Proloquo2go is Awesome!

Proloquo2go is an application used on ipads. It is an assistive software for students who are non verbal. There are hand made books that students read to themselves and find the books on the assistive software to connect to. Reading Find It!  using Proloquo2go allows students to match up words and pictures to the software. If the words are “I see a plane!” the students have the break down on the ipad so they have to find I, see, a, plane,!, and then press say it and the ipad reads out loud what the student has chosen and should match what the book says as well. This application allows students the ability to learn to read at a faster rate. Matching the words of the book to the software allows students to memorise as well, of which is an important aspect of reading.

I highly recommend this application available on ipads. You can add pictures and recordings of voices to it as well. This is so awesome. One student in my prac class purely uses proloquo2go to speak for him. This student also uses the software to tell me what he wants such as counters (bears). The student finds the counters picture and the buttons that say “I want” and so he then presses say it and it reads ” I want bears please”. This communication is great I get to know what the students wants and the student is happy that he is being heard and understood.

To Scootle or Not to Scootle in Special Education

Whilst on prac experience I tried using Scootle, but found that the applications were above my special education students capacity. I used a lot of scaffolding and preparation to use Shape up. Students needed a lot of help identifying colours and shapes, but by the second lesson they got the right idea and were able to use Shape up resource. I also found that other scootle resources that specified that it could be used with special education could in fact be too hard for some special education students. Working with students with limited abilities has enabled me to reflect on how I teach. I need to be able to reach these students at their level and scootle is just not the way to do it.

I mostly made up interactive PowerPoints for my lessons and used the Splash application on ipads for students to be able to use the PowerPoint presentation on their ipads. I found that ipad applications were more useful in the classroom for special education in terms of students with limited abilities. One source used to communicate with students on a daily basis was Autism Xpress from Apple. This resource allows students to express how they feel at any given time. Autism Xpress also gave a voice to students who are non verbal which is amazing. When you think you know your students and use Autism Xpress to find out how they really are doing is an eye opener. When using such applications you must be aware of the safety of the students as Tanya clearly talks about in her blogs. Have a read about cyber safety and issues to think about when choosing applications.

ICTs on Prac

So far I have used ipads and laptops and the interactive white board for my lessons. I tried to use Scootle for my lesson on shapes using the app Shape Up, but it was too advance for my students. Trying to find scootle apps that are for pre-foundation years is really hard. I am going to adapt my lesson on shapes to include Shape Up and really scaffold the students so they are able to colour in shapes, it’s just that their fine motor skills are still developing and they are just learning how to hold a marker and large pencil. I wonder how they will manage the mouse. I will probably need to  guide the mouse with the students to enable them to perform the tasks required for Shape Up.

Here is a successful student who is using ipads in the classroom and how his students are using iPads instead of the IWB :https://smcroft.wordpress.com/

My First Prac Week

My first week on prac was awesome. I have four high support needs students that I must cater to. All four students are at the developmental age of 2-3 years of age. It is amazing to see the students learn new things and pally them in their environment. One student, who has autism and is I.I. does not speak, in fact non of my students speak. Today though, The young student with autism spoke out and and counted with me up to 26! It was an amazing feeling to have reached this young student. Another exciting moment was when another child who does not speak said “bye, bye,” to me as we were ending the day.

So far I have been progressing through my lessons. I have an excellent example to learn from as my teacher is awesome. The teacher sings and uses body language to engage students as well as iPads and other ICTs. The teacher has taught me new ways to use my voice as well to show excitement and disappointment.

Here is link to another Student’s Prac week and see how she is doing. https://tanyalsinden.wordpress.com/

Tomorrow is under 8’s day and we get to dress up. So much fun to have tomorrow. I really have enjoyed my prac so far and its been an eye opener as well.

Dragon Naturally Speaking

Dragon Naturally Speaking is software that recognizes voice and then types what you speak out into the microphone. It is awesome to use in the Special Education sector. This software will allow non verbal students to become verbal and be able to express themselves without forcing them to speak. Students are intrigued to hear their own voice and see what is being typed. For non readers it is a stepping stone to learning to read as well. I would like to use this software on prac and hope to make a book using student’s ideas and their drawings about a topic of their choice. I would then like to get a graphics creator and be able to make a virtual book for these students to have and possibly youtube it for future use. It all depends on whether or not parents want their children’s voices on the web. I would be discrete and not use their names or anything like that, but it is their book so I don’t know how about to publish the books through youtube without using their names. I need some ideas and feed back about that.

EDC3100 Assignment 1 Finally Done!

I learned that this assignment was tedious in finding the correct theories, approaches that I would use in a Special to deliver information to students in various ways such as through the enormous amounts of ICTs available. Finding creditable ICTs that are for enhancing learning was difficult, but with networking and looking at what other people were using I was able to find some ICTs that enhanced learning for me reasons. I used the Rolling Stones as well for my background music as it relates to starting of something new. Hope you enjoy and that you find my presentation helpful. My presentation via prezi!

NESTA REPORT 2012 Part 2

This blog will continue on from the previous blog I wrote which can be looked at through this link NESTA REPORT 2012 Part 1. This blog will focus on the next two themes of learning from the Nesta Reort. The two themes, of which will be discussed are Learning Through Making and Learning Through Exploring.

The Third Theme of learning is  Learning Through Making 

The report states that one of the best ways people can learn is by making and sharing things as there is great enthusiasm for making digital tools, complemented by a general revival in crafts and making ( Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012). The report continues to say that innovations in technology-supported learning through making do show great potential and this potential can only be fulfilled if those required to use that technology are also supported.

The Highlights of This Theme Are:

• The success of Learning through Making rests on two principles: first, learners must construct their own understanding; they must create something they can share with others.

• Digital technology can bring the idea of constructionism alive. Learners can construct anything in their imagination; and they can then share, discuss, reflect upon and, ultimately, learn about that construction.

• Teacher–led examples of innovation frequently cited the motivational aspect and the benefits of producing tangible, ‘real world’ outcomes of learning through making.

• The success of learning through making depends on the appropriate use of digital tools in suitable environments.

• A review of the use of ICT to support creative and critical thinking in formal education highlighted the key role played by teachers in successful implementation

Seymour Papert, An MIT mathematician spearheaded the idea of constructionism, of which rests on two main principles: that learners construct their own understanding as they make something, instead of receiving it passively from others; and that this is most effective when they make something they can share with others.

The report stresses that digital technology can bring the idea of constructionism alive and that learners can construct anything in their imagination and learners can share, discuss, reflect upon and learn about that construction.

Constructionism dates back to the 1960’s. This is during the developments in computer programming. Since the early days, constructionism has provided the framework for a fertile strand of learning research and development. The current enthusiasm for making with digital tools is high, and is complemented by a revival in craft and making ( Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012).

The Nesta Report also finds that almost a quarter of all teacher-led examples that were reviewed concerned learning through making. The report also finds that there is a contrast as there are few research examples, suggesting that this is a rising trend in practice that has not yet subjected to a great deal of research. The examples were found across all levels of education and in a variety of formal and informal settings and prevalent in non-traditional subjects and the research examples covered technology not traditionally found in classrooms.

Teacher-led examples frequently cited the motivational aspect of  learning through making, of which included an interesting approach involving Scratch. Scratch is a children’s programming language and online community developed by MIT. Children at the primary age start programming by creating coded animations in informal after school clubs.

The most highly rated teacher led example also focused on the motivational aspect of learning through making, in which secondary students used Aris, of which is an open platform for creating geo-location games, tours and interactive stories and design/ create quest games with mobile phones and printed QR codes around the school. Over a period of five months learners had successfully designed, tested and debugged their games.

The report then explains other examples of  technology that allow learners to learn through making. One example is that is teacher-led also highlighted the positive effect on learners when they were able to produce tangible outputs with ‘real world’ applications. Using the HummingBird Kit, secondary students create artistic, physical designs. The HummingBird Kit can be combined with available craft materials to create unique robots based on the learner’s interests. The report found that learners were inspired by the ease of creating more artistic and unconventional programming applications, such as animated scenes to accompany a poem.

Few examples of innovation in learning through making have been subjected to rigorous academic research and ones that have were not seen as particularly promising by the experts. Innovations in technology-supported learning through making do show some great potential, but this potential can only be fulfilled if those required to use technology are also supported. Most of the examples for learning through making theme required some degree of teacher support.

The Fourth Theme of the Nesta Report is Learning Through Exploring

The report starts off by stating that learners have always browsed information to gain new knowledge, but in the digital age information is abundant, and can even be overwhelming ( Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012). Learners need to develop strategies and skills to find and filter information that they need. Technology provides many new opportunities to support learners to develop those strategies and skills through online multimedia environments. The reports finds that there are few examples of innovation in this theme.

The Highlights for This Theme are:

• Learning through Exploring rests on two principles: firstly, learners are given freedom to act; secondly, they need to regulate their own actions, which is itself an important skill for learning.

• Digital tools can provide new and engaging ways to explore information, and offer new ways to structure the environment that learners explore.

• The dearth of current research suggests technology–supported exploration is underused and undervalued within educational settings.

• The evidence in the few examples found was of a high quality and suggests that technology does offer the potential to enhance learning through exploration.

NESTA REPORT 2012 Part 1

This blog focuses on  chapter two of the Nesta Report called Decoding Learning: The Proof, Promise and Potential of Digital Education, in particularly the first two themes of learning.

The First theme is Learning from Experts

In this chapter the report declares that the scope for independent learning has never been higher and that there is huge growth in the amount of information available to learners and that technology enables learners to access, structure and package that information ( Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012). The role of teachers in supporting learners to take information and convert it to knowledge. This report also states that with all the technological innovation in the exposition of data there seems to be less supportive dialogue between teachers and learners to help learners make sense of the data.

The Highlights of This Theme Are:

• The increasing wealth of online resources offers great
  potential for both teachers and learners; but places great demands on both to evaluate and filter the information on offer.
  • Innovations in Learning from Experts have tended to focus on the exposition of
  information rather than fostering dialogue between teachers and learners.
  • Digital technologies offer new ways of presenting information and ideas in a dynamic and interactive way. However learners may need the support of teachers to interpret those ideas and to convert that information into knowledge.
  • New forms of representation (e.g. augmented objects) offer the potential to enrich the dialogue about information between teachers and learners     (Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012).

Theories of learning stress that the role of a more knowledgeable other, or expert, in guiding learners ( Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012).

Digital technology can support two different kinds of interaction between teacher and learner they are tutorial, of which is the dialogue between learners and teachers and the most effective way to learn is one-on-one teaching, and of course the other interaction is exposition, of which concerns the structuring and presentation of the learning material.

Technology can support the dialogue  between learner and teacher in the tutorial, in instance if they are in two different locations or when they are unable to communicate with each other at the same time. Technology can enhance dialogue with visual aids and technology can even stimulate the role of the teacher. One example of visual aids to enhance dialogue in the tutorial is the interactive white board.

There are a range of digital resources that structure and package learning material for exposition, of which are podcasts, e-books to Youtube videos and digital technologies also offer new ways of presenting information and ideas in a dynamic and interactive way. With exposition the resources used can be engaging, but the learner’s role can often be passive and may require teachers to interpret those ideas and convert the information into knowledge ( Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012).

Learning through tutorial and exposition represent traditional approaches to teaching and remains at the heart of classroom practice ( Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012). It is open to question whether simply building on traditional approaches will improve dialogue between learners and teachers in a way that will ultimately improve learning.

The report found that there is relatively high proportion of research innovations, of which was 23, that focused on learning from experts, with support from exposition more prevalent than support for tutorial dialogues. Digital tools ranged from hardware to interactive whiteboards, mobile phones to visual and audio presentation tools of included animations and podcasts.

Under this theme there were 11 teacher led examples of innovation and only two involved support for tutorial dialogue. Research suggests that the benefits of using technology depends on a variety of factors such as the cognition, perception, attitudes, and motivations of learners ( Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012).

The report also discusses examples of how dialogue is supported through technology. The examples also show how technology can be used to provide learners with social support.

The most highly rated innovations supported exposition using the free website Solar Stormwatch, of which was created by the Royal Observatory Greenwhich, UK. The site provides real life science information and promotes learners to contribute to the project by helping identify solar storms. Learners can be engaged in topical science issues and be able to contribute directly to the project, draw on a wealth of information available on the site and connect with experts in the field.

However, the report also finds that there needs to be a critical eye to cast over the quality of online materials and any costs associated with access those materials. The development of quality materials requires collaboration between the site developers, domain experts, teachers and learners. With all online content it is important to consider whether learners have access to devices and whether those devices have adequate connection speed ( Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012).

The Second Theme of the Nesta Report is Learning with Others

This chapter the report states that there is considerable enthusiasm and commitment to creating innovative approaches that support learning with others and yet good ideas developed in academic research are not filtering through to the classroom. There is more that can be done to ensure that teachers are made aware of the tools that support learning with others.

Highlights For This Theme are:

• There are four social dimensions to Learning with Others, each of which can be supported by digital technology:

• The collaborative dimension requires tools that help learners develop mutual understanding.

• The networked dimension requires tools that help learners interact. • The participative dimension requires tools that help learners to develop a strong community of knowledge.

• The performative dimension requires tools that allow the outcomes of collaborative learning to be shared with others.

• There are three particularly promising areas for development: representational tools that enable the activities taking place to be presented to the learners; scaffolding tools that provide a structure for learning with others; and communication tools that support learners working at a distance from each other to collaborate  ( Luckin, R, Bligh, B, Manches, A., Ainsworth, S. & Crook, C., 2012).

The report continues to say that much of our knowledge arises from social interaction and whether we learn, and what we learn, depends on our relationships with others. This includes teachers interacting with learners and learners interaction with other learners. Learning with others requires collaboration and technology can influence the way in which learners collaborate. There are four distinct yet linked dimensions of learning with others which are:

1. Collaborative dimension- refers to learners developing knowledge through mutual interest and understanding
2. Networked dimension- refers to the way in which learners orangise themselves
3. Participation- refers to groups of learners developing a community of knowledge through shared understanding and practice
4. Performative dimension- involves the circulation of the knowledge gained though learning with others

The report also states that of all the examples of innovations reviewed, Learning with Others was the most frequently considered type of learning. Research examples focused on collaborative dimension, the teacher-based examples of innovation focused more on the participative and networked dimensions of learning with others, while there are few examples focusing on performative dimension as digital resources that might create audiences for the outputs of joint learning are neglected.

The example of innovation that is most highly rated in this theme involved pupils in primary school using an online writing tool to build a story collaboratively, of which the online tool used was BoomWriter. BoomWriter is a free site with competitive writing platform that helps engage learners by combining creative writing with social media technology.

The report concludes that teachers are enthusiastic about innovation in social learning, but the authors believe that the most innovative practice in Learning with Others remains neglected by teachers and that the research ideas are not yet filtering through to the classroom.

So Many ICTs and So Little Time

There are so many different ICTs out there that is it impossible to know them all. I have a list of sites that I have just learned about that I think are useful in the classroom.

Reading Eggs– I have used this site on a weekly basis whilst on prac. Children basically learn reading skills and learn logic as well while having fun.

Top Marks– For all subjects but mainly I used this site for mathematics.

Thinkfun.com– I would use this site for special needs students although there is a vast amount of games that are for adults and children without special needs.

coLAR Mix– Awesome site where kids colour in printed out pre-selected pages then with the app, the colouring page comes to a 3d image on your Iphone or android phone. So awesome!

I hope that this blog reaches out to those who are constantly looking for sites that are fun and educational.

Personal Knowledge Mastery

This system is also known as PKM ,of which is a set of processes, individually constructed, to help each of us make sense of our world, work more effectively, and contribute to society (Jarche, 2015). The most important aspect of PKM is that it is personal.  Utilising PKM and the Seek/Sense/Share framework allows people to take control of their personal and professional development a continuous process of seeking, sensing-making, and sharing (Jarche, 2015).

I have a routine that I have had in place since I started university. Seeking information from the Study Desk and printing out modules, readings etc. I am collecting at this stage what is relevant to my studies and my assignments. I am filtering through at the same time of what I might use in the future and inputting what I find useful into Evernote. Once in Evernote I can reference and input my notes from the text or journal ect. From those notes I can apply the new knowledge into my assignment and then submit my assignment.

I also have a system for seeking out information on the internet by checking the relevance it has on my education and the future of my career. Then with the select few sites that are helpful, i input those sites onto my blog and I share those sites with others. I get feed back from my other site on new sites or books that will help me develop professionally.

My interest and motivation for my PKM is to be organized, efficient in finding new information that will help me in the future and share that information with others who are interested in the same things I am.