541: Assistive Technology

The Accessibility of the iPad

An iPad, in and of itself can be assistive technology for students of all abilities.  It can assist students with different disabilities in numerous way using the iOS system.  “With these innovative technologies built right in, iOS devices become powerful and affordable assistive devices” (Apple, 2015).

Cognitive Disabilities/ASD

Roblyer, 2016, mentions impairments can range from  learning disabilities, emotional disabilities, and intellectual disabilities to moderate and severe cognitive disabilities (p. 410).  These students will need help with learning and lifestyles.  The iPad operating system has features to assist these individuals.

Siri, Apple’s intelligent assistant, allows the user to do everyday tasks.  You just have to double click the home button and ask Siri a question or to find something. “Siri can send messages, place phone calls, schedule meetings, and even turn on and off VoiceOver, Guided Access and Invert Colors. And because Siri is integrated with VoiceOver, you can ask where the nearest sushi restaurant is and hear the answer read out loud” (Apple, 2016).  This could allow a student to set reminders to help remember their schedule.  It could help give students visual instructions.  It could help them complete social tasks as well as academic tasks.  

Predictive Text predicts words that the user might be trying to type.  It gets to know the user and predicts words based on the way they type.  This would be beneficial to students who have a hard time spelling.  They would only need to type the first letter or two and the text would be predicted.

Physical Disabilities

According to Roblyer, 2016, a physical disability usually affects an individual’s mobility and agility.  This means that their fine and gross motor skills can be impaired. “Innovative iOS technologies make the Multi-Touch screen easily accessible to those with physical or motor challenges who find it hard to tap or use gestures” (Apple, 2015).

Siri can again be used for individuals who cannot type in a word processing app, or to open an app on the device. Students who struggle writing with and holding a pencil can get their words in the document without having to write.  Siri can also help the user navigate the device just by speaking.

Assistive Touch is another beneficial feature for individuals with physical disabilities.  This feature allows you to change setting for gestures that would tell the device to do certain commands.  When you pinch the screen of the iPad, it zooms out.  When you stretch your finger, it zooms in. If an individual struggles with this movement, the Assistive Touch feature allows them to tap the screen instead to give the device the same command. This can help students when they need to zoom in or out on the words or a picture.

Similar to the Assistive Touch, the iPad also has Touch Accommodations that determines how the screen responds to touch. “Control how long you touch before it’s recognized or whether repeat touches are ignored.  So you can put your finger down anywhere on the screen and move to the item you want without mistakenly performing an action” (Apple, 2015).  This could help students navigate the device without the frustration of the device responding in unfavorable ways.

Switch Control is a feature that allows you to navigate through onscreen items sequentially and completing actions using Bluetooth-enabled hardware.  It has a beginner and advanced setting.  You can customize actions or use the default ones. This will help a student highlight anything on the screen, point to anything, or move an item.

Sensory Disabilities

“Sensory disabilities involve impairments associated with the loss of hearing or vision” (Roblyer, 2016, p. 413).  iOs has many features to assist an individual with these impairments. “...you can use VoiceOver, an advanced screen read, to get the most from your iOS device.  And Siri and Dictation help you type, launch apps, and read your calendar” (Apple, 2015).

VoiceOver could help a student navigate a screen without seeing what is on it.  By simply touching the screen, the screen reader with read what is on the screen.  

Speak Screen is similar to VoiceOver.  “Turn on Speak Screen and swipe down from the top with two fingers, or just tell Siri to Speak Screen and have all the content of the page read back to you” (Apple, 2015). This could read the student emails, messages, and even books.  It can also be set to highlight words as it reads.  You can also set the dialect and speaking rate.

For students with visual impairments, there are features such as zoom, font adjustments, invert colors and grayscale, larger text, increase contrast, reduce motion, and labels.  These can be adjusted right from the general settings.

For students with hearing impairments, settings such as subtitles, captions, and audio descriptions can be used.  Another feature in the Mono Audio feature.  This beneficial if an individual is using headphones.  They may miss some audio when it is played in either the right or left channel audio track.  The Mono Audio feature plays the audio through both channels so that it is playing in both ears.  The balance and the volume can be adjust for either ear.  This would help students when listening to an audiobook or when they are using a screen reader.

Recently, Apple has developed a braille display for iOS.  This supports more than 50 Bluetooth braille displays.  You simple pair it with a device and it can work with the VoiceOver.  For more information about the braille display, go to this link from Apple: http://www.apple.com/accessibility/ios/braille-display.html.

I always knew that iPads were great for motivating students, getting them to take pride in their work, and showing their creativity.  I also knew that they had features to benefit students of all abilities.  Before doing this assignment, I had know idea how many opportunities to help students with disabilities came in one little device.

References:

Apple. (2015). iOS. A wide range of features for a wide range of needs. In Accessibility-iOS. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://www.apple.com/accessibility/ios/

Roblyer, M.D. (2016). Teaching and learning with technology in special education. In J, Johnston, (Ed.) Integrating educational technology into teaching (pp. 400-420). Boston: Pearson.

541: Obstacles of Integrating Technology Into the Arts

There are many obstacles when it comes to using technology.  Technology is something a teacher has to be passionate and strategic about.  You can not just give students a tool and expect them to create a masterpiece.  You have to be intentional and teach them the correct way to use it.  When it comes to the arts, technology can be very rewarding, but also challenging.

Problem:  In music, technology can be a wonderful tool, but there are many obstacles that need to be addressed.  The first one is illegally downloading music.  Although it is not as big of a problem as it was in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Roblyer (2016, p. 358), states that software like Napster, Pirate Bay, and LimeWire allowed peer-to-peer sharing of files and downloading music illegally to become very popular.  

Solution:  Students must be taught digital citizenship in every content area.  This applies for music, and students must be taught the seriousness of downloading music illegally.  There are also sites where students can find music and use it for free.  The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality legal audio downloads inspired by the Creative Commons and Open Source movements.   Creative Commons Music Communities also provides websites for music sharing under one of the four creative commons licenses.

Problem:  When students are carrying out research or creating artwork on computers for websites or graphic design for art projects, they need access to images. Similar to students downloading music illegally, many students are using images illegally.  The internet has made it easy to find and use the images.  They are repurposing the images and plagiarizing (Roblyer, 2016, p. 366).  

Solution:  Again, going along with digital citizenship, students must be taught how to cite their sources.  “Discussions should take place about issues of copyright law and what constitutes infringement” (Roblyer, 2016, p. 366). Roblyer also provides some resources to help students learn about using electronic sources from the Library of Congress website and also Duke School of Law.  Easybib.com by Imagine Easy, (2014), is a Google Add-on that can be purchased for a school to use.  It helps making citing sources easier for students.

These are just a few of the obstacles that teachers are finding when integrating technology.  A solid foundation of digital citizenship can pave a way for students to be responsible and safe while using technology.

References:

Creative Commons. (n.d.). In Creative Commons Music Communities. Retrieved November 10, 2015, from http://creativecommons.org/music-communities

Imagine Easy Solution Inc. (2014). In EasyBIb. Retrieved November 10, 2015, from http://www.easybib.com/

Free Music Archive. (2009). Free Music Archive. Retrieved November 10, 2015, from http://freemusicarchive.org/

Roblyer, M.D. (2016). Teaching and learning with technology in music and art. In J, Johnston, (Ed.) Integrating educational technology into teaching (pp. 352-377). Boston: Pearson.

541: Relative Advantage of Using Technology to Teach Astronomy

Science is a content area that lends its hand to seamlessly integrate technology into the classroom.  Science is an area that can be extremely abstract, especially when it comes to astronomy.  The students can see the sun and the moon.  They know that they are on earth, but that doesn’t mean that they can understand how the solar system works.  We can make this possible with the help of technology.

“Students often develop scientific understandings as a result of their own observations and what they can see to be true. This approach is problematic when the phenomena under investigation are unseen or at least unobservable in the confines of the classroom” (CITEd Research Center). Using pictures, videos, games, and simulations, students can see how the earth orbits the sun and how the moon orbits the sun. This would not be possible without the use of technology.  How can we expect young students to understand this without seeing a simulation or video? This simulation speeds up the process so that students can see how long it takes the moon and the earth to complete their orbits.

Students do not have the capability to see the planets and all of the stars.  They need technology to help them get a visual of the planets.  Games and simulations can help students learn about the characteristics of the planets.  This simulation from Gizmo can be used, with the activation code: FHJQHMGC22, to compare the planets.  They can also see the path that they take to orbit the sun.  Stellarium is an open source planetarium for the computer.  It shows the solar system in 3D, realistic shapes to give students a better understanding of what the objects actually look like.

By using social media, like Twitter and Facebook, students can find and collaborate with peers and experts about astronomy.  They can search for resources to learn more information.  They can also see videos of interviews with astronauts.  Without technology, it would not be very possible to interview an astronaut.  This video shows an astronaut with Mike Massimino.  Click on investigations to find the interview.

There are also some more obvious advantages to use technology to study astronomy.  Students have instant access to resources and websites online.  The school does not have to purchase as many books.  Students can research and take notes. According to Boundless, “Web 2.0 interaction involves not only sharing ideas and information with someone else but also receiving feedback”. Students are excited and motivated to work together and receive the feedback from peers.  They also try harder when they know that the work will be published or someone else will see it.

When it comes to abstract ideas such as astronomy, I believe that the only way to teach the content to students is to incorporate technology.  It would be a disservice to our students to not allow them to actually explore the solar system.


References:

Boundless. “Advantages of Using Technology in the Classroom.” Boundless Education. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 04 Nov. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/education/textbooks/boundless-education-textbook/technology-in-the-classroom-6/edtech-25/advantages-of-using-technology-in-the-classroom-77-13007/

CITEd Research Center. (n.d.). Using multimedia tools to help students learn science. Retrieved November 3, 2015, from http://www.cited.org/index.aspx?page_id=148