Special needs and disabilities

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It is amazing what technology can bring to peoples’ lives. Jenny’s blog, ‘Working Together‘, has got me into think the impact that technology advancement has brought in to people who has special needs. Jenny said that technologies “allows them to communicate with their surroundings and feel like any other person”. I strongly agree with this statement. As technologies allow individuals to communicate with others through other means rather than the traditional ‘face-to-face’ interaction, this gives special needs people, a chance to interact with others in the society. They are given the chance to feel like any other person with the use of technologies.

Students who have special needs could work at home using the technologies to help them catch up with their school work. As teachers now can distribute audio and visual application such as podcasting, movies and any notes to students, it becomes a great advantage to those students who needs these extra help.

Technologies replacing books?

Source: Flickr Source: Flickr

Veronica made an interesting post about ‘The New XO Laptops’. With the rate of advancement of technologies these days, there is nothing that is impossible to do. Centuries years ago people wouldn’t think that it is possible for computers to be the size of an A4 book, but now it can be even smaller! Technologies such as XO laptops will greatly assist in students’ education. It is even possible that in the future, children wouldn’t even be using exercise books to do their work, but with technologies like these XO laptops.

I believe that these technologies can bring enormous changes to students’ learning. Imagine students having mini computers the size of an A3 book, which they can carry around with them anywhere and do anything. They can use them in class, playground excursions to the library and having all their work stored in it. Allowing them to look at their work any time, anywhere.

Story Telling

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Stephen Abram’s article, ‘Storyboarding: Comics, Graphic Novels, and Engaging Learners’ in MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, May-June 2008, magazine talks about using storyboarding at schools to help engage students’ learning.

Storyboarding is like digital story, where creator constructs a story in different formats such as film, comics or games. Most programs and softwares that are available these days are free or at a reasonably priced and also bring great rewards to students’ education. Abram had some great arguments in his article. He also mentioned some activities which schools could do with storyboarding and softwares to create them. Like digital story, storyboarding can be used in any area or topic and skill level the educator wants. It is simple, easy to make and inexpensive to do.

An advantage Abram stated that particularly stands out to me, is the work created by students are able to published and viewed by a wider audience, such as their parents and the community. Teachers are also able to have a collection of students’ work which is excellent for assessments, review or even displays.

Source: Flickr

My digital story

Below is just a digital story that a created.

It was kind of rushed job at the end due to some technical probelms. So hope you enjoy! ^^

My digital story- ds4

Online Communities

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Most of my blogs have been focusing on the impact of technologies on students rather than what impact they have on teachers as well. An article by Melinda George called, ‘Online-Learning Communities: The Next Generation of Professional Development’ in MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, Nov-Dec 2007, magazine addresses the issue of technology integration for teachers.

As educators there are more and more expectations and demands from the society in the recent century compared to before. Adapting our teaching to new policies, and meeting the needs of students, parents and communities, there aren’t enough time for teachers to be away from the classroom. However, as George suggested, technologies these days allow teachers to learn and develop their teaching and ideas that is both “accessible and affordable”.

Through online workshops, teachers are able to select particular courses that matches their needs. Teachers are able to collaborate with their collages, peers and other educators and create a pool of resources and ideas which they can use in their classroom. Advancement of technology also provides teachers to break from the traditional “face-to-face” teaching. The web allows educators with “access to a wider variety of resources quickly and effectively” (George, 2007).

Source: Flickr

Copyright and Plagarism

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I have briefly mentioned before about copyright issues. With the technologies and internet being so advanced now, individuals’ work are being posted on the web constantly. Kaythryn Metzinger Miller wrote an article called, ‘Copyright in a Social World’ in the MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, May-June 2008 magazine. In this article, Miller simply stated the copyright and plagiarism issues that students and schools may face and how to prevent them.

It is important for teachers to remind students of plagiarism and how to avoid copyright issues when they are doing anything work that requires them to obtain information or resources from others. A suggestion that Miller made, and I thought was crucial, is to educate students about the laws that apply with these issues by giving hand out, flyers, bookmarks etc. to help students better understand them. Since students are using technologies, internet and the web, it is good chance for them to understand it better.

I agree with Miller that it is important that not only the teachers should take this matter seriously but also the school. The schools should promote and develop school website which allows students and teachers to post students’ work on for the social world. Keeping a close eye on the copyright infringements of the contents posted.

It is also vital that teachers inform students of the safety uses of internet. Teachers should discuss with students about web pages that aren’t child-friendly and avoid using them. Web page such as Flickr should be encouraged to be more frequently used by students, but constantly reminding the copyright laws. With many resources on the web, students should be educated on how to protect their own work as well to as to respect others’ work.

Games

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Talking about games, most adults wouldn’t think it’s educational, however it is very much related to it. As we all can see, technologies and games take a significant place in students’ lives. Most children in the 21st century would be on the computer or playing video games when they get home. Len Annetta’s article, ‘Virtually a New Way of Learning: Video games and simulations as teaching tools’ in the MultiMedia & Internet@Schools magazine, November/December 2007, discusses about how games (video games) can be used to enhance students’ education. Rather than “fight against what children” enjoys doing, teachers should incorporate them into their teaching. While students/children are playing game, they are still learning and consuming new information through the virtual-learning environment.

I correspond with Annetta’s view that games should be incorporated into teachers’ teaching. Although most games children play aren’t related to what is being taught at school, teachers can create games so the learning matches the teaching content. Not only for the teachers to create games for students to do, but students themselves can create games for their peers. Since students are having fun and enjoy what they are doing, they are more likely to be more participative and learn.

Multimedia Program

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The article by Charles Doe, ‘A look at Projects and Publishing’ in the MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, May/June 2008 series, is another article on advancement of technologies in the society. How these advancement of technologies and internet usage these days can bring into students’ learning.

This article particularly relates to matters I’m currently studying. As mentioned in the article and from what I have learnt from my studies, I believe that multimedia tools that are available these days through the advancement of technologies help assist and facilitate students’ learning.

Doe wrote “schools that don’t incorporate multimedia elements into their curriculums are in danger of becoming totally irrelevant to the lives of their students”. I agree with this comment that at present, children are becoming more and more concentrated on television, computers, games; a more visual based approach.

In the article, Doe mentioned some multimedia programs such as Scratch, Creative suite 3, and others such as iMovie, GarageBand, and more. I strongly agree with Charles that these programs provide “interesting and educational ways to excite, challenge and motivate students”.

Source: Flickr

Texbooks or technology?

As mentioned before in my blogs, technologies are becoming more and more advanced, and are being used and encouraged to be used in the classroom to help and assist students’ learning. An article from the MultiMedia & Internet@Schools in the May/June 2008 series, ‘Are textbooks becoming extinct?’ by Dave Fontaine, talks about some of the views that technology have brought into the classroom.

Many can see that technologies such as computers are being used more and more in the classroom rather than textbooks. In this article it mentioned that the role of textbooks is going to change, as they will be the integrating force between the technologies. With the expanding of different levels of students’ skill in a classroom, teacher need alter their teaching so that they are able to wrap all the different skill levels of students.

With the Web 2.0, teachers and students are able to teach and learn more collaboratively. Fontaine also mentions, which I thought was really proficient, is that teachers don’t need to give students the information. As information can easily be obtained from the web, however, it is important that students are being taught and give “the skills to evaluate, organise and apply that information”.

Using the tools and other softwares and programs to help enrich and enhance students’ learning and education. Another issue that Fontaine mentioned, which I strongly agree with, is that adding applications such as video, podcasts, edu-games, audio and other simulations, teachers are able to reach students across all skill levels. They can also encourage and motivate students’ learning.

Power Point

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During practicum, I was able to teach students on how to create a PowerPoint presentation.Although there were Mac laptops for students to use, it was shared amongst the whole school, so students had to share one between two.

Using the Mac laptops available in the school for students to use, I went through step by step teaching students how to write text, change text sizes and fonts, how to import pictures and how to add background to the slides. There were 4 SMART boards already set up in the senior years’ classrooms. The school is getting 8 more SMART boards and tablets so that other years are able to share and use it in their classroom.

Mary Alice Anderson wrote an article, ‘The Technology P’s‘ in MultiMedia & Internet@Schools magazine (November/December 2007), about using the simple application Power Point in her lesson. In her article, she commented on how even presentation tool such as Power Point had helped motivated her students’ interests. I was only able to teach students on the blackboard to show students the steps on how to make a PowerPoint presentation and then demonstrating using the Mac laptops. Although there were no projector, students were still engaged into what they were doing. One limitation I found was that if I was able to use technology such as a SMART board, it would be so much easier for students to follow the instructions and be more interactive.

Source: Flickr