Assistive Technologies

These three screen shots are of different assistive technologies that are available through the control panel on my computer. The first screen shot is of the on-screen keyboard. This allows people that have motor skill problems and have problems with typing to type on the keyboard that appears on the screen. The second screen shot is of the Microsoft Narrator. The narrator is useful for students that are blind or just have trouble seeing the screen even with glasses or contacts. The narrator will read the text to them that is on the screen. The last screenshot is of the magnifier. This is helpful as well for students that have trouble seeing the computer screen even with glasses or contacts. It magnifies the
spot that they are typing at. If they are not typing, it magnifies the spot that the pointer is at. It makes it much easier to see what is on the screen since it is a close-up version of the screen. Microsoft Ease of Access is very helpful for students or individuals with special needs. There are even more features to help out more needs than just the three that I showed on this blog post. The features can prove to very beneficial for students with special needs to move at t he same pace as the students without special needs.

Summative Assessments

I also recently learned what a summative assessment is. A summative assessment is one that provides a review or assessment that provides a means toward a grade or judgement. This is very different from the formative assessments. Your job with this type of assessment is to be able to give a letter grade to the student by the end of the assessment. Types of things to help you with these assessments would be rubrics and answer keys. This one does help out the formative assessment though. The grades that are based off of a summative assessment allows for progress to be shown so that a formative assessment can even be made. Summative assessments are very important because it allows the students to know how well they are doing, what they need to work on, what they are retaining, and where they stand in the classes grading system. This also allows for a final grade or a completion at the end of term to be shown for the student with a means to support what is shown on their report card. Ways summative assessments can be shown is by using an Excel worksheet, Word Documents, or even Google Docs using their worksheets/spreadsheets in order to create a rubric for a project or large assignment that the students are supposed to complete. Another way is to use Microsoft Word or Google Docs to create an answer key for any tests, quizzes, or assignments. Also any one of these could be used as well to make a rubric or grading sheet for the student's participation in the class throughout the term. An important thing to remember is that you are trying to grade them and give them judgements on their completed work instead of just insight and feedback. You need to let them know exactly how well they did. As long as this is done courteously, professionally, and individually, this can be very beneficial for the students.

Formative Assessments

I recently learned what a formative assessment is. A formative assessment is to provide feedback for students on their progress without assessing a grade to it. It provides students feedback on their progress in their learning, understanding, skills, and attitudes. This assessment is not just for the students though. This is also a chance for the teacher to learn about how well their teaching methods are working. It helps the teacher look at what has been learned, how well it was learned, and if anything else needs to be retouched upon. There are many ways that this could be handled, but one important idea is that this is meant to provide feedback and guidance instead of judgement and grades. A formative assessment is beneficial in the fact that it allows students and teachers learn where progress has been made and what progress still needs to be made. Technology tools can be used to do complete this assessment. Email could be used to discuss the progress and assessment between teachers and students. Another way is to use Google Docs to create an anonymous survey so that students can fill it out about your teaching methods, and you could create a document or survey that allows you to tell each student individually about their progress and assessment. One last thought is to create an Excel worksheet that gives an encouragement in certain areas and have it filled out anonymously by each student for your assessment as a teacher and you fill one out for each student. The only problem is that the last one can be accidently seen as a grade like scale which is not the goal of the assessment. The most important thing to remember is this is about feedback instead of judgement and grades. As long as that is done in a professional manner, it can be very beneficial to the students, the teacher, and the class as a whole.

PLN

This tool is iGoogle. It is a tool provided Google if an account is created. It allows the user to save their favorite and most useful websites to the website, so that updates will be posted. The updates will allow the user to see what new things are being added to the websites and what new things are going on. It also allows them to place different features such as the weather, calendar, and other features.

This is beneficial as a teacher because you can attach different online communities for teachers as well as websites that provide teachers with different tools, lesson plans, and other features. Updates will then be posted on the iGoogle page so that the teacher can see what new things are going on, as well as new laws being debated or that will be put into action in the near future that could affect their teaching. They can also post links to different tools that they have found online. These could be tools that they use for different activities or sections in their teaching to help the studnets learn the material better. This will help the teacher be more organized and prepared for each lesson. This PLN will help teachers be more organized and knowledgeable as teachers in general, as well as in their subject area. It will be helpful as well to bookmark lesson plans that interested that teacher that they though of using or have used in class before.

Technology Practices

When we look at technology practices, we are really looking at different ways that technology can be integrated into the classroom. We look to see in what ways technology can be applied make a subject area more effective, efficient, and enhancing. If done correctly, this really can work, but technology practices must be put into effect under the correct circumstances. You must look at how much it is adding to effectiveness, efficiency, and enhancement before applying it. Otherwise, it could actually hinder the learning of the students. Below I will list some different tools that could be used in my subject area, math, to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and enhancement. Then below that, I will list one way each of those tools can be put to use in the subject.

Tools:

1. Microsoft Excel

2. Inspiration

3. Prezi

4. Microsoft Access

5. Microsoft PowerPoint

Use for each:

1. You could use Microsoft Excel to create a worksheet of a real-life situation of a particular set of data. You could have the students take the data that is given to them and analyze it. As well, you could have them create graphs based off that data and see how it is represented. Lastly, you could have them manipulate the data in different ways to see how some companies can mislead their customers by manipulating the data given to them. This can increase enhance their learning because it makes them apply their knowledge and engages them in what they learn. It also allows them to have a hands-on experience with the material and shows them that it is useful knowledge.

2. You could use Inspiration to create a lesson plan. It allows you to use formulas. You can use simple explanations and examples on it to help teach the students the topic. It gives you a more interesting way to present the information so it can enhance their learning because they will be more engaged. It could also prove to be more effective in how they learn the material.

3. You could use Prezi to create a lesson presentation. You could be teaching them the lesson through this tool. It is a more creative and fun way to teach because the whole lesson is on the screen except it will jump and zoom into the area you are discussing and showing. You could engage the students by allowing them to enjoy the way they are being taught.

4. Microsoft Access could be used by splitting the class into groups. Each group will create their own real-world situation giving data in a certain circumstance. They are giving this data so that other students can analyze and graph it. When each group is done, they will switch with another group. They will analyze and graph the data given to them, as well as learn to manipulate the data in different ways to make it seem different to the public. Many companies do this, so this would heighten their understanding on what to pay attention to when reading graphs to make sure they are not misled. This enhances their knowledge because they are seeing that the topic is important and useful, as well as applying the knowledge they already learned. It is also effective because it helps them retain their knowledge by giving more examples and practice.

5. Microsoft PowerPoint could be used by having students create their own slideshow of the material after it is taught to them. This could act as a check to their knowledge to make sure it is being understood. Each student would go in and create a PowerPoint that teaches the topic and provides examples and solutions to show their knowledge. They can do this by posting different equations on the slide and showing how they got the solution. This can enhance their learning by making them apply their knowledge. It is also effective because it provides a way to test how well they are retaining the information.

Digital Collaborative Tools

Digital collaborative tools are online tools that allow for discussion and teaching. Collaborative tools is a somewhat broad term because you have communication tools, content exploration tools, production tools, and data collection and analysis tools. These are beneficial to the classroom because they can be effective, efficient, and enhancing. They can be effective by providing concrete examples for the material so that they can practice and put to use what they learn. It also can be efficient because it can shorten the time needed for the learning and make the material more understandable. It can also enhance the student's learning by giving them that hands-on experience and engaging their minds in different areas as they learn the material. Below I will list some examples of different tools that are available for teachers, providing links to ones that I can provide one for.

Blogs

Google Docs

Microsoft Excel

Online Communities

Microsoft Word

Microsoft PowerPoint

Some of these tools such as the Microsoft applications, can be used to create hands-on projects that they will have to apply their knowledge to in order to complete the assignment. In a blog, google docs, or online community, they could discuss different methods of solving different problems and equations. There are different methods of coming to the correct answer, so they could collaborate and discuss ways of solving the problem to find the easy solution. They could also use them to talk with people from different areas to get their knowledge on the topic at hand and possibly even the history behind the topic. They could also discover different methods to the solution from people from different areas using those tools to communicate.

Online Communities

Online communities are created for people of the same interests or thoughts to get together and communicate through the use of the internet. It allows people from different areas to communicate in real time and get to know each other without the hassle of trying to schedule time to meet in a certain area. This can be very beneficial to teachers. This can allow teachers from different areas to discuss their teaching methods and different lesson plans that they have created and found to be effective. It could in turn be beneficial to the classroom by finding lesson plans that are more effective, efficient, and enhance the student's learning. As teachers we could all learn from each other, and online communities can be that tool that allows us to do that.

Here is a website that actually allows you to create your own online community:

Online Community Creation

Here is also an article that explains how PBS set up an online community to improve technology integration in the classroom:

PBS

Here are a couple websites of online communities as well:

Online Community #1

Online Community #2

Last are some "how to" guides for online communities:

"How to" #1

"How to" #2