Lally Times: Week 3 and Tech Explorations 7-10

What has this week held that was different than last? We moved thru the spreadsheet world last week and into the word processing and desktop publishing this week. With each week, I realize that there is SO much out there in the technology world, that the options and offerings to our students are limitless. It just takes some exploration to see how it can be useful.

Going back to spreadsheets for a little bit. Personally, we use the Microsoft Excel program in our home. Our typical use is for tax purposes. My husband and I both have our own businesses that we need to keep track of expenditures as well as gains. This allows for filing taxes a lot easier. I also use excel to keep track of my customers. This program allows for me to have their contact information, as well as knowing when they last ordered, etc. I know that there is so much more to do with excel from an accounting standpoint, however I have not had to venture too far into that arena.

I have to say, that the biggest thing that I took away from learning in regards to spreadsheets, is the capabilities of teaching math to students and allowing the imagery to come to life on the screen. I would have NEVER thought that would be an option. I found this on the "EXCEL-lent Middle School Math Lessons" website.

We also watched a video about the today's classroom (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o) and what all the students have to know, stay on top of and what they are doing. It was enlightening and yet mind boggling all at the same time. It was basically a 19th century classroom setting, in which each student held up a large white cardstock with writing in black. Each student had something different written on theirs, for example: "multitasker" and another said "because I have to be." It basically shows how if we teach in the 19th Century, we are doing a grave injustice to our students. Things like being in debt after graduation, bubbled tests not being a help in succeeding, how much time they spend online-whether reading, searching or communicating, and jobs they will have upon graduation don't even exist today. Percentages of time spent on line, in class, sleep, etc were also shown. "Why use technology?" After these past two weeks of exploration, my question would be "Why would you NOT use technology?" We still need to start with the basics and lay the foundation for our students, however we need to be aware that technology is a way of life and another avenue for our children to not only learn, but need to learn. It can be as simple as video games promoting their math skills to creating a whole exploration of a topic and presenting to a class their findings thru a web-based presenter.

Visual Imagery, oh my!

Why is an image so important and what makes it appealing? Close your eyes. When I say the name Mona Lisa, what do you see? A farmer with his field? Of course not. You see a portrait of a lady with long hair, in a dark dress with her hands crossed and somewhat of a slight smile. It is a picture that you know. iMindmap and other mapping sites, talk about word association as well as placing a picture with it for connection. The saying "A picture is worth a 1000 words." It has to do with connections.

The image above has to do with how we can use visuals. I don't have a classroom yet, so I thought I would show how I've used a combination of words and pictures to communicate. This is a sample of a flier I would have sent out for my Thirty-One business. I have to say, that before this class, I would and did, cut and paste and do all kinds of crazy things to make this final document. After seeing our task of remaking one of our documents to be converted to jpeg, was a challenge. I never realized just how simple this task was!! I was able to work within the paint aspect already on my computer. Of course, after learning about wikis, I was able to pull up a wiki site to explain how to convert my document. The main image in this piece has to do with an organized office. Being that this has to do with organization, I felt this picture was appropriate.

Technology Explorations #7

Assistive Technologies www.gpat.org

Zoho http://www.zoho.com

1.

Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.

GPAT offered quite an insight into assistive technologies. GPAT stands for Georgia Project for Assistive Technologies and is a part of the Georgia Department of Education. Their focus: “assistive technology in learning”. Their mission: “to improve student achievement, productivity, independence and inclusion by enhancing educator knowledge of assistive technology and increasing student access to appropriate assistive technology devices and services.” The site gives definitions of what an assistive technology device is and more. When I typically think of the term, I think of stand alone talking machines. This site shows that software and hardware are also AT in addition to the standard stand alone devices.

I found the Dolphin Easy Reader Software on this site to be very interesting. It can be downloaded for a student that has a disability of one of the following: blindness, low vision, dyslexia or print disabilities.

..........................................................

Zoho changes the whole game. It is a new look at a system that I thought would never happen. Microsoft has been ‘it’. Zoho is an online “seamless collaboration” offered to not only individuals, but businesses & corporations. It is an online database application that has three areas of concentration: 1)productivity 2)business and 3)collaboration. The site seems to combine the word processor, desktop publisher and database, all into one. The productivity side offers: notetaker, spreadsheets, presentation tools and a word processor. The business aspect offers the ability to create newsletters as well as email marketing. The collaboration portion offers document security with users available to access at the same time from anywhere. A collaborative website & wiki are offer and an online forum software plus web meetings. Access to it all can be from home, office or mobile device.

2.

How could you use this resource in a school, setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.

GPAT is a great way to learn more about the different AT devices out there. There are quite a few tabs on the right side of the page that allow for further learning. Power point slides are available as well as worksheets to work thru. When working on a student’s IEP, the site offers a lot of information to help you in this writing process to be able to offer the students the best education possible. I found the IEP portion to be extremely helpful.

........................................................

I was a little taken back at first at how Zoho’s online program could be a resource in a school setting. After diving in and seeing the productivity side of it added to the collaboration, I can see where teachers across the board could access documents to better teach and assist their students. Within one school system of multiple schools, documents can be retrieved virtually. I could see an awesome community within the technology piece being on one page for a school system. With IEP’s, testing and meetings, the task portion might be of an advantage as well, since there are typically multiple providers to these events.

3.

Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?

I would most definitely recommend this GPAT resource to others. My favorite piece was how to best help a child that needs an ATD, when writing their IEP. It is very easy to review and is a free site, with additional free software downloads to students/teachers within the Georgia area.

................................

I don’t know if I would be ready to switch completely over just yet to Zoho, however it might be a great trial start if an educator was looking to try a more efficient approach and trying to get all their resources under one umbrella. The cost for a personal use is free. Pricing starts to increase once packages are chosen and more features are added. Even at a cost, it seemed to be a small monthly fee (ie: $3/month for some services).

Technology Exploration #8

Online Tools for Teachers http://www.4teachers.org/tools/

Dimio http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/

1.

Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.

4Teachers.org is an amazing site for teachers. It is a great resource tool for not only lesson plans, rubrics and quizzes, but staying up to date on the latest technology and connecting it all to our state standards of education.

I love all the tools that are on the right side of the site. With each click was a new area to explore. To the left offered video of the latest things for teachers and the links towards the top of the site, were areas that could also be explored for more specifics.

To start with, the tools on the right side of the site. I looked at Arcademic Skill Builders. This tool was various video games that allowed the student to play by himself/herself or with multiple players. While it allows the student to strengthen their learning, it also gives feedback to the teacher, so that the weaker areas as well as the stronger areas are exposed. The games could be geared toward a certain subject as well as grade appropriate. Within each one there was even a speed choice. This as well as steered back to the standards.

Another tool that I looked at was the Classroom Architect. Who would have thought?! I know that each classroom is different and there is not wrong or right way to set up a classroom, however I have seen some dysfunctional rooms. Crowded, not a good flow, etc make for a very busy classroom. I liked the way that you could move the furniture around and see how the flow of the room could/would look. Taking into consideration that the students will be moving in, out and around the room and that there will be group sessions, one on one time and stations, just to list a few, it is a busy place and structure is key. The classroom needs to be a warm comfortable environment that facilitates their learning.

The link ‘educators resource’ caught my eye as well, so I had to click. Once there, it was an amazing array of special education tools. Taking individual disabilities and showing resources on how to unlock the knowledge thru the use of technology.

Last but certainly not least was a video clip talking about the 21^st century classroom. There seems to be many professional development topics for every teacher.

………………………………………………….

Dimio is a stand alone free software service called D-Software. It appears to be a start up software, created by Dimitrios Coutsoumbas. D-Software has 3 different offerings. D-Speech, D-Shutdown and D-Synchronize. DSpeech is a text to speech program. D-Shutdown which can shut down and wake up your PC. D-Synchronize has the capability to synchronize two or more files.

2.

How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.

4Teachers.org is amazing! This resource I can see using on a daily basis. With the actual games/lessons that can be used with the students to continually learning as a teacher, keeping up to date on the latest and greatest. The standards integrated into the lessons, games and quizzes, so that you are working cohesively instead of on your own. This site allows for differentiation.

…………………………………………….

The Dimio site has step by step instructions on how to download the software, so to accomplish the goal you choose, whether you download one or all three. All three could be advantageous to a classroom. Text to speech would be great for the auditory learner. The wake up option could be nice to have, so that the computers could be on timers, ready to go for the students at a set time. The synchronizing could be nice as well. There are so many programs running that any way to merge and be efficient could be a great tool.

3.

Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?

4Teachers.org would have to be my number one pick to recommend. I would have to say it has been the easiest to maneuver and offers so much to the teachers, students and parents. It appears that at one time the tools had a subscription, however they are free at this time.

…………………..

I don’t know that I would recommend the resource Dimio. It might be a great tool, but my comfort level of the site itself being secure was lacking. Mr. Coutsoumbas states that the software is free, however does give an option for donations via paypal.

Technology Exploration #9

Full Measure http://fullmeasure.co.uk/powertalk/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
	Full Measure is a site that offers a program called PowerTalk. Power Talk is an assistive technology for a powerpoint presentation.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	I can see various students using this program for presentation purposes, where they can write and put together a presentation, however can’t speak the information. This would be a great tool to non-verbal students, as well as those that struggle with speaking.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?
	I don’t know that you would use this program every day, however it would be a great resource to have on hand. The price is right, at free. If you can offer a free product that could generate a student’s work into audio, it could be a great blessing.

Technology Exploration #10

WebQuest http://www.webquest.org

ReadtheWords http://readthewords.com

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
	WebQuest is an ‘inquiry-oriented lesson format’. There are six essential parts to a webquest: introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion and credits. The ‘task’ states what the student is supposed to do. The ‘process’ gives the steps needed to accomplish with resources needed. The ‘evaluation’ will let the student know the set standards or guidelines for the project. The ‘conclusion’ is the reflection time. The WebQuest site offers tutorials on how to set one up, as well as ones already completed to review. They are lessons within lessons. The site also offers more resources on support. I also learned that a webquest has to have certain parts for it to be considered a true webquest. Things like: “wrapped around a doable and interesting task that is ideally a scaled down version of things adults do as citizens or workers”, “requires higher level thinking” and “good use of the web”. ………………………………………………. ReadtheWord is a web-based service that offers text to speech capabilities. The mission of the company is “To create an easy to use platform, that allows for alternative methods to process written information.” The company began in the beginning of 2008, trying to assist students with learning disabilities. Auditory learning & processing was their target. The service allows for text to be converted to a recording. There are 15 different voices to accommodate, and the capability to have ‘parts’ of the story read by their own character. Once a text has been converted, it can be saved on your computer and played multiple times. MP3 players and ipods can easily down the information for more convenience. The pieces can not be distributed once produced, however it can be embedded in a reading on a website or blog.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	WebQuest is kind of a big deal when it comes to resources in a school setting. Although this doesn’t need to be the main focus, it is a great way to stretch your students. It encourages out of the box thinking, while strengthening their technology skills and making them independent learners. Problem solving as well as creativity could also be reached by having this type of learning. More than likely this would not be done with younger elementary students. ………………………………….. ReadtheWord would be a great resource in a school setting. Converting text to a recording for vocab words, editing and retaining are just a few options. Some of the testimonials spoke about higher test scores due to the students being able to listen to the vocabulary words repetitively. Another one talked about being able to keep up with new materials for the teacher to keep up with. Recording the new information, offered flexibility on listening. This could take total advantage of down time, where you wouldn’t be able to read, but could listen. A student talked about editing. When she was typing her papers, she could then have them converted and played back. She was able to pick up on things from hearing the words spoken, that she wouldn’t have from just proofreading it, allowing her to make corrections to her paper.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?
	WebQuest seemed to be a great place to show where to start as well as how, why, etc. There are fees involved with Webquests, so depending on your classroom funds, you might have to be creative in what you offer. ……………………………. ReadtheWords seemed fairly easy to maneuver from a standpoint of just working thru the site, to the editorials on how to actually convert a document. You do need to sign up for an account, however it is a free based service. This would definitely be an option.

Lally Times

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Week 3 and Tech Explorations 7-10

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1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
	GPAT offered quite an insight into assistive technologies. GPAT stands for Georgia Project for Assistive Technologies and is a part of the Georgia Department of Education. Their focus: “assistive technology in learning”. Their mission: “to improve student achievement, productivity, independence and inclusion by enhancing educator knowledge of assistive technology and increasing student access to appropriate assistive technology devices and services.” The site gives definitions of what an assistive technology device is and more. When I typically think of the term, I think of stand alone talking machines. This site shows that software and hardware are also AT in addition to the standard stand alone devices. I found the Dolphin Easy Reader Software on this site to be very interesting. It can be downloaded for a student that has a disability of one of the following: blindness, low vision, dyslexia or print disabilities. .......................................................... Zoho changes the whole game. It is a new look at a system that I thought would never happen. Microsoft has been ‘it’. Zoho is an online “seamless collaboration” offered to not only individuals, but businesses & corporations. It is an online database application that has three areas of concentration: 1)productivity 2)business and 3)collaboration. The site seems to combine the word processor, desktop publisher and database, all into one. The productivity side offers: notetaker, spreadsheets, presentation tools and a word processor. The business aspect offers the ability to create newsletters as well as email marketing. The collaboration portion offers document security with users available to access at the same time from anywhere. A collaborative website & wiki are offer and an online forum software plus web meetings. Access to it all can be from home, office or mobile device.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school, setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	GPAT is a great way to learn more about the different AT devices out there. There are quite a few tabs on the right side of the page that allow for further learning. Power point slides are available as well as worksheets to work thru. When working on a student’s IEP, the site offers a lot of information to help you in this writing process to be able to offer the students the best education possible. I found the IEP portion to be extremely helpful. ........................................................ I was a little taken back at first at how Zoho’s online program could be a resource in a school setting. After diving in and seeing the productivity side of it added to the collaboration, I can see where teachers across the board could access documents to better teach and assist their students. Within one school system of multiple schools, documents can be retrieved virtually. I could see an awesome community within the technology piece being on one page for a school system. With IEP’s, testing and meetings, the task portion might be of an advantage as well, since there are typically multiple providers to these events.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?
	I would most definitely recommend this GPAT resource to others. My favorite piece was how to best help a child that needs an ATD, when writing their IEP. It is very easy to review and is a free site, with additional free software downloads to students/teachers within the Georgia area. ................................ I don’t know if I would be ready to switch completely over just yet to Zoho, however it might be a great trial start if an educator was looking to try a more efficient approach and trying to get all their resources under one umbrella. The cost for a personal use is free. Pricing starts to increase once packages are chosen and more features are added. Even at a cost, it seemed to be a small monthly fee (ie: $3/month for some services).

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
	4Teachers.org is an amazing site for teachers. It is a great resource tool for not only lesson plans, rubrics and quizzes, but staying up to date on the latest technology and connecting it all to our state standards of education. I love all the tools that are on the right side of the site. With each click was a new area to explore. To the left offered video of the latest things for teachers and the links towards the top of the site, were areas that could also be explored for more specifics. To start with, the tools on the right side of the site. I looked at Arcademic Skill Builders. This tool was various video games that allowed the student to play by himself/herself or with multiple players. While it allows the student to strengthen their learning, it also gives feedback to the teacher, so that the weaker areas as well as the stronger areas are exposed. The games could be geared toward a certain subject as well as grade appropriate. Within each one there was even a speed choice. This as well as steered back to the standards. Another tool that I looked at was the Classroom Architect. Who would have thought?! I know that each classroom is different and there is not wrong or right way to set up a classroom, however I have seen some dysfunctional rooms. Crowded, not a good flow, etc make for a very busy classroom. I liked the way that you could move the furniture around and see how the flow of the room could/would look. Taking into consideration that the students will be moving in, out and around the room and that there will be group sessions, one on one time and stations, just to list a few, it is a busy place and structure is key. The classroom needs to be a warm comfortable environment that facilitates their learning. The link ‘educators resource’ caught my eye as well, so I had to click. Once there, it was an amazing array of special education tools. Taking individual disabilities and showing resources on how to unlock the knowledge thru the use of technology. Last but certainly not least was a video clip talking about the 21^st century classroom. There seems to be many professional development topics for every teacher. …………………………………………………. Dimio is a stand alone free software service called D-Software. It appears to be a start up software, created by Dimitrios Coutsoumbas. D-Software has 3 different offerings. D-Speech, D-Shutdown and D-Synchronize. DSpeech is a text to speech program. D-Shutdown which can shut down and wake up your PC. D-Synchronize has the capability to synchronize two or more files.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	4Teachers.org is amazing! This resource I can see using on a daily basis. With the actual games/lessons that can be used with the students to continually learning as a teacher, keeping up to date on the latest and greatest. The standards integrated into the lessons, games and quizzes, so that you are working cohesively instead of on your own. This site allows for differentiation. ……………………………………………. The Dimio site has step by step instructions on how to download the software, so to accomplish the goal you choose, whether you download one or all three. All three could be advantageous to a classroom. Text to speech would be great for the auditory learner. The wake up option could be nice to have, so that the computers could be on timers, ready to go for the students at a set time. The synchronizing could be nice as well. There are so many programs running that any way to merge and be efficient could be a great tool.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?
	4Teachers.org would have to be my number one pick to recommend. I would have to say it has been the easiest to maneuver and offers so much to the teachers, students and parents. It appears that at one time the tools had a subscription, however they are free at this time. ………………….. I don’t know that I would recommend the resource Dimio. It might be a great tool, but my comfort level of the site itself being secure was lacking. Mr. Coutsoumbas states that the software is free, however does give an option for donations via paypal.