Assistive Tech - Final Takeaways

I really enjoyed this class. Being a new teacher (again), I love having to chance to learn about new technology that is available for us to use for our students. Technology is obviously the path of the future, so we may as well all get on board and learn as much as we can in order to best help our students.

Some of my main takeaways from this course are…

1)      iPads! I am definitely on-board with the iPad. They clearly are the most user-friendly, universally designed device. In my last class, our professor, who is blind, continuously told us how amazing the apple devices were for her. I didn’t know, until we went through some of the MANY features, how adaptable they truly are. Despite the price of them, compared to other tablets, I think it’s worth the extra money as they’ll go much further and provide much more support than some of their cheaper companions. I’m planning to apply for a tech-grant for my classroom next year & I really hope it’s successful!

2)      There’s an app for everything. Or extension…or ad-on. I had no idea how many options there were for all of the platforms. I really enjoyed how we went in-depth on different apps for all levels of the reading & writing process. Those two processes have, perhaps, the largest impact on a students’ success in school. I love how we live in a time where we have the option to put a child on an iPad/computer if they have trouble reading or writing. Years ago, those students would have been lost & potentially drop out of school. We’re extremely fortunate to have access to so many devices that can help these children who are struggling and I think the options are only going to get better!

3)      The complexity of the reading & writing process baffled me. I remember when I wrote my thoughts on the processes down and they maybe had 6 or 7 parts to them. Both processes are so layered and I now realize why there are so many places where a person could hit a roadblock. After listening to our case studies, it makes so much sense that the majority of them dealt with issues concerning reading & writing. The images that show the reading & writing processes should be shared with all teachers. We all need to be aware of how complex these processes are, and how we can assist when a student encounters a difficulty.
4)   UDL - Universal Design for Learning is so important to constantly keep in mind. I keep going back to Barb's piece of paper that she kept holding up. If you hand out that piece of paper, that is all it remains. It makes no accommodations for anyone. However, the minute you digitize that piece of paper, you get endless options. You can have it read aloud, you can simplify the language, you could edit it into manageable size parts...you can do anything with it! UDL is key. It needs to be in the forefront of how we design our curriculum and how we approach our classrooms.

These are just some of the many takeaways from this course. I’m really looking forward to the summer session & learning more about ways we can use technology to support all of our learners.