Assistive Technology

As defined by medicinenet.com assistive technology is a term "used to mean an assistive device, but more commonly denotes some kind of electronic or computerized device that helps a disabled person to function more easily in the world. Examples of assistive technology include devices that allow people to control a computer with the mouth, keyboards that can "speak" for mute individuals, and closed captioning systems that help the hearing impaired enjoy television shows and videos. " (MedicineNet.com, 2011) It essentially helps people with disabilities do things that otherwise would be extremely hard or impossible for them to achieve.  Assistive technology can be used for mental and physical disabilities, such as learning disorders, deaf or hard of hearing, paralysis, and many more.  


I chose to focus on assistive technology for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.  It is required that these students receive accommodations and assistive technology to access the educational programming in a classroom setting.  Assistive listening devices are usually used by people who are deaf or hard of hearing.  An example of such device would be a cochlear implant that helps reduce background noise and transmits the speaker's voice through a microphone to a receiver that is connected to the hearing aid or cochlear implant worn by the student.  


Axistive is a great website that lists assistive technology that can be used in a classroom for deaf and hard of hearing students.  Some of the technologies listed on this site include closed captioning which is the text that goes on the bottom of the television screen to inform deaf people of what is being said.  Cochlear implants, which where mentioned in the paragraph above are also very useful but a family choice on whether or not to use.  It is a controversial device, especially when  implanted in young children, for those who have a severe to profound hearing loss.  Hearing aids are great for students they amplify sounds for the person to hear without the controversy of a cochlear implant because they are less invasive, but they are only effective for students with mild hearing loss.  


A hearing loop is a great assistive technology that can be used in a classroom to "amplify sound and reduce background noise." (axistice, 2007)  Users of hearing aids can set their aids to a certain setting to receive the transmission.  These can be permanently installed or used portablely  around a school.  Visual alert signalers are another great assistive device for a classroom because they use flashing lights to alert a deaf or hard of hearing person to a ringing phone, fire alarm or class bell. 


It is important to know what is available for students of all disabilities to help them succeed in a classroom setting.   I think that the best way to stay informed on assistive technology in this quickly developing world is to talk to teachers who regularly deal with students with disabilities and the assistive technology they use.  It is important to stay on top of new studies and developments made, browsing blogs, news articles, and magazines can keep one informed on the newest information and technology.


I think as a teacher it is important to observe students on a regular basis  to make sure they are learning and developing at the proper speed.  As a teacher I will observe and watch my students closely to make sure they are able to pay attention, hear the lesson, and work with others easily.  At a young age it is often hard to see a disability because the children are so quickly changing, it is important to be diligent in observations and records of their development.    


http://www.axistive.com/assistive-technology-for-hearing-impaired-students.html
http://www.medicinenet.com/learning_disability/glossary.htm

Tech Tools.... Google Earth!

I toured Google Earth and traveled around the globe in 90 minutes.  I was able to see Paris, Madrid, travel to South America, Africa and Russia.  Google Earth is a lot of fun because in many of the large cities you can zoom in and see buildings in 3D, there are also many tools available on Google Earth that allow you to learn more about the places you visit.  There is a tool called layers and you can click on different ones to see roads, restaurants, parks, and even a global awareness layer that allowed you to view areas and learn about the conflicts and issues that people deal with in those regions.  


Google Earth can be great in the classroom because it raises awareness in children about the different regions of the world.  It can also be used for geography lessons and learning countries , capitals, and locations.  Overall it is a great tool that should be used more often by teachers in school.  I was able to experiment with Google Earth in a classroom last fall when I took an International Course.  The professor had us use the global awareness label to learn about regions in South America, Central America, Africa, Europe and Russia throughout the semester.  It really helped add a technological dimension to the class that I hadn't experienced before.  By looking at it on my own time I was able to explore some other layers that I didn't use last fall and it was impressive everything that Google Earth includes, I can see why some people worry about it becoming an issue of national security because of the detail in the maps.   


I can't wait to explore more of Google Earth and learn more about the countries and people around the world!!

My Thoughts...

So I am still following the blog 2Cents Worth by David Warlick, his most recent post was over the cool tools found online sites such as Twitter, Klout, and Twolo.  The main one he talked about was how one can "unfriend" people when they stop Tweeting for long periods of time.  It allows one to prune their "friends" so that it is easier to follow those who post more often and follow others.

I enjoyed reading blogs from different members of the class because everyone is taking a different approach to this blogging assignment.  On Rochelle's blog she not only posts for the assignments but other things that she finds out and posts throughout the week.  This makes her blog extremely suprising and interesting to read each time I look at it.  I also love the use of different fonts and colors, it creates a blog easy to follow and eye catching.

Jane's blog is much more... I guess organized is the word... she writes everything out very neatly and to the point making it easy to following.  She numbered her responses to both her first blog and the copyright blog making it easy to see what questions she answered and what she thought about the topic.

I also perused a few other blogs of the class, I really enjoy reading Sam's each week with his "Technological Rabbit Hole."  It is refreshing to see all the different viewpoints that everyone has on topics such as copyright.  Some of the students seem to stay extremely on topic while others branch out and include information that just makes fun reading.

This blogging experience is really opening my eyes to the different sources of information available today through the internet.  I hope to continue to follow blogs once I am out of this class finding ones that pertain to interests I personally have.

Copyright Is...

I thought that I had a pretty good understanding of copyright... but when I began to read up on it I realized that there were some pretty big holes in my knowledge.  I looked at Open Spaces- Views from the Northwest and Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers.  I learned that the actual copyright clause is very specific in it purpose and the rights that authors are granted is "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."  This translates into promoting the progress of knowledge and learning while allowing the creator ownership for a period of time.  This author of Open Spaces also had some good information about the history of copyrighting and how it originated to protect musicians and booksellers.  


What I didn't realize is that copyrights today have a dark side.  The misunderstanding that copyright is to protect authors from those who would steal their work is creating a tool of censorship and oppression.  The current copyright law keeps all work of an author, or artist under their control for the duration of their lifetime plus 70 years after their death.  Originally copyright only lasted 28 years before it entered the public domain.  This is creating a situation where knowledge and learning is available for access but because of copyright it is unsharable without actually repurchasing the information or dealing with the copyright owners.  


Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976 established limitations on the exclusive rights of copyright holder.  This was termed "Fair Use" and the factors for determining it are 
            (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether 
            such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit 
            educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

I really liked the Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines because they were written out in a table format to understand what copyright was for different mediums, and then the specifics, what one can do about it, and the fine print.  This page is a great resource to use as a teacher when providing information to a classroom and worried about copyrights.  It has the information needed for a teacher to use when making copies of a short story, poem, book, images or videos.  I didn't realize before reading this that a teacher can make copies of short printed material as long as it is no more than one copy per student, it is only used nine times per class term, and the copies are made from a legally acquired text. 

Educational Blogs

When browsing through blogs looking for an educational one to follow I realized how many people blog throughout the world.  It was hard to sort out the good blogs that were kept up regularly from the ones that weren't kept up.  The blog that really caught my attention was called The Teachers Desk, http://www.theteachersdesk.com/, unfortunately the lady who writes it takes the summer off from what I can tell.  Right now though there is a cute posting from an anonymous subscriber about the next season of Survivor and how it will consist of business men and women running and planning a classroom of 20-25 children day to day.  It was well written and got me thinking about everything that teachers do to prepare for each day.  Another blog that I perused was EDTECH, http://edte.ch/blog/, this blog had a lot of information but I just had an overall harder time navigating the site causing me to choose another blog to follow.  The blog that I think I will follow for the rest of the semester was called 2cents Worth, http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/, and is written by David Warlick.  The blog contains thought provoking posts that pertain to countries around the world.  As I browsed through his blog I felt that I could learn something from following it more regularly.  His two most current posts were about Finland's schools, and why textbooks should stop being textbooks.  Both of these really caught my interest and made me want to read more of his posts.