A
little intimidating with all the apps and the expansive grid, however, it does
give you a way to rule apps in or out in your selection process based on your
content and grade level.
Sign
up for notifications and updates from this site.This is a great place for all things related
to education technology, many of the articles and postings has to do with apps
and how to use them in the education setting.
Zite Magazine - Make a section
called iPads and one called Apps.
You
will receive the latest news in these areas, keeping you up to date on
It provides you with 10 different apps that are free or low in cost.
The website also provides many other resources for integrating technology in the classroom (ex. "21 Literacy Resources For The Digital Teacher"). If you get an extra minute (which I know is rare for teachers) you should check it out!
Here are 5
really neat programs you can use in your classroom:
1. Popcorn Maker allows users to infuse Web content, video and
pop-up into an image, creating dynamic, interactive images.
2. GoAnimatehelps teachers
create tutorials by writing scripts for animated characters.
3. Screenleapgives
educators the ability to share a code with students so they can access a
presentation on a teacher’s computer even if they are using a variety of
devices in the classroom or at home.
4. Remind101provides
a means of communication with parents and students using text messages. After
you register and create a class list, you’ll be able to send reminders to
students from a program-generated number, and students and parents cannot text
back.
5. InfuseLearning brings students into an interactive learning
environment in which teachers can create quizzes to gauge students’
understanding in real time. Students can even respond to teacher prompts by
drawing pictures. InfuseLearningalso has a built-in language translator.
For #2 "GoAnimate", I also created my own little animation
for my AAC presentation. You can check it out here:
Dexteria app
is an app for occupational therapy. It includes
three main features: Tap it, Pinch it and Write it. For a student with limited or
impaired motor skills, this app is a very fun and interactive way for students
to practice their fine motor skills or hand and eye coordination. These
skills are also useful for young children developing their hand writing. The
three areas that we looked at in the webinar included “Tap It” which works on
fine motor skills, “Pinch it” which works on the ability to pinch grip or the
functional grasp for writing and lastly, “Write It” which works on individual
isolation of fingers and the ability to use a stylist to practice hand writing.
I liked the idea that this program is progressive and you are able to use a
stylist, which will help younger students develop their hand writing skills. On
the Binary Labs website, which provides the Dexteria app, it was also interesting
to see they offer other apps called “Letter Reflex” which helps students
overcome letter reversals, and “P.O.V” to help students develop spatial
reasoning skills.
Bugs And Buttons is an affordable app at only $2.99. It is aimed towards young children to develop
patterns, counting, learning about bugs, and in particular fine motor skills. The app comes with 18 educational and
interactive games. Two of the games that were demonstrated in the webinar which
I enjoyed the most were the “Pinch and Grab” game, focuses on developing fine
motor skills and it is challenging for students as it gets more difficult. It
was neat to see how they added in the feature for student to learn how to sort
and recycle as well. The program can also work on student wrist extension with
the adjustment of the angles. The other game I also enjoyed was called “Roach Racing”
which is another feature that also works on fine motor skills by controlling
the speed with the coordination of your finger(s)/thumb.The “Bug And Buttons” website (provided by “Little
Bit Studio”), also indicates it is available in English,
French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese.
Here is a demo of the app found on YouTube:
Injini app- As Barb
best said “you get what you pay for with this app”. I can agree with her after
learning about all its features and the fact that it was designed by teachers. The
website (injini.net) states it’s a useful app for students with “special needs,
to improve fine motor skills, spatial awareness, memory & visual processing”.
It also states it has been “field tested with families, early intervention
centres, & preschools. When this program is used for assessment or practice,
the visual motor and control skills, as well as fine motor skills are all important.
In this program you are also able to use your fingers or stylist to develop
pre-writing skills. Another highlight is that the levels are progressive and develop
in the same sequence as the developmental writing skills. It comes with 9 games
and 8 mini-games that include many levels to practice the following skills “fine motor, cause and effect understanding, spatial
awareness, memory, differentiation, response inhibition, visual processing, sequencing
and more” (injini.net).
Here is another
demo of the app Injini found on YouTube:
The next webinar I decided to watch was on "Communication
Disorders". The three most useful apps I learned about were the following:
Proloquo2go- is an that is $189, but worth the money. It is very user friendly by both teachers and students.
I was glad to find out more information on
this app as I missed our class where we were introduced to it and had the
opportunity to use it hands on. It was actually one of the main AAC devices advertised
at the Florida conference I attended, but I was still not able to use it there.
However, I think it says something when it is being advertised and used in the
United States as well. I was impressed by how there are 8000 built in features in
Proloquo2go and how adapted you can make it based on the users functioning
ability (mainly for students who are non-verbal and have communication
disorders). Just from learning about the other AAC devices out there, I do not
feel they are as adaptive as this one. The ability to create folders, its word
prediction and the options to change the voices are all very impressive!
I found this interesting video on how much time and research actually goes into developping the speech to text in programs such as Proloquo2go:
MyVoice- it is an AAC app aimed towards non-verbal students where
you can access support online after setting up an account (http://myvoiceaac.com/app/talkrocketgo/).It seems to be very user friendly with many tutorials
available on its website. You can change any photo by pressing on it and
choosing photos from your own camera roll. I find the insertion of your own images
makes this app very personal. You can download pre-made folders and change the
cells around once you have saved it. What’s neat about this app, is since you have
to create an account on the website, it allows you to open up the account on different
devices and share the created folders. It is also good for users who need to
rest their vocal cords but continue to communicate with others. I will remember
this one next time I lose my voice in school and want a fun but educational way
to communicate with me students! J
Sign4me- I enjoyed this app for many reasons. One main
reason is that it is very affordable at $9.99 and it is very user friendly. It’s
like having a translator in your pocket, as you are also able to type in English
words or phrases and the avatar will sign for you right away.It is so neat that you can turn your avatar
around to see different angles (I think my students would enjoy that part
especially). You are also able to bank your words or phrases and if someone
doesn’t know sign language they are also able to follow along and learn as the words
are displayed below the avatar. I wish this would have been available to me as
a kid, as I had two Deaf grandparents. It was very difficult for me to
communicate with them at a young age. I feel a program like this would really
interest kids and adults in learning sign language more quickly and in a fun
way.
This YouTube video gives a great summary using the app to sign its features:
The webinar
I enjoyed the most was- “Top Free Apps in Special Education”. It touched on
many apps in one would think a reasonable amount of time (an hour and a half)
but it really was not long enough to go in depth with all of the apps. I enjoyed
this webinar because it touched on apps that I am interested in using personal
and also with a wide range of students in my classroom.
One of the
most interesting things I liked right away from this webinar was learning about
the “accessibility” feature under the settings app. Although I have an iPhone and
feel I am quite comfortable in using it, I had no idea you could change the
settings for vision, hearing, learning, physical & motor impairments. I am
fortunate enough to not have to depend on any of these features, but it is very
useful to know these things for our students who may need them. I really
enjoyed the “speak-selection” feature, which I think will actually be very
useful for one of my students.
"Bubble
Popper" app made me remember what it was like to be a kid again. I had to download
that one right away! :)
TOP 3 APPS:
Dragon Dictation- This app was actually just loaded
onto my iPhone device with my last update. I had heard of it before watching
this webinar, but wasn’t fully aware of what it was capable of doing. I like
the idea of pairing it with a graphic organizer so they can pre-plan what they
want to say. Even I have trouble sometimes knowing exactly what I want to say
when using the voice search or voice texting.
For
students with learning disabilities (i.e. dyslexia, dysgraphia, visual
impairments, physical impairments, etc.) this app can be a useful tool in
creating speech to text and is able to produce text for notes, lists, emails,
etc. From many sources I read online, there is minimal training (if any)
required, which makes it easy for its users. It will also recognize your voice
and names over time. Language selection and the detection of the end of speech
is a feature. Even my dad who does not own a cell-phone or how to turn on a
computer can use it!
TourWrist and Eyewitness- I thought these two apps would have
been so useful to me last year as an art teacher! When I checked it out, I
couldn’t believe the tours of places around the world you were able to view. “Tour
of the day” is also a neat feature that gives a picture of the day in TourWrist.
It is very cool with the panoramic view of pictures. I believe these two are powerful
apps for visual learners and would create great classroom discussions for areas
around the world and art pieces. Sometimes it is so hard as a classroom teacher
to bring culture into the classroom. These apps are a great way for your
students to see other parts of the world!
Math App- As a math teacher for the junior
high school level, I personally found this app quite interesting and will
definitely be using it in my classroom. Although you only get the first 5 video
lessons free, I think I will invest in the app to be able to show the videos in
class. I believe it is good for any student in math. It could be useful to show
to a student who struggles in math, good for students who miss the lesson in
class due to absentees, or even for students who do not necessarily get the
information the first time because of processing issues. I always believed it was
important to teach students material in a number of ways and there are
definitely different ways that they use in the video lessons that I wouldn’t
have thought of. I also want to install the “Quick Graph” app on our class set
of iPods at school so the students can use them as a graphing calculator.
I thought
the online class using “Blackboard Collaborate” very
useful and interactive! When I first entered the chat before our scheduled class
started, I was worried I was not going to understand all its features, but
after experiencing our session I felt it was a very useful way to hold a lesson.
I can see this virtual classroom being the new way to classes. Soon, there will
be no need for people to get out of bed for school, because everyone will be
able to participate in class. This would avoid the limitations of not attending
class due to a cold, travelling, having young children, etc. I’m not sure if my
junior high school students could handle it yet, but I can see it being very
useful to high school students and post secondary schools. I’m surprised Acadia
University does not offer more classes through a virtual classroom. I guess,
there would be some limitations with technology not functioning properly, but
it is an amazing way for everyone to access an education and participate online
through different modes of communication.
I really enjoyed all of the presentations today. Although
all of the presentations were done using the virtual classroom, it was interesting
that each presentation was still done using a different format (PowerPoint,
blog, podcast). I was very interested and drawn to Tarah’s topic only because I
grew up with two deaf grandparents that raised my father. They passed away when
I was a child, but in my younger years I was able to learn some basic sign
language. I have lost a lot of the language over the years, but it is something
I have always wanted to learn again. I’m always amazed by those who are able to
sign for hours and hours. It looks like it is something that can become
exhausting after a while. During our conference in Florida, they actually had
someone sign the keynote presentations to the audience and it was very nice to
see them have this set up. I was also able to meet a specialist from the Institute for
Disability Research and Training in one of my sessions at the conference who was able to show me
some of the resources they have available to students who are deaf or blind.
The website she directed me to that has many links and more information on how
they are supporting students in their region is: www.idrt.com.
As I mentioned in my last blog she also shared some apps available to support
these students, such as Sign Story, Walking the Plank, Sign 4 Me, ASL Translate.Some of them
do cost money, but they are very good prices for what you get from the
technology.
I was hoping to be able to present my information
today using my blog or the PowerPoint I put together, but unfortunately I was
limited in the fact that my computers is not high tech with a working
microphone. AGAIN, this is another reason why I should make the big move on
purchasing an iPad or Mac Pro. I know it’s going to happen soon, just need to
be financially setup to do so. So for now I’ll make do with the old HP, but
mentally I have been convinced to buy the iPad because of all of its useful
features. I can’t wait until the school board decides to invest in this as
well.
Getting back to the virtual classroom, I think it is
going to be the new way we hold or offer many of our classes in the future. Not
only because it’s so easy to use, but because it truly is accessible to
everyone and it avoids much of the intimidation factor that students face when
being resistant to participating in class. The camera feature is also beneficial
in the sense that we won’t lose all of the importance of being able to
communicate in person as well.
I almost hope we are able to have another class
through the chat room setting, because although I learned a lot in our session,
I’m sure there are many more features available on it that I can learn.
I would
have to say I really enjoyed the Florida Educational Technology Conference and
I recommend for any teacher to take the opportunity to attend. The information
given was overwhelming and I almost need a few more days on top of my
conference to go through all of my information and sort out what I can use in
my classroom.
I would
like to start off by talking about the “Technology and Learning Connection
Hands-On Lab” I attended. I felt it was the most relevant session I attended
that related to our Assistive Technology (5173) Masters course. The session
provided a wide range of assistive and instructional technologies. We were able
to preview software that supported students in the areas of reading, writing,
math and much more using differentiated instruction. There were technology
specialists available around the room to provide information and answer
questions based on the technology to support student needs. As I teacher I love
receiving free resources and I was able to leave this session with a few free
CDs that included many materials and resources for the classroom.
One of the
specialists I was able to speak with was from the “Institute for Disability
Research and Training” where she was providing information on blind and deaf assistive
technology. She was very informative and directed me to their website: www.idrt.com. Here you can find lots of
information on their services, as well as great ASL tools to use in your
classroom (ex. ASL dictionary, sign generator, ASL games, etc.). She also
showed me many different apps that are available to use on the iPad. A few of
them include Sign Story, Walking the
Plank, Sign 4 Me, ASL Translate, etc.
Another
specialist I was able to speak with was there on behalf of the AAC Tech Connect
group. In conversation with her, I was able to learn about some of the low to
high Augmentative Communication Devices including the “Proloquo2go”
app. She also provided me with their website where you can find further
information on their services and resources to use in the classroom: www.AACtechconnect.com. This website
also provides information on what apps are available out there for ACC and
compares them to one another.
She also gave
me a CD titled “Visual Support Sampler” which provides me with free vocabulary
sets, word walls, books with symbolated text, matching and bingo games, manipulatives
and much more! Unfortunately, most of it is only available on Boardmaker
software which I do not have on my computer from home.
Here are some of the links provided on the CD which will allow you to
access some of the information as well:
I was also able to take some photos of some of the AAC technologies she
had on display:
I asked if
I was able to share these resources with colleagues and they encouraged it, so
here are some of the websites that were provided during this session on some of
the CDs. As you can see there are many websites here and it is overwhelming,
and therefore I have not had the chance to go through them all yet. However,
hopefully you can find something that is applicable for you to use in your
classroom. I also have an extra copy of one of the CDs up for grabs if anyone
would like it.
Check out
the resources below:
Assistive Technology (AT)
ATTO - http://atto.buffalo.edu/ . online resources
and information on assistive technology for students with disabilities in
elementary school settings.
Another session I attended and thoroughly enjoyed
because of all the free resources that were given was called “21st
Century Learning: Beyond Gadgets”. In this session I was basically given a very
quick summary of some of the free online resources that they provided to us
after the session was over.
Again, there are many resources so it is overwhelming,
but hopefully you can find some things that interest you and use them in your
classroom:
5.SpellCity - http://www.spellingcity.com/ . free
online tool where teachers and students can enter spelling words and then play
a variety of games to reinforce the spelling skills
6.Start-to-Finish Series (Win . Mac) - http://www.donjohnston.com . middle and
high school subject matter written at the 1.5 to 5.5 grade level. available in
printed, computer-based, and auditory formats
7.ClozePro (Win . Mac) - http://www.cricksoft.com . create
fill-in-the-gap activities with visual and auditory supports
10.Teach Your Monster to Read - http://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/
. students create a monster and take it on a game while they teach the monster
to read
11.My Friend (Win . Mac9) - free adjective software for
young readers
1.StarFall - http://www.starfall.com/ . the ABC’s of
getting ready to read. extensive materials and resources for early literacy
development
2.BookBox - http://www.bookbox.com/ . inexpensive
digital books in a wide variety of languages. many of the books can be read in
one language with subtitles in a different language
Digital
Text (scaffolding tools for struggling
readers)
1.Readability - http://www.readability.com/ . clean up
web pages and remove clutter to help make them easier to read
2.Natural Reader (Win
. Mac ) - www.naturalreaders.com .
a free text-to-speech utility. add to Adobe Reader and your computer can read
PDF files aloud . use with a web browser and the Internet "talks"
3.Read and Write (Win . Mac) - http://www.texthelp.com . suite of software
tools that are available in most programs being used on a computer. includes
scanning printed text, reading and writing supports, and study tools
4.Kurzweil 3000 (Win . Mac) - http://www.kurzweiledu.com . software
designed for scanning printed text to digital formats. includes reading,
writing, and study supports
2.StartWrite (Win . Mac) - http://www.drawyourworld.com/strtwrt.html
. inexpensive program for creating a variety of visually lined papers and writing
guides. excellent program
3.Stationery Studio (Win . Mac) - http://www.fablevision.com/stationerystudio/index.php
. software for creating a variety of visually lined papers and writing guides.
includes an extensive graphics library. highly engaging
4.Free Online Graph Paper - http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/
. online tool for creating an amazing assortment of different types of graph
papers
2.PixWriter (Win . Mac) - http://www.suncastletech.com/ . write
with words, phrases, or pictures. correlates pictures to words and includes
text-to-speech
Writing
Tools & Scaffolding
1.Write Online - http://www.cricksoft.com/us/writeonline/
. online writing software with text-to-speech, word prediction, vocabulary
wordbars, and document analysis tools
2.Classroom Suite (Win. Mac) - http://www.intellitools.com . provides
word prediction, speech feedback, and extensive writing support tools
3.Co:Writer (Win. Mac) - http://www.donjohnston.com/products/cowriter/index.html
. adds quality linguistic word prediction to any software program or word
processor a student is using. use with a talking word processor to get full
audio feedback
4.WordQ (Win) - http://www.goqsoftware.com/ . provides
word prediction and text-to-speech to any writing software program. the company
also has a plug-in called SpeakQ for voice-to-text
5.Rationale (Win) - http://www.austhink.com . guided reasoning
and argument thinking diagramming software for Windows. requires .net2 which
may be on current XP machines. 7 day trial
6.Inspiration (Win
. Mac) - http://www.inspiration.com . great
concept and mindmapping software that supports writing across the curriculum
1.Classroom Suite (IntelliMathics) – http://www.intellitools.com . includes
animation, manipulatives, text-to-speech, and multimedia to demonstrate basic
math concepts with multiple access options
2.FASTT Math – http://www.tomsnyder.com . software that
targets the development of fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication,
and division
3.Go Solve – http://www.tomsnyder.com . uses graphic
organizers to help students plan for solving word problems in addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division
4.Interactives - http://www.learner.org/interactives/
. provides educators and students with strategies, content, and activities that
can enhance and improve students’ skills in a variety of curricular areas
7.Windows to the Universe - http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ . content
lessons on our planet, solar system, and the universe. each lesson is available
in 3 different reading levels and in English or Spanish
5.ExploreLearning - http://www.explorelearning.com .
extensive online set of science simulations and visualizations . each
simulation can be used for free for up to 5 minutes per session
2.Art Rage (Win . Mac) - http://www.artrage.com . excellent natural
media painting software that includes various “paper” types. the version (2.6)
included on the CD has a limited set of tools. check out the website for the
full version
3.Animation-ish (Win . Mac) – http://www.animationish.com/ . amazing
drawing and animation program for young and old students
5.Wizard Brush (Win) - http://paint.eusoftware.com/ . another
great natural media paint program. download the demo
6.Flickr Toys - http://bighugelabs.com/ . an amazing
collection of online apps for creating personalized magazine covers, posters,
movie posters, jigsaws, etc.
2.Photosynth - http://photosynth.net/default.aspx
. create incredible photo based vistas and interactive environments with this
online tool and your photos
4.Xtra normal - http://www.xtranormal.com/ . online
text-to-movie tool where students can create characters, add clothing and type
in a script then watch the characters “act” out the script.
4.NotePad (Win . Mac) - http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/
. music notation program that supports the creation of complex musical
arrangements that can be printed or played by the computer
5.GarageBand (Mac) - http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
. a great loop-based audio program that also includes the ability to record
voice and other instruments as well as interfacing with a keyboard to control
digital synthesizers, making it a full digital studio
Lastly, here is a session I attend called : "Games That Are Good to the Core". The presenters basically demonstrated free game templates that teachers can modify and use in the classroom. They provided us with examples and a hand out which I have typed up some of the links to my blog for you to check out for more information:
Link
to Jeff’s Free Template Based Games and Utilities:
Overall, I
had an amazing experience at this conference and would recommend
it to any
teacher to attend. What’s amazing about this conference is not only do you
learn about the new and available technologies at the conference itself, but
you are also able to go home and explore more. Also, because technology is
changing so fast, even if you attended this conference again next year it would
most likely provide you with all new information. Therefore, I hope to be able
to have the opportunity to attend this conference again in the near future!
