February+7+homework

February 7 homework

~ Special Ed. Pupils Find Learning Tool In iPad Applications

One of the things that I found to be interesting is that Solan, who has Down syndrome and apraxia instead of getting frustrated is now willing to interact with students more and feels more self-confidence after working with the iPad.

Another key concept in the article was that the touch-screen is much easier for students who have poor fine-motor skills to work with than a laptop or computer.

The article also goes on to say that students really like using the iPads, which causes the students to have a sense of pride. This then leads the students to take good care of the iPads.

Another important thing that the article talks about is how iPads are also helping students work on their everyday skills; like ordering food at a restaurant and on managing their time.

The article also talks about how tablets have a big advantage because they are simple and easy to customize to fit the students' needs.

One question I have is how are the schools going to fund all of these new technology expenses? Another question that comes to mind is, if the students use all of this technology at school what will they do when they go home and do not have the same technology? My final question ties into my second question by asking, what can we do to make this technology more affordable so the students can use it at home?

~iPad As a Mobile Classroom and the Newest Tool for Special Education Teachers

One of the things that I found to be a key concept was that there will no longer be need for a big computer lab; because with iPads, a projector and one MacBook everything syncs into each other meaning that the computer lab could be turned into a mobile lab.

Another interesting fact was that the iPad can give teachers more variety with what they do because an iPad would give them access to custom applications, video podcasts, word processing and internet access. The iPad also has many applications to help with specific subjects like spelling and math.

Another thing that was mentioned in the article was that the iPad will help to keep students interested in learning because it will provide a more “graphic intensive learning experience.”

It also compares the iPad to the Neo 2. The Neo 2 was very popular in special education but the article talks about how the iPad is better than the Neo 2. The iPad is better because it has a lot more applications that the students can use and that the iPad is a smaller size.

The article also mentions that technology helps students with varying degrees of disabilities to be able to keep up with their classes.

One question that comes to my mind is if students work so closely with technology will we be over stimulating them? Another question is how do teachers know whether the students are really working on applications for school or just surfing the internet? My final question, are all of the iPad applications going to become a distraction from learning?

~Apple in Education: Useful to everyone. Right from the start.

One of the key concepts that I found interesting was the Text-to-Speech technology on the iPad. Text-to- Speech is able to read an entire document aloud to you.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Another thing that was interesting in this article, was how there is a feature on the Mac that after just typing a few letters and then pressing the Escape key it will take you to a list of words that begin with the few letters that you typed in.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Another interesting feature is that all Mac applications check for grammar and spelling mistakes. All applications use the same dictionaries so that there is consistency when documents are checked.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Another cool application on Mac that can help students learn is the Photo Booth. Photo Booth is educational when students who are deaf make a video using sign language and then send it to other students as a way of communication.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Another feature that would be helpful to students who have disabilities is Slow Keys. This feature allows a delay between when a key is used and when the key does its action. This creates a lower error rate.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">One question that comes to mind is if we give students all of this technology can we be sure that we know that they are learning the rules of grammar or are the Macs just correcting it for them? Also if technology is always changing things for the students how well will students do on a test where they cannot use computer to help them? Another big question is how will schools plan to keep up with the invention of new applications and which ones will they choose to invest in?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">~2011: The Year of the Media Tablet as a Learning Tool

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">One of the interesting key concepts was that tablet sales are expected to be as big as laptops sales by 2015. The article said that tablets sales worldwide are expected to jump from 19.5 million units in 2010 to 208 million units in 2014.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The article also talked about how the organization of M-Learning: From Anticipation to Reality did a survey and found out that 40 percent of executives plan to use tablets in 2011 for learning and development initiatives.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The article also touched on how learning executives found many benefits from working mobile devices into their learning strategies. They said that some of the benefits were an increase in employee productivity and that employees’ had 24 hour access to information.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">They also talked about how top executives in many companies will have customized iPads because assessments and surveys can be tracked and developed more easily in a mobile workforce. They went on to mention that companies like Hilton Worldwide and SAP are already taking the leap and giving iPads out to their employees.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">They also talked about how companies like Waston Pharmaceuticals have created an app so that pharmaceutical reps can access relevant whitepapers and get important information from their iPhone.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">One question I have is that if all of this information is easy for the employees to get on their phones and computers what safe measures will be taken so that the information stays secure? Another question is how will customer service be affected because will there just be apps for that too? My final question is how many people will lose their jobs because an app is now doing their work?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">~iPads and Universal Design for Learning <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> An iPad would be a great technology to use in a classroom that was trying to promote a “universally designed feature for learning.” In the article it talked about how a universal design for learning classroom needs to meet the goals of; representing information in multiple formats and media, provide multiple pathways for students' actions and expressions, and provide multiple pathways to engage students' interests and motivation. The iPad would be able to touch on all of these goals. The iPad would be able to reach the goal of representing information in multiple formats and media, by the students having the ability to have access to the textbooks electronically instead of having to carry around a big book. This would also help students who were having a hard time with the vocabulary words; because they would be able to touch the vocabulary word and then a definition would pop up instead of making them look the word up in the dictionary. Students could also watch video podcasts of their teachers on their iPad instead of having to listen to a lecture.The iPad would also be able to provide multiple pathways for students’ actions and expressions. A way that this is possible with the iPad is that students can talk their answers to the iPad and it will write the answer down for them. Another way this could be expressed is students’ could use the word completion feature so that the Mac could recognize the word that they were trying to spell. The iPad also helps to provide multiple ways to engage students' interest and motivation. One of the ways it grabs students' interest is because you are able to touch it, which students find to be cool. Another reason why it catches students’ attention is because it is a lot smaller than a laptop and they can hold it in their hands easier. It also grabs students' attention because it can read out loud to you which is a big assistance to a lot of students who struggle with reading. Also if the students were able to work with iPads they could make movies instead of writing a book report to engage some of the students' different interests in the class. It is also helpful because there are different apps that students can use to test their skills like math and reading but in the form of a game. An iPad is a great feature for promoting universal design for learning, because it helps the teacher meet all of the goals associated with universal design for learning.