BRIDGES - Conference Live Streaming

http://www.bridges-canada.com/UI/home.aspx

After our class was assigned to tune in to the live streaming sessions, I thought well great, I can really multi - task now. Laundry, coffee,course work, learning and all without taking off my PJ's from the night before. After scoping out the conference web page to link up to the live streaming sessions, I discovered that many of the subjects and presenters were fascinating. I have in fact contacted that Bridges conference wiki administrator about getting access to the other conference sessions.

Our professor Barb Welsford did a session on the impact of using the Ipod Touch to support students with learning needs. The personal touch to each case study helped me to make connections between the students that were studied and my own students. I was very impressed that all the students who employ an ipod touch were so diverse. Each student having a variety of applications for organization, communication, motivation, literacy, and accessing information that were personalized to them. It is fascinating to see the students, their parents and teachers all speak to the positive impact that this (now common) device has had on their education experience.

Welsford's presentation also reminds us all of the intensive personal fact finding and personal touch that is necessary in supporting student learning through assistive technology. Each student is supported not just by a technology (software, device) but also by a team that includes the education professionals, family members, and the student themselves. She really stressed how important it is to match the technology to the students personal situation and that the situation be reevaluated on an ongoing basis.

I followed up on Welsford's presentation by watching the next presenter talk about digital readers and technology to support literacy. I found that I quickly connected to this presenter as he discussed that his own father had struggled with reading. Many of my students have a difficult time with reading. Finding ways to support their learning and reading is a challenge for teachers at all levels. I was surprised by the large hand held device being shared with the conference. It seemed to me that this technology would be quickly replaced by the ipod and kurzweil technologies, many of the same features are possible for these technologies which are already in employed by the school board where I work. It was an interesting presentation as it got me thinking of the different ways these devices and software can work together to support a greater variety of student needs.

WOW. Brains are amazing!

“New learning and recall of the information relies on the efficient electronic activity of the neuron and the chemical transfer of impulses at the synapse” (B. Welsford, 2010).
17 centers of the brain contribute to reading. Reading involves attention to the task, visual processing, auditory processing, orthographic processing, phonological processing, meaning processing and context processing. What an incredibly complex process. For students who are struggling with reading there are any number of reasons or break downs in the processes.

If learning is like a remodelling of the brain, the child’s brain is often described as plastic.
When reflecting on my students I can see how many of them struggle with learning for reasons of attention, auditory disabilities, visual disabilities, learning disabilities. All these issues and others contribute to break downs in their learning to read text. These issues can make text inaccessible. Following our demonstration of the assistive technology software (Earobics, Start to finish books, Word Maker, Kurzweil) I can think of students who would benefit from each of these technologies.

As a Math and PDR teacher I know that Kurzweil is effective software for supporting student success. Reading, writing text, as well as assessment and testing are some of the practical features for students. There are a number of features that support students who may be unable to access text in traditional ways. There are many features that increase engagement and interaction with text which helps students build vocabulary, word recognition, enhance comprehension and enables students to be successful with text that may have been previously inaccessible.

New Brunswick: looking in a new direction, technology as education.

I think this video says a lot about the direction that education needs to go to say relevant. I wonder about the costs? Teachers, School, Districts and Department of Education need to buy in to the changing nature of text, communication. Literacy is changing. Students who are reluctant to write with pencils and paper, text their peers at a rate that make my head spin. Using cell phones / cameras they create and share pictures and videos. They manage networks of contacts, they access information in seconds without turning a page.
My students would love reading using a tableau. They love technology it is an instant engagement tool. The reality is that classrooms need to change, teachers need to learn and become comfortable with the technology. In my school we make technology a priority, SMARTboards, projectors, KURZWEIL and other software.
I think as teachers who embrace technology in our every day lives we are able to bring a level of comfort to exploring technology with our students. It is my feeling that our board and department of education need to look in this direction. With the supportive training and infrastructure our students will be in the drivers seat as they explore and create meaningful text.

The 21st Century Education in New Brunswick, Canada

Ipods as the key to improving student learning

Like most teachers I am constantly asking the students in my classroom to turn off their music and take off their headphones so that they can listen to the instruction in the classroom. I think that using their favourite technologies for instruction would only further student engagement. I am excited to learn more about how to use the itouch technology to increase student access to learning.

video - learning disability

Week 1: Assistive Technology and Accessing Learning

Assistive Technology:

What it is ...what is not ...

It is about providing access to a task for students

It is a process and involves the whole team of supports

It changes over time

It includes services and ongoing supports

It is not IT