Lesson #10: Reflections of Assistive Technologies

I recently watched three videos about assistive technologies that really changed my perspective about how technology can influence people with disabilities. 

The first video was about a girl named Elle. Elle was born with cerebral palsy. Because of this disability, she had to navigate using a wheelchair and had difficulty communicating. With help from her parents and the school district, Elle was able to try different technologies that specifically helped people with her type of impairment. These technologies convert a person's eye motions to text, allowing someone to communicate when they otherwise could not. After trying a few different models, Elle found success with the DynaVox and is still using it to communicate. Because of the DynaVox, Elle has a much higher quality of life and is able to express herself effectively.

The second video was about a young boy named Mason. Mason has a visual impairment that makes it difficult for him to see and therefore interact in school. Mason has access to a few different technologies that allow him to overcome his disability. Mason uses a Mountbatton Brailler, an iPad, and his classroom's smart board. The Mountbatten Brailler tells Mason what letter he is typing as he uses it to write in braille. The iPad and smart board have extra large fonts which allow Mason to see them more easily. Because of this, Mason can use these technologies to participate in vocabulary exercises like the rest of his class.

The third video was about a boy named Lucas. Lucas was born with amyoplasia arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, a condition that makes his limbs nearly useless. However, despite his disability, Lucas has accomplished quite a bit. Lucas plays in jazz band and orchestra, and is the captain of the chess team he started. In order for him to play an instrument, Lucas uses a modified horn that makes use of a joystick to mechanically control the horn's valves. Lucas plans to attend college on a music scholarship and pursue a degree in the same field. Clearly, Lucas' modified instrument has allowed him to far surpass the obstacles presented by his disability. 

Lesson #9: Creative Technologies

So there are a ton of new technologies out there that have infinite applications in the classroom. A few of these are the Smartboard, augmented reality visualization tools, and the ActivTable. I don't blame you if you've never heard of these technologies, so I'll let you watch the video below first before I move on.

Cool right? So my favorite technologies shown in this video are the augmented reality tool and the Smartboard. By using the augmented reality tool in my future Earth Science classroom, my students and I could fly around (and inside!) Mount Vesuvius, a glacier, or the Grand Canyon. This would allow my students to experience landscapes they would otherwise not have the means to visit.

Another way I could integrate these technologies into my classroom is by using the Smartboard. By using video conferencing software like Skype, we could chat with a student in, say, Iceland or interview a world-class Geologist doing field work in Bolivia. So cool...

Lesson #8: Back to the Future

Back in the 80's, people had certain theories about what school would be like in the future. I recently watched a three-part video made in 1987 about how future technology would change education. The video made some accurate as well as inaccurate forecasts. Take a look...


Classroom of the Future (Part 1) by donaldtheduckie


Classroom of the Future (Part 2) by donaldtheduckie


Classroom of the Future (Part 3) by donaldtheduckie

The video centers around a boy who is absent from school due to a broken leg. He is connected to the classroom and his partner via live two-way video feed. This concept isn't so far from reality. Today, we are able to video conference between locations and some classrooms are equipped with the capability. For instance, some Boise State classrooms have a "classroom capture" feature that records lectures so they may be viewed at a later time by absent students or other interested parties.

One of the things that is not as accurate is the way the kids access the "internet". The boy talks to his computer, which has voice recognition and artificial intelligence. These things are not so outlandish, given Siri, Cortana, and other "smart" operating systems. However, the way he interacts with this technology is a little inaccurate. The interface lacks any similarity with today's internet. Instead of having individual websites, pages, and search engines, it is a single database containing all the world's information.

Despite having a few flaws, the video actually portrays the classroom of the future in a fairly accurate way.

Lesson #7: Wii Bowling

Today, we used Wii Bowling in order to test a hypothesis: does bowling with your eyes closed get you a better score? Common sense tells you that, "No, keeping your eyes closed cannot possibly improve your game score". Well, guess again. The pair that kept their eyes closed for the experiment (Kyle and Cam) did significantly better than Madison and I. But why? Is it just because Wii Bowling cannot distinguish finite aspects of someone's technique? Or is it that when someone keeps their eyes closed, they can focus on the pure mechanics of bowling and do not have time to overthink their shot and mess it up? Who knows. Either way, the boys won and I am bitter.

To keep track of our data, we used a spreadsheet in Google Docs and it proved a very useful way to visualize how and what is being measured. It also allowed us to all edit the same document at the same time. However, we did find a few flaws. As we were playing, the scores on Google Docs and on the Wii system were not the same. On the Wii, Cam and Kyle were winning, and on Google Docs, I was winning (???). It's possible that the flaws were due to people incorrectly entering their scores. Either way,
it seems like the Wii system is a more accurate way to keep score and Google Docs is the better method for creating graphs, charts, and keeping track of individual stats.

Lesson #6: Annotated Playlist

Lesson #5: Socrative

So today we're going to explore a web tool called Socrative. Basically it's a website where teachers can create their own quizzes (multiple choice, short answer, or true/false) and have their students access them via computer, tablet, or even smart phone. Teachers can also view a live feed of their students answers as they complete the quiz!

Having tried out this technology for myself, I highly recommend it for several reasons:

1. Freedom. Socrative allows students the freedom to access the quiz from anywhere at any time, making it a super-useful, super-accessible teaching tool for the digital age.

2. Teacher- and student-paced modes. In teacher-paced made, the teacher can choose when to make questions available (e.g. as content is covered). In student-paced mode, students have complete access to all questions and can pick-and-choose what questions they want to answer at their own pace. Sounds like a win-win to me!

3. Instant feedback. As students complete the quiz, you can see what questions they got wrong and their overall percentage. In addition, you can also see when multiple students are having trouble with a particular question. This can tell you what concepts you need to go back and review or, in my case, tells you when a question is unclear or contains errors.

That's basically it in a nutshell. Now go try it for yourself!

Lesson #4: A's Aren't Everything

So what's up with my title, right? Isn't it common knowledge that everyone who gets A's are super smart and people who get anything else are just lazy and dumb? Well....no. I'm here to bust my first education myth and to let you in on a little secret about how school works.

You see, I am one of those people who breezed through school when I was younger. I got A's constantly, was teased for being the "teacher's pet", and even got voted "most studious" in eighth grade. I didn't even receive my first B on a transcript until I was a high school sophomore. School was easy for me. But it's not because I spent hours studying. Yeah sure, I aced all the tests, but the real reason behind it was not my study habits but my memory. From a very young age, I was blessed with an impeccable memory and this, conveniently, helped me whiz through school.

It was not until I got to college when my GPA started to decline. The classes were not as easy as they once were and I had not yet developed the study habits of some of my peers. I realized that for all those years, I learned nothing except how to get the highly coveted A that I needed and I moved on. I had learned how to "beat the system", nothing more.

Then it occurred to me that there was an issue here. Shouldn't the goal of education be to learn, not to "win"?

Enter ED 202: Teaching and Learning. Check out this YouTube video featuring my teacher Chris Haskell:

IP11: Chris Haskell - Blowing Up the Grade Book

Great video isn't it? Having had this enlightening experience, everything makes sense now. I greatly prefer his system of learning, where school is less about competition and is more of an environment where students embrace failure and learn from their mistakes. This sort of system makes it more equitable for the student, rather than setting up a system where they are doomed to fail from the get-go. Unless, of course, they bow down to the Education Gods (teachers) and complete every assignment on time and without flaw.

In Haskell's world, we acknowledge that students have their own lives to worry about and are capable of managing their own time. This makes assignments with due dates inappropriate. Besides, all due dates do is guarantee assignments aren't completed until the last possible second (am I right?). This is extremely detrimental to the learning environment.

Another reason I love his philosophy is because it gives students a choice. Oftentimes, students view school as a place where they must obey, not create. By giving them choice, it allows them to follow the curriculum in a way that is relevant to themselves and their goals; it allows them to invest their time and energy into what they believe is interesting and worthwhile. Exciting concept, huh?

Now, I am not as optimistic as my teacher is regarding how quickly these changes will happen. Through my other friends who are teachers, I know that schools do not adapt very quickly to change. They try their best but their attempts are not always successful. One reason for this is funding. However, what Haskell is proposing does not necessarily require a $1,000,000,000 grant (it would be nice, but it's not necessary). All it takes is a little extra effort from teachers to try and change the status quo. This is not an easy task but I believe it will benefit our students in ways we never imagined.