Sunday, May 27, 2012

Shane Robinson Tech Review


Shane Paul Robinson
Technology Review ED 537
International Society for Technology in Education
Teaching Your Students to Fail Better by Christian Long
Leading and Learning
Feb. 2012, Volume 39, Issue 5
Topic: Christian Long invites failure to be part of the students on-line learning process.
Introduction: Long proposes the question, "if you were to create a classroom from scratch for the benefit of school children what would be included? Long argues it should include not only a tolerance for failure but the encouragement thereof. The article is in line with the old adage nothing ventured nothing gained. Long believes students need to learn to, "adapt to the increasingly complex world  to become a modern learner, professional, and citizen." 
Intended Audience: Educators, school planners, educational futurist, and advocates for innovative learning communities
Christian Long’s key points verbatim:
  • The classroom can’t just be a showcase for technology.
  • Students must be the center of the program.
  • Adults must serve as mentors, sherpas, and allies.
  • Students must solve real problems that they come up with. 
Long's Quote: I didn’t want to speak about just the general concept of failure, but I wanted to celebrate the words of Samuel Beckett: "Fail, fail more. Fail better." And I wanted to do so with an eye toward empowering students to thrive. Christian Long 
Relevance:  The ISTE Leading and Learning article entitled Teach Your Students to Fail Better with Design Thinking tells of the importance of students learning in a technologically advancing world, “to be comfortable with failure.” The author of the article Christian Long argues, “Student’s need, agility, divergent thinking patterns, and an ability to test ideas in a messier way.”A paradigm shift is at hand in the evolution of learning for modern day students and teaching for that matter for teachers due to technological advances."

Ted-Ed Talks
Creator: Jon Bergmann
Title: Just How Small is an Atom?
Complete URL: http://www.ted.com/talks/just_how_small_is_an_atom.html?quote=1562
Date retrieved: May 26th, 2012

Topic: Size and density of an atom as illustrated through animation by award winning educator Jon Bergmann
Introduction: Just how small are atoms? Really, really, really small. This fast-paced animation from TED Ed uses metaphors (imagine a blueberry the size of a football stadium!) to give a visceral sense of just how small atoms are. Lesson by Jon Bergmann, animation by Cognitive Media.
Intended audience:  Middle school and high school science students
Key points: The atom is very, very, very small and the nucleus is incredibly dense.
Relevance: Ted-Ed talks are relevant for students and teachers alike in trying to grasp complex ideas.
Quotes: “If I filled the Earth with blueberries, I would have the same number as atoms in a grapefruit.” (Jon Bergmann)

Bergmann believes educators should ask one guiding question: What is best for my students in my classroom?



In 2009, I took a technology class at the University of Oregon with the aim of catching up on modern advances in technology. I hoped to learn the practical things I have learned throughout this class instead what I received was a brief history computer programming history and lifetimes worth of futurist theory. The class was rooted in the work of Ray Kurzweil who reuters.com calls an inventor and futurist. Forbes magazine referred to Kurzweil as “the ultimate thinking machine.” When provided the opportunity to watch a ted-talks-technology I chose check out if anything was new in Kurzweil’s world. Kurzweils ted talk video was sort of a Kurzweil’s greatest hits in less than five minutes. In it Ray very briefly goes over his belief in a steady and predictable Law of Accelerating Returns in technological advancement, his stance on nanotechnology, and the growth and power of solar power. After covering his life’s work in less than five minutes he speaks of his newly constructed Singularity University which was founded in partnership with Dr. Peter H. Diamandis. Singularityu.org is founded on the premise of being a, “new university that can leverage the power of exponential technologies to solve humanity’s grand challenges (http://singularityu.org, 2012).” Ted-talks in my opinion is a very user friendly and informative website that I will be sure to revisit in the future.


Youtube Webinar video: web page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz2wBT9gZfo.


According to a Youtube video entitled,  The Beginner’s Guide to Webinar  a webinar is an online seminar or workshop delivered over the internet. Gotowebinar is the most popular web site used to set up and utilize a webinar.  There is a host and attendees who register, sign in and then wait for the webinar to begin at a pre-arranged time. 
 
Youtube features a video of a Special Education Law and Discipline webinar hosted by two attorneys at law. David Nash an NJPSA Legal Consultant along with Teresa Moore from Rutgers Law School. 


David Nash co-presented with Teresa Moore on Special Education with the primary focus on discipline and some of the due process rules protecting students. They tried to work through the basics of the subject at hand via power point slide show.
Fortunately, the Youtube video showed the slide show so I could follow along. The goal of the presentation was to answer these four questions:
       Is there a significant change in placement?
      Did the incident involve weapon, drugs, or serious bodily injury? 
             Was the behavior a manifestation of disability
              Is the student a danger to himself or others.
The answers were just as hard hitting as the questions which is great for a candidate such as me to be exposed to so early on in my career. I thought it was very practical for the attendees of the webinar to be able to type in questions. The answers were prompt and to the point. I appreciate how this made the whole experience more interactive.  

App Review 

Baby ASL App 

May 25th, I took an Ipad to my workplace for the first time. My assumptions that the students I work with would treat it as a toy to be played with until they lost interest. I was wrong on both accounts. Initially, I sat down next to a student with traumatic brain injury and started looking at Baby Signs myself. My goal was to have this student who I will call AM develop her own interest in the Ipad as opposed to my shoving it front of her face. I felt this approach would be more authentic. As AM looked through magazines repeatedly, I browsed around the apps on the Ipad. After a few minutes AM’s eyes started wandering over to look at what I was viewing. Within five minutes she was insisting in her own way that she wanted to try. I opened the app Beautiful Planet HD for her and within seconds she figured out how to manipulate the pages to go forward and backwards. This feat was appreciated in amazement by the newly formed audience of instructional aides and the teacher. Interestingly, AM was very hungry and on the verge of what some call a meltdown. For the first time something distracted her from food long enough for her to be fed at the appropriate time without having a fit. Essentially, the Ipad competed with and beat out AM’s desire for food which is incredibly strong. After a while changed apps and had AM look at Baby Signs. This was not as engaging as the beautiful planet HD pictures but it was still holding her interest. We worked on Baby A.S.L. for the next twenty minutes until it was time for her to eat via G-tube.

The next opportunity I had to use the Ipad was in teaching two students general life skills. One student (I’ll call CD) is trying to learn his address. The premise is if he is lost he will need to be able to communicate his address or at least his street name to a police officer. After two months he has learned his street name but has a hard time speaking it in a clear manner. I had no idea how the Ipad was to help in this manner but I figured it was worth a shot none the less. As soon as I opened the Ipad, CD went straight to the Google Maps app.
I asked him to input his address as best as he could. We struggled at first as we had been originally given the wrong spelling of his address. Once I remedied this we placed it in the Google maps search bar and up came the location of his house. From there on I became the student as both of the students gave me a tutorial on how to use a Google Maps. They zoomed in and looked directly at their house. We did this one by one for the whole group. CD then pulled out his newly acquired Iphone and completed the same sequence on hi phone and place a little red pin in the location of his home address to save it, one more way in which CD could tell a police officer where he lives if he happens to get lost. To reward them for behaving well and participating I allowed them to play with the Drawing Pad app on the I pad which they had a blast with. It turned out that two of the four students I eventually ended up working with that hour owned I pads. It’s pretty cool how I ended up with four students in front of me as well. Two of the students were working independently on reading comprehension across the room. They worked extremely hard to finish their assignment as fast as they could in order to participate in working with the I pad.


Educational Apps
In exceptionality class we were charged with looking up technologically advanced devices that aid deaf people. I instantly went for the I pad, interestingly Aarron was the only one in the group wanting to use the I pad as well. I looked up three different free apps that a deaf person could use to help them in various circumstances.

PhraseBoard
Allows people to communicate when they are unable to speak. PhraseBoard was designed by a Registered Nurse experienced with clients who were unable to speak or for whom speaking was too taxing.    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/phrase-board/id380424676?mt=8
- Large “Yes” and “No” buttons allow for simple usage.
- Scrollable lists of having/feeling statements and want statements provide quick and easy communication.
- Custom messages input and saved by the user.
- Message bar reiterates statements chosen.

Pain page facilitates quick and easy expression of pain.
- Slider displays one to ten pain scale.
- Type
- Location
- Frequency / Duration
- Body illustration provides clarity.


The T2 Remote application takes advantage of a new breakthrough technology from Audibel that allows users to control their hearing aids with a simple touch on their iPhone and iPod touch. This avoids the need for any additional hardware. T2 discreetly and instantly classifies the tone signal from the iPhone or iPod touch and automatically adjusts the hearing aid to the desired setting.

American Sign Language App’s including Baby Signs and other generic ASL apps were already downloaded on the Ipad prior to class.

Author names: Elizabeth West, Phyllis Jones, and Sarah Semon
Title of article: Promoting community for online learners in special education.
Title of journal: Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education
Date of publication: 2012
Volume of the journal: 28
Issue number of the journal: 3
Article Page numbers: “pp. 108-116”
Topic: Community for on-line learners
Introduction: The sense of community in an online environment may contribute to students’ success and satisfaction (Knapczyk, Chapman, Rodes, & Chung, 2001).
Intended audience: M.A.T. Candidates , Educators
Key Points: West, Jones, and Semon believe the key points drawn from their study are on-line communities should include but not be limited to: learner-centered activities, safe environment, communication, and a  supportive instructor.
Relevance: This journal article explains how an online community of graduate students can be created, fostered, and nurtured from start to finish.

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