Saturday, February 11, 2012

Blog Post 3





A video by Lace Cook, a special education teacher, demonstrates some wonderful ways technology can be used in the classroom. With the aid of computers her students are now able to communicate clearer and easier which allows greater student participation.
In special ed. classrooms you will find many children with greater cognitive abilities then their physical disabilities can express. Computer software is now able to allow clear communication, offer magnification for vision impaired, and read along to students who would otherwise require additional help. This technology is also creating an outlet for intrested participation in class lectures and assignments. By using these technologies in special education classrooms teachers can offer greater quality of life to students with disabilities.

 


iPad and Acadmeics for Autism

With so many technological advancements available today there is no reason why these tools shouldn't be used in combination with learning and autism. The abilities of an autistic child can range greatly from severe autism to mild forms of the disease. Those who have severe cases of the disease will have little to no verbal abilities while those with only mild forms will be considered slow learners and just require a little extra help. All forms can benefit from the growing number of programs offered on the ipad.
One app I would like to incorporate in my classroom is Adj&Opposite,Joy preschool Game. This app builds spelling and language skills while keeping interest. It is colorful, fun, and educational while incorporating opposites such as far and near, fast and slow, and happy and sad. With so many great applications available today I would also add new apps every week. Some other great one's include my first words, toddler counting, kids writing pad, math bingo,zoo train, and speech with Milo. These are all great tools for allowing children with autism the opportunity to have fun with learning.

Social Media Count
If you watch the counter below you will see the numbers grow exponentially by the minute. These numbers represent how much our culture has grown to depend on technology. Many use it for social connectivity or a work related fixture. But no matter how you are tapping into the market, one thing is for sure, with a great number of new additions daily one must stay up to date with the growth or risk being left in the dark.

This information affects the education field and encourages educators to rise to the challenge of staying one step ahead of students. The goal is to sift through the mass amounts of static and connect with other educators in effort to pool ideas and creativity. Computers are a wonderful tool.
Gary Social Media Count:



 

A Vision of Students Today
 My interpretation of this film is that students today feel as though the education they are paying for is generally a waste of their time and money. I disagree with this generalization. I am 36 years old and have been back in college for about 2 years now. All of the classes I have taken taught me some valuable information and I have not bought a book for a class that was not utilized in that class yet. Perhaps age plays a key role in this equation, but I think if less time was spent on facebook and more attention was spent on listening to the professor there would be more to gain.
I do agree with using technology as an aid to maintaining interest and student participation. No one enjoys sitting idly by day in and day out listening to boring lectures, like learning history. But by incorporating technology in that lecture history can come alive and help uninterested students enjoy learning. For example, Dr. Faust here at South teaches Western Civilization 101 and in an early lecture he discusses where the first civilizations have been found. It is called the fertile crescent and is an area located around the mouth of the Nile River in Egypt. As he lectures you can look around the class and see a few are listening intently while many others are facebooking, on computers, or sleeping. Then he incorporates a video from the historychannel.com about a researcher who travels to that part of the world and asks questions as to why this area , how they began to consider settling as opposed to nomadic living, and what tools were available and all of a sudden there is renewed interest in class! 
Technology is a very useful tool that allows students a visual aid for remembering why learning in all classes, even history, is important to an educated society. Do we need to mention India again, come on people, there is a competition going on in this world and education seems to be the deciding factor to who is #1 and who is the rest.


4 comments:

  1. I think that one of the greatest things that technology has helped with in the classroom is special education. It truly has helped make disabled students learn at the same pace as every other student. I had honestly never thought of using an iPad in a classroom. That app Adj&Opposite,Joy preschool Game seems very interesting I would like to see a student that actually used it to help their vocabulary. The numbers on that Social Media counter are staggering. I agree that in the future computer technology could become the greatest asset to teachers.

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  2. Erica,

    Good post! Be sure too add clickable links to all the videos and articles that you are discussing in your blog post!

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  3. Thanks Elizabeth, I went back and added links to all my articles. I wasn't sure how to do it then but am now quite fluent with the html code :)

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