All students deserve a chance to do their absolute best in any classroom. When a student has a disability, it can make daily activities seem impossible at times. Assistive technology is a tool that a classroom instructor can use to help that student feel and be successful in a classroom setting. As discussed in the text, the use of assistive and adaptive devices (along with other components) should be used to find the best solutions for all students. (Roblyer & Hughes, 2019)
My focus is usually on language arts and when I began looking I found that assistive technology can be used in a number of ways in that specific content area. Based on certain studies, students with reading disabilities are able to use assistive technology assimilate and communicate text to promote participation in a general classroom. (Nordstrom et al, 2018) The key is that using assistive technology allows for inclusive opportunities where students with disabilities feel confident that they can work with peers and collaborate in my classroom.
I currently use Windows 10 on a typical PC platform at home and in my classroom. The majority of assignments and work that my students perform on a daily basis involve the use of Google Classroom, so I am going to discuss some of the accessibility features that are add-on applications or that currently exist on the Google platform.
The first add-on that I use with my students (and definitely for myself) is called Mercury Reader. Mercury Reader allows you to basically clean up the page you are reading by removing ads, pop-ups, videos, etc. What you are left with is a clean version of the text or article you were attempting to read. Often times websites are so cluttered by junk that it makes it nearly impossible to tell where the article begins and ends. I share articles on a very consistent basis with my students and the use of Mercury Reader allows us to focus on the important stuff and not the distractions. For students who struggle with attention issues (ADD, etc.) this is a very helpful way to minimize their issues. In addition, this would benefit students with visual or cognitive disabilities by simplifying the screen. I personally use this tool as well because often the articles or pages I view for class suffer from the same overabundance of advertising and distractions that the ones I share with my students do.
Sometimes it's easier to talk about what you want to write than it is to type it out on a computer screen. In the past, I have had students use an application called SpeakIt! on Google but eventually, Google rolled out a Speech-to-Text product of their own that works really well. It is very easy to activate this tool and I purchased some cheap microphones that came with mini-tripods off of Amazon. This was a huge help in my classroom, as I work with struggling learners in language arts on a consistent basis. For students who struggle with writing (for cognitive or other reasons), it can often be easier to talk to the screen to get their ideas down than struggling through the activity with a pencil and paper. The quality of depth and writing vastly improved in my classroom when I introduced this to students for the first time. I personally have used speech-to-text products both on my computer and smartphone to allow me to make notes or give feedback to students. If struggling with a keyboard is something that you do consistently, speech-to-text could be a huge benefit to you.
In addition to these add-on products, there are a number of features built into the Chromebooks that I use and make my students aware of. There are display settings to increase the size of the mouse cursor, zoom in/out on the page, change the brightness or contrast of the screen, or change the resolution. There are also toggles for sticky-keys, an on-screen keyboard, highlighting, word prediction, and speech-to-text. An additional option is the ChromeVox screen reader which assists visually impaired users in their use of the Google Chrome system. These settings can benefit students with a wide variety of learning disabilities in an educational and non-educational setting.
References
Nordström, T., Nilsson, S., Gustafson, S., & Svensson, I. (2018). Assistive technology applications for students with reading difficulties: Special education teacher’s experiences and perceptions. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 1-11. doi:10.1080/17483107.2018.1499142
Roblyer, M.D. and Hughes, J.E. (2019). Integrating educational technology into teaching: transforming learning across disciplines (8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education Inc.
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Obstacles and Solutions for Integrating Technology in Language Arts
The definition of literacy is changing in the educational world. Instead of focusing on onlu reading and writing, a new form of digital literacy is taking place in the language arts content area (Robyler & Hughes, 2019) One of the possible obstacles that you would face when integrating technology into language arts (or really any content area) is the red-tape of your school district. I ran into this issue earlier in the school year as I tried to integrate student blogs into my sixth-grade classroom. Over the summer I took a course on blogging and it really lit a fire for me to get my students working online with their writing. Before I could implement the blogging into my curriculum, I had a number of hoops to jump through to avoid complications or issues later on. There was paperwork, a meeting, a discussion with the district technology coordinator and administration. I had to make parents aware and offer an opt-out for families not interested in having their students participate. I chose a private blog host and created a rationale before I even began the process but it still took almost a month to get everything lined up. While some districts adopt technology across the district, it can be difficult for an individual classroom instructor to integrate technology because of red tape. The best thing to do is to make sure you get approval and make the administration aware of your plans to avoid having issues later on. After a couple of weeks blogging with my students it's been amazing to see the increased interest in writing because of the blogs we use.
A second obstacle that I have faced is the difficulty in choosing what technology to use in your classroom and how it is used. There are so many technology tools available for a language arts classroom and I expect that this number will grow in the future. As an instructor, you are constantly having to choose between products that provide similar services to your students. As an example, there are currently two free grammar/spelling check tools that can be used - Gradeproof and Grammarly. Each one offers certain advantages and each one has its own set of issues as well. I've seen instructors use Google Classroom, Moodle, Blackboard, DropBox, Turnitin, and more as virtual classroom tools. As I dug into this problem, I came across a study done in 2005 by Britten and Cassady. In the study, the researchers focused on how the technology could be integrated into classrooms and used ISTE standards as a basis to create a set of rules and guidelines called the Technology Integration Assessment Instrument (TIAI). The TIAI rubric gives a consistent framework for an instructor (or other stakeholders) to evaluate how technology tools are used and how that technology is tied to critical pedagogical features such as assessment, student needs, and educational standards (Britten & Cassady, 2005).
References
Britten, J. S., & Cassady, J. C. (2005). The Technology Integration Assessment Instrument. Computers in the Schools, 22(3-4), 49-61. doi:10.1300/j025v22n03_05
Roblyer, M. D., & Hughes, J. E. (2019). Integrating educational technology into teaching: Transforming learning across disciplines. New York: Pearson Education.
A second obstacle that I have faced is the difficulty in choosing what technology to use in your classroom and how it is used. There are so many technology tools available for a language arts classroom and I expect that this number will grow in the future. As an instructor, you are constantly having to choose between products that provide similar services to your students. As an example, there are currently two free grammar/spelling check tools that can be used - Gradeproof and Grammarly. Each one offers certain advantages and each one has its own set of issues as well. I've seen instructors use Google Classroom, Moodle, Blackboard, DropBox, Turnitin, and more as virtual classroom tools. As I dug into this problem, I came across a study done in 2005 by Britten and Cassady. In the study, the researchers focused on how the technology could be integrated into classrooms and used ISTE standards as a basis to create a set of rules and guidelines called the Technology Integration Assessment Instrument (TIAI). The TIAI rubric gives a consistent framework for an instructor (or other stakeholders) to evaluate how technology tools are used and how that technology is tied to critical pedagogical features such as assessment, student needs, and educational standards (Britten & Cassady, 2005).
References
Britten, J. S., & Cassady, J. C. (2005). The Technology Integration Assessment Instrument. Computers in the Schools, 22(3-4), 49-61. doi:10.1300/j025v22n03_05
Roblyer, M. D., & Hughes, J. E. (2019). Integrating educational technology into teaching: Transforming learning across disciplines. New York: Pearson Education.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Relative Advantage of Using Technology in Language Arts
When thinking about the relative advantage of using technology in a language arts classroom I found many examples. I'm going to focus on three specific advantages of technology use for my own classroom.
Level of Engagement
One of the greatest advantages technology affords is that instructors can give students a level of autonomy in the classroom. Instead of standing in front of the students and becoming a talking head, educators can use technology to interact with their students. The idea of releasing responsibility to students (Zoch et al, 2016) is something that instructors need to be comfortable with. By giving away control through the use of technology, instructors can boost the level of engagement they see with the students. By shifting the role of students and teachers and giving purpose to the learning in the classroom student engagement can increase engagement and deepen student learning. (McKnight et al, 2016) When students are engaged in a classroom, the bell that ends class is looked on as a disappointment - technology makes them enjoy being in the classroom.
Real World Learning
Technology gives an opportunity for students to build skills they can use on assignments and once they start to engage with the real world. The use of technology in the classroom increases access to resources and enhances both communication and feedback. (McKnight et al, 2016). Being able to communicate effectively, give feedback, and locate resources are all skills that employers value in their employees. In my classroom, we do all three (and more) through the use of technology on a daily basis. In addition to those ideas, students are building basic skills and learning about personal responsibility. When I first started teaching language arts, I sometimes had trouble connecting what we did in the classroom with what students would experience in the world. With the integration of technology into our daily schedule, it has become a much simpler task to convey the usefulness of what we do.
Makes Life Easy!
There are a number of ways that technology makes the classroom easier to navigate for both students and instructors. In my sixth grade classroom, we use Google Classroom and the Google Suite on a daily basis. I post information in the Stream (discussion, links, etc.) and assignments/materials under Classwork. Since integrating Google Classroom into my classroom I have eliminated any issues with missing materials (I can't find it is no longer an excuse) and students are well aware of what is turned in and missing. In programs like Google Docs, I can leave feedback directly on work and return the assignment to the student for them to revise and improve their work. Students can also collaborate with each other with shared documents or by posting revision feedback as well. My district also uses Turnitin which provides writing support, plagiarism checkers, and a drop box for assignments. I use a number of other technology resources in my classroom that have replaced live/paper assignments and materials (Vocabulary, No Red Ink, Grammarly, GradeProof, etc.).
These three advantages are not the complete list of advantages technology affords a language arts classroom, there are many more out there!
References
Mcknight, K., Omalley, K., Ruzic, R., Horsley, M. K., Franey, J. J., & Bassett, K. (2016). Teaching in a Digital Age: How Educators Use Technology to Improve Student Learning. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 48(3), 194-211. doi:10.1080/15391523.2016.1175856
Zoch, M., Myers, J., & Belcher, J. (2016). Teachers’ engagement with new literacies: Support for implementing technology in the english/language arts classroom. Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher Education, 17(1). Retrieved from https://www.citejournal.org/volume-17/issue-1-17/english-language-arts/teachers-engagement-with-new-literacies-support-for-implementing-technology-in-the-englishlanguage-arts-classroom
Level of Engagement
One of the greatest advantages technology affords is that instructors can give students a level of autonomy in the classroom. Instead of standing in front of the students and becoming a talking head, educators can use technology to interact with their students. The idea of releasing responsibility to students (Zoch et al, 2016) is something that instructors need to be comfortable with. By giving away control through the use of technology, instructors can boost the level of engagement they see with the students. By shifting the role of students and teachers and giving purpose to the learning in the classroom student engagement can increase engagement and deepen student learning. (McKnight et al, 2016) When students are engaged in a classroom, the bell that ends class is looked on as a disappointment - technology makes them enjoy being in the classroom.
Real World Learning
Technology gives an opportunity for students to build skills they can use on assignments and once they start to engage with the real world. The use of technology in the classroom increases access to resources and enhances both communication and feedback. (McKnight et al, 2016). Being able to communicate effectively, give feedback, and locate resources are all skills that employers value in their employees. In my classroom, we do all three (and more) through the use of technology on a daily basis. In addition to those ideas, students are building basic skills and learning about personal responsibility. When I first started teaching language arts, I sometimes had trouble connecting what we did in the classroom with what students would experience in the world. With the integration of technology into our daily schedule, it has become a much simpler task to convey the usefulness of what we do.
Makes Life Easy!
There are a number of ways that technology makes the classroom easier to navigate for both students and instructors. In my sixth grade classroom, we use Google Classroom and the Google Suite on a daily basis. I post information in the Stream (discussion, links, etc.) and assignments/materials under Classwork. Since integrating Google Classroom into my classroom I have eliminated any issues with missing materials (I can't find it is no longer an excuse) and students are well aware of what is turned in and missing. In programs like Google Docs, I can leave feedback directly on work and return the assignment to the student for them to revise and improve their work. Students can also collaborate with each other with shared documents or by posting revision feedback as well. My district also uses Turnitin which provides writing support, plagiarism checkers, and a drop box for assignments. I use a number of other technology resources in my classroom that have replaced live/paper assignments and materials (Vocabulary, No Red Ink, Grammarly, GradeProof, etc.).
These three advantages are not the complete list of advantages technology affords a language arts classroom, there are many more out there!
References
Mcknight, K., Omalley, K., Ruzic, R., Horsley, M. K., Franey, J. J., & Bassett, K. (2016). Teaching in a Digital Age: How Educators Use Technology to Improve Student Learning. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 48(3), 194-211. doi:10.1080/15391523.2016.1175856
Zoch, M., Myers, J., & Belcher, J. (2016). Teachers’ engagement with new literacies: Support for implementing technology in the english/language arts classroom. Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher Education, 17(1). Retrieved from https://www.citejournal.org/volume-17/issue-1-17/english-language-arts/teachers-engagement-with-new-literacies-support-for-implementing-technology-in-the-englishlanguage-arts-classroom
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