Assistive Technology in Education

Assistive technology is defined by the Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (Section 508) as being “any item, piece of equipment, or system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is commonly used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities” (AccessIT, 2011). Essentially, assistive technology gives people with disabilities the opportunity to do things that would be very difficult for them to do, even impossible in some cases.

I chose to focus on assistive technology for people with speech impairments because of its prevalence among children.  “Approximately 20% of children receiving special education services are receiving services for speech and language disorders. This estimate does not include children who receive services for speech and language disorders that are secondary to other conditions such as deafness. More than one-half (55.2%) of all 3-, 4-, and 5-year olds with a disability receive speech and language services” (Project IDEAL, 2008).

One helpful piece of assistive technology for people with speech impairments which I thought could be very useful for children are communication boards. They are a simple way for children to communicate their needs and build vocabulary by using any combination of photographs, symbols, words, or phrases. The non-electronic models are one of the most basic augmentative or alternative communication (AAC) devices available. In terms of the electronic models available, they vary from “very simple devices with few buttons (such as the Cheap Talk) to very elaborate systems that use a keyboard and synthesized speech (such as the Dyna Vox and Liberator)” (Project IDEAL 2008).

In order to keep up with all of the assistive technology and address the needs of my special education students, I will need to recognize my available resources. Speech-language pathologists are an invaluable asset to me as a future educator. Collaboration with them will offer professional services which meet the specific needs of children with speech impairments. With this, I can become knowledgeable of corrective measures, speech and languages exercises, and give effective feedback to my students.   Some services offered by speech-language pathologists include: “helping children with articulation disorders to learn proper production of speech sounds/ helping children who stutter to speak more fluently/ assisting children with voice disorders to improve their voice quality/ helping individuals with aphasia to relearn speech and language skills/ assisting individuals who have difficulty swallowing as a result of illness, surgery, stroke or injury/ evaluating, selecting, and developing augmentative and alternative communication systems/ enhancing communication effectiveness” (Project IDEAL, 2008).

As I become an elementary school teacher, I need to be aware of how important language and communication skills in terms of a child’s future development. I will incorporate this awareness into my teaching by having a strong literacy focus in my curriculum, regardless of the age group. I recognize that language development begins at birth and that at a young age; I need to reach out to families and encourage them to have quality interactions with their children. Whether it’s reading a book together or just listening to a child jabber on about the day, building a foundation for strong oral communication needs to be valued in the home as well as in the classroom. I also know that the child’s brain is incredibly malleable in the early years. This means that the sooner we become aware of possible speech impairments, the easier it will be to correct the problem.

Image retrieved on June 27, 2011 from http://medt3401.blogspot.com/2010/11/communication-boards.html

References:

Assistive Technology Partnership. (2008). Definitions and legal requirements. Accessed on June 27, 2011 from http://www.atp.ne.gov/techassist/def-legal.html

Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities: Project IDEAL. (2008). Speech and language impairments. Accessed on June 27, 2011 from http://www.projectidealonline.org/speechLanguageImpairments.php

University of Washington: AccessIT. (2011). What is assistive technology? Accessed on June 27, 2011 from http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?109

CommonCraft Assignment Update

I know this sounds funny, but my mom actually learned how to “copy and paste” thanks to the video provided by http://www.teachparentstech.org/watch. She is incredibly unfamiliar with the layout of a keyboard, so she types very slowly. Copying and pasting will make her life much easier. I had tried to explain this to her before, but I think the video's directions were great because they gave clear, visual representations of what to do. When she’d asked me about transferring information before I had said,” O just hit Ctrl+ C and then Ctrl +V”, let’s just say I lost her. It was great to have a pre-made video which could teach her how to do this in about a minute. She got really excited and now she also knows how to make bookmarks instead of trying to remember the site she wanted to show me. I wish I had known about these sites before!

My brother watched Common Craft’s Social Networking in Plain English, but didn’t find it very helpful. He doesn’t want to network for business or love interests and he said that was one of the focuses of the video. Something applicable that he learned was on teachparentstechn.org,  “how to share a big file”. While away in college, lots of videos and pictures were taken of my brother at his track meets. My family has been bugging him about seeing them, but his argument is that the videos are in Oregon (he just got back to Alaska this week). Now, there is no excuse because he knows an easy way to upload links and share them with us.  After this, I had him check out the Common Craft video entitled Online Photo Sharing in Plain English.  Relatives and friends are always asking how my brother is doing. I occasionally get an email with a few photos from him, but then I have to forward and share these with other people. It would be much easier for him to upload his pictures online and have a common link that everyone could view. Whether or not he will take the time to do this is unknown.

As for me, something I had always wanted to do was to set up an email signature. I never knew how easy it was to create one! Beforehand, Twitter seemed like dangerous territory for me. Years ago I created an account and that was it. I never went on one again. But now I realize how easy it is to tweet. I may not be ready to manage a Twitter account, but it would be an efficient way to eliminate the same small-talk with the friends I am texting. Instead, they would be able to see my updates throughout the day instead of constantly asking "what's up?" I ended up checking out numerous videos on both sites, setting aside just 15 minutes of time resulted in me learning so much. I really appreciate that sites like this are developed to help us all become more tech-savvy.

Tech Tool

The tech tool I decided to try out this week was "Tux Paint". This free, downloadable software reminds me of the "Kid Pix" program which used to inhabit all of the old macintosh computers at my elementary school. I absolutely LOVED "Kid Pix", so it was great to discover that there is still a software out there that is so simple to use (and so much FUN)! Basically, it's a drawing software which turns your computer screen into a blank canvas. The options are endless for creating a work of art, especially if you download the optional stamp pack.

As luck would have it, after playing around on Tux Paint for only 10 minutes, my 6 year old brother came into my room and asked, "Ariel, whatcha doing?" His eyes lit up and said, "Ooo is this a new game?" Within a few minutes he had erased my masterpiece, found all the stamps he wanted to use, and booted me off my seat and said, "Ariel, I have a lot work to do." I pulled up a chair and watched him work. He was easily entertained for the remainder of the hour, until his older brother came home with a new video game controller.

While Tux Paint may not be able to compete with the wild antics of Donkey Kong (c) on a Nintendo Wii, it has lasting appeal and can entertain people of all ages. This software would be a great tool to use in elementary school classrooms. Kindergarteners could be introduced to drawing on the computer and older students could use the software as an alternative to hand-drawn illustrations for assignments.

My Blog Story

I chose to read the blogs of Brianna, JJ, Christine, and Teresa and tie their responses on copyright into the blog I am following, 2 cents worth by David Warlick (see http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?p=1369).

After doing a little exploring, I was able to come across a blog post Warlick wrote on 2/25/2008 entitled “The Cost of Copyright”. This post was actually a response he had after reading an article on copyright. I thought this would be a perfect tie in to our class because we did the exact same thing! The article Warlick read brought up two key points. “One is that we do not have a clear and authoritative definition of fair use for education and libraries — and second, that our current notions of fair use are excessively conservative, and that what and how students learn in our schools is suffering as a result” (Warlick 2008).

Two things can be done by educators. First, he brings up that teachers need to learn about the rights that can benefit them under copyright law. Teachers have unique exceptions in terms of what is deemed “fair-use” and they need to be sure they are aware of this. Also, there needs to be a code of practice put in place by educators so that there are clear rules for the fair use of copyright materials for educational purposes. Many of the guidelines currently in place are vague, even the article Copyright 101 for Educators didn’t have definite statements. Instead, the article said this is “usually” or “probably” fair use of copyright materials.

This brings me into my readings from my classmates’ blogs. Brianna, JJ, Christine, and Teresa all chose to read Copyright 101 for Educators. Each of them addressed how copyright laws have implications as we become educators and the role we have to teach our students about these laws. Like Teresa said, the responsibility falls on us as educators to be aware of these laws and do our best not to break them. On top of this, we need to have the same standards for our students and uphold copyright laws in our classroom.

Christine brought up that it will be challenging as a teacher to put together future presentations without using anyone else’s work. I think this is why it is so important to have strict, well-defined guidelines put in place so educators are confident they are not breaking any laws. But there are some exceptions already in place we need to become aware of, Brianna addressed how important it is for educators to know and understand the TEACH Act. JJ also brought this up and it was nice to see that she tied it into the distance education class we are currently taking. She also brought up that now she has new insight on all the resources available to us.

We can’t be ignorant about this issue just because it may be confusing to understand. As everyone has learned, copyright laws have a direct influence on the way we present materials to our students. In the end, it is our responsibility to ensure that teachers and students alike are modeling good digital citizenship behavior.

CommonCraft Assignment

Hey everyone! So this weekend I chose to send links to the Common Craft videos and http://www.teachparentstech.org/  to my mother and my 19 year old brother. I am also going to explore the links as well and hope that I will continue to fill in my technology gaps.

WHY MOTHER: I chose my mother because although she has an e-mail account, she has MINIMAL computer knowledge. It takes her considerable time to send a simple message via e-mail and oftentimes she calls me for assistance. She also surfs the internet, but she tends to get overwhelmed and doesn't know which links to visit. I think any basic computer skills videos would help her as well as some introductory e-mail/internet navigating videos.

WHY BROTHER: My brother is currently in Oregon and goes to college there. He (finally) was persuaded by friends and family to get a facebook account so we would have another way to keep in contact with him. Even though we set up an account for him, he barely uses it and doesn't recognize the potential he has to communicate with us on the site. I thought a video on social networking would be GREAT for him.

WHY ME: I chose myself because I still have a lot to learn! These videos already gave me a glimpse of how easy it can be to try something new. When it comes to technology, the possibilities are endless! I will report back with the results of this venture in two weeks!

My impression on copyright

The selection I chose to read was Copyright 101 for Educators by Wesley Fryer. Before exploring this reading, I thought I had a general idea of what copyright was. What I didn’t realize is that copyright protection can be available to unpublished works as well. I guess I wasn’t as informed on the topic as I thought. So then I wondered, what really defines copyright? According to the definition provided by Fryer, which comes from the US Copyright Office, "Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works” (Fryer 2003).

Copyright is everywhere. I see it [©] on the bottom of every website I visit and it’s stamped into each book I read. Music, regardless of the format it is presented in, has copyright warnings about illegally distributing the material. When I have to click on a box saying “I agree” to the terms and conditions of a sale on iTunes, I honestly just continue on with the purchase without taking the time to read the guidelines. I never gave it a second thought before because I considered myself a law abiding citizen. Since I purchased the song legally, I thought that was all there was to it. This week’s lesson on copyright was an eye-opener to me!

Based on the information I learned, I am definitely going to approach each assignment in school from a different perspective. I can’t just “copy and paste” other people’s images without taking into account the copyright laws protecting the material. The way I use and share a picture can determine whether or not it is “fair use”. According to Fryer, it is likely fair if I am “utilizing graphics copied from internet websites in a PowerPoint presentation shared with a limited audience, either strictly face to face or online in a password protected website” (2003). If the same information was presented in a public setting, however, that is a different story.

The TEACH Act (Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act) is applicable to the educational setting for my EDFN 302 class I am currently taking. Signed into law in 2002, this provides rules for copyright in distance education classes. This places some responsibility on educational institutions to uphold the law to ensure that professors can take advantage of the benefits the TEACH Act. If done correctly, teachers have “permission to utilize copyrighted materials within distance instruction without the permission of copyright holders or previously required payment of royalties” (Fryer 2003).

I had never considered how important knowledge of copyright laws would be for me as a future teacher. But it all goes back to the idea of digital citizenship; it is our responsibility as teachers to educate our students about technology and the components surrounding it. If we just let these issues slide, the students are not going to have anyone to direct them away from illegal or unsafe activities. While computers and other technology have provided us with new intellectual opportunities, there are risks involved as well and it’s important to address them. I can start by clarifying any misconceptions I had about copyright and being a good role model by following copyright laws in the classroom.

Even after reading about copyright, I feel like I needed further information on the subject matter. Fryer provides some links I can look into for more in-depth summaries as well a website to check out provided by the University of Maryland University College. I am definitely curious to learn more about copyright now, especially since I know the implications it has in the classroom.