Sunday, April 12, 2015

EDM 310 Blog Post 12

What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher? Select a few and
discuss how they may be useful to you.

     In the video Assistive Technologies for Vision and Hearing Impaired Children I found out that there are all types of technology available for me as a teacher.  The first key thing that you must do with any student that is impaired or not, you have to encourage them.  You have to push their boundaries and remove any sort of barriers that may be presented to them.  One thing that I noted from the video was just how many children are diagnosed with impairments.  The number of children that have vision or hearing impairments in Australia for example was informative for me.  What I took from this video in general was that all students need encouragement and that as teachers we are responsible for an enormous part of it.  There are all sorts of tools and devices that are available to nurture these students and further their learning.




     Before watching the video, I had never heard of a Mountbatten.  It allowed for feedback immediately while also producing the braille for the student.  It gives both audio and tactile feedback.  This type of machine would be perfect for a regular day classroom.  When the student types, the mimic converts it to print and projects that onto a screen.  It gives the student the ability to work with group projects and actively participate in group projects.   I think that this is a fantastic tool for any classroom.  This knocks down any barrier for blind students because they are now able to participate with their fellow students and teacher more than they previously have been able too.  This is definitely a wonderful tool.




     After watching the video iPad Usage for the Blind I had somewhat mixed feelings.  When I first watched the video I believed that the technology was very difficult in order to manage.  However I think that with a bit of time and effort it would give those with a vision impairment the ability to master this technology.  While I think that giving people with vision impairment the ability to and access to technologies is key in today's learning era, we must also make sure that they are able to use it correctly and efficiently.  Throughout this course I have seen that students of all ages are using and mastering technologies in classrooms.  The ability to give those who are blind the ability to also use these technologies will help them continue to learn and grow and keep them on par with their fellow classmates.  I would just want to make sure that they are able to master this technology so they are not at a disadvantage.


iPad Air


     Viewing these videos has helped me become more aware of the technologies that are available to me as a future educator.  I think that these technologies should be used and implemented as soon as possible.  The more we are able to invest in students the more we are able to help them learn and grow.  We need to encourage those with impairments to continue following their goals and guide them along the way.

   


2 comments:

  1. Boston,

    Great post! I thought that the amount of people with hearing impairments in Australia was quite alarming too. I think that we as teachers can not ignore the fact that we may have students with disabilities. I think I may order the Mountbatten for my classroom anyway. It could be used to inform students without impairments how to use Braille. I think it would be very interesting and helpful.

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