas because everyone in the group participated well for this project. I also appreciate the tips our guest speaker gave us about shooting film on a phone. The tripod was the best piece of equipment we used. We did not use any other equipment besides the tripod and a smart board for some background pictures. Our next video project I would like to work with a spot light or backlighting to create dynamic shots.

Shooting the silly scenes were my favorite days working on this project in class. We ran short on time when it came to editing, but I learned that we need to set aside more than one day for editing. Our topic for the group video project was movement in the classroom. I loved that we were able to use a video from an actual elementary classroom as an example for our topic's argument. I also learned many facts and information about ways to integrate movement into a lesson plan. Fortunately I could even use some of the resources I found in a future classroom of mine.