No More Snow Days

Welcome to February in Nova Scotia. 

This is what I woke up to on February 9th, 2013.
Before technology, this would have been a snow day, but thankfully for technology we were able to continue on with our course.  My classmates and I, as well as our instructor, met on Blackboard, a virtual classroom, to have a really interesting class. While we did have some minor glitches getting everyone at the same point, it seemed pretty user friendly and was a great way to share information and have a discussion. I even felt that some people were more comfortable asking questions and contributing to discussions in the online classroom then they do in class.

I had the pleasure of being one of the students who went to Florida and missed our last class, so I presented on an AAC device in the virtual classroom as well. My presentation was easier in some ways to present online as I created it using my educreations app on my iPad and I then just shared the lesson link in the chat box online. Some classmates chose to go to the link externally and some watched it while my instructor shared it through her computer in the virtual classroom.

The Augmentative and alternative communication device I presented on was iComm. It is a free app for the iPhone, but can be upgraded for $6.99. It is not nearly as advanced as proloquo2go or sounding board, but it can provide a method for quick communication. Check out my lesson here.

This is what the beginning of the presentation looks like.

After we met online I proceeded to watch three webinars. Today was not my first day to watch webinars, instead of attending one class in Assistive Technology 1, we were also given the opportunity to watch webinars. The big difference was where I watched the webinars.

 

Location of First Webinar (In July)

Location of First Webinar (In February)

               I miss summer!

Needless to say I did not watch the webinars in the same location.

My Winter Webinar Watching Setup

Webinar #1

Top Free Apps in Special Education
 This webinar was great! and the one that was more applicable to students in my classroom right now. There were many apps that in my notes I have attached a student or lesson that I have where the app would fit right in and enhance the lesson or learning experience for a student. I originally had read the title as top 10 free apps in special education until I quickly realized there was way more then 10 discussed. In lieu of what I originally thought, I am going to provide my top 10 apps from this webinar.

Myfish3d: Turns your iPad, iPhone, or iPod into an aquarium. With just the move or your hand you can explore the aquarium and customize parts of it so it's more interesting to you. I plan on using this app with a student in my class who needs sensory breaks between activities and long periods of time in the same classroom.   

Bubble Wrap: I think this is going to be great for one of my students who has ADHD and has a very hard time concentrating when I need to speak to the whole class. I have lots of students who really enjoy popping bubble wrap and this allows them to do that on their iPod, iPad, or iPhone. There are different colors and settings that they can choose for their bubble popping.

iCell: On Monday I am starting the reproduction unit with my grade 9's and we have to review parts of the cell. Many of the videos online for schools are old and don't gain the students attention. Having an app that provides students with three dimensional views of the cells and compares the different types of cells, I suspect will be engaging and interesting for the students. I can't wait to see if they like it!

NASA: When I finish the reproduction unit I am moving on to the space unit. I try to make this unit as independent as possible so that involves the students doing a lot of research on their own. This is going to be a great app to suggest they download or check out and even to check out together as a class. The app has videos and pictures from different projects that NASA is involved in and lots of information on the planets.  

Science 360: This app is really neat! It provides lots and lots of videos associated with science topics and would be a great way to start any science class, or have the students choose a video to watch at the end of class. Incorporating videos from this app into the classroom, I think, would increase student interest in the subject and expand how students think about science.  


Eyewitness: If I taught English Language Arts or Social Studies, I would use this app more frequently. It provides pictures of the day and the pictures are phenomenal. They would make for great story starters or conversation starters. I am going to download this app and look for pictures that relate to my subjects, I am sure some pictures will come up and then I can use them for discussions and writing activities.  

Tourwrist: Want to transport your students to a different country or location? This app can do that. There is a tour of the day and by moving your iPad you can take part in a tour of a new country or location each day. What a great way for students to visualize different cultures and communities and gain respect for the global world.  

Howcast: I can't wait to do some snooping around this app. It provides the user with hundreds of "how to" videos. I am sure I will find some videos to be used with my students as well as videos to be used in my life as well. It sounds like a great way to learn how to do something new. 


Tiki notes: I have one students who does not wish to have teachers scribe for him, nor does he want to use the desktop computer in my classroom to type his answers to tests or assignments. His spelling however is written the way that words sound. He does have an iPod touch, and if he can get Tiki notes, perhaps he would write his assignments and tests using that app. The word prediction capabilities may be just what he needs. There are many ways you can customize this app to suit your students needs including font size, keyboard layout, and the number of word predictions the app suggests. 

iTunes U: I always assumed since it was iTunes University, that it was college or university classes, I just recently realized that there was K-12 material on there as well. Also, if you are an educator, you can sign up for an iTunes U account and be granted 12 free "courses" to publish through iTunes U. You can direct your students to your classes or other classes on the site that they can access from anywhere and support their learning.


Webinar #2
Apps for students with Severe Autism
I found the last two webinars to also be very informative, but not as useful to me at this time because of the make up of my current classes. I currently do not have a student with autism or communication disorder in my classes, however, I do know that I will at some point have a student who these apps will be useful for. This webinar provided videos at the beginning with a teacher and student and they explained and showed how the apps were being used in the school.

Here are my favorite 5 apps from this webinar:  

Injini: When the price of this app was revealed at $49.99, I was ready to stop listening. I know for very helpful apps that is not a lot of money compared to programs before mobile devices, but that's a lot of money for an app. Then I watched the webinar as they showed us the different things the app can do, and I loved it! The games and customization of the app I think is great, it allows users to practice motor control, cause and effect, and spatial awareness. There is a free version to try and I will be downloading that for nieces and nephews to play with.

Fun Deck: This was another app that I immediately thought of my nieces and nephews. Kids are not always the best listeners and don't always follow directions as one wants them to. This app provides a game atmosphere where the users complete the direction given to them on the card. The cards provide direct and basic directions such as "stand up" and it's only 99 cents. 

I Like Books: 37 free books in 1 app, do I have to say anymore? They are very basic and simple books but would be a great app for any teacher, parent, or even babysitter to have in their back pocket.  

Sign 4 me: You never know when you are going to want or have to communicate with someone who speaks sign language. I have always looked at learning sign language through a community college however after seeing this app and other apps that Tara presented today in class, I am considering trying to learn it myself. This app would be a quick short term solution for communicating with someone who signs.  

Fluid 2: This app is for the iPod touch and iPhone and is one I am going to get my students who need sensory breaks to download onto their phone. It is a lot of fun to play around with the waves and motion of the water. There is a free version but the 2 provides the users the options of changing the background picture and using music from their collection instead of the music on the app.



Webinar #3
Apps for students with Communication Disorders
One this I really liked about this webinar was the ability to hear the presentation from the point of view of a speech language pathologist as well as a technology specialist. It gave the presentation an interesting depth. 

Here are my favorite 5 apps from this webinar:
  
Communication Skills: This app is free! It is a bank of 80 prerecorded videos for functional skills. I want to take a look at what videos are available and perhaps there are some great ones to use at the beginning of the year when you are going over rules and routines and expectations in the classroom. Or even for throughout the year when you need to reinforce those expectations. I can also see the impact they would play when teaching social skills to students.  

Speech with Milo: This app costs $2.99 and teaches students how to put words and pictures into a sequence. The user is shown pictures and text, or just pictures and they are asked to put them in the proper order. You can have the settings set to make a buzzing noise to indicate incorrect or have no noise, text or no text attached to the sequence. After the sequence is correct the app will play a short animation demonstrating that proper sequence. You can also skip the animation. I found it very interactive and engaging, so I can imagine students would too.  

Speech Tutor: I was very impressed with this app. As someone who had to see an SLP as a young student I wish this app was around for me then. It provides a 3-D view of the mouth and how to make specific sounds. Depending on the sound you choose to be demonstrated, the speech tutor may also include air flow through the mouth for the different sounds.  

Artikpix: This is the other app that I wish was around in the 1990's so I could have used it to learn the different sounds I was having trouble with. This app provides a deck of cards with the chosen sound and articulation that you are working on. The card will pronounce the word for you and then you are to pronounce the word in response. Once the user progresses from pronouncing the word, they can then move on to using the word in a sentence by the touch of a button. Their progress can be scored and at the end the app will provide them with a score summary and have the capability of emailing that score summary out, if desired.  

Proloquo2go: Even though this app has a high price tag at $189.99, this webinar and the research I have heard or read about AAC devices just confirms what a great program it is, even for the price. This app seems to far out weigh other similar apps in terms of settings, accessibility, customization, and capabilities. Many classmates in my course have completed a blog post on this app. Check out this one here. I have also linked a video to give you an over view of how great this app is.