Last Class Reflections (November 30th, 2013) Presentation Day

Last Class was wonderful, exciting, informative, and the learning never stops!  All of the presentations were very interesting and from each presentation, I personally took away new information about assistive technology, ideas to use with students and staff, that I will be able to incorporate on a regular basis and in a variety of ways.  We have truly come such a long way since our first class in September, and I will be honest.... I was not certain if I would be able to do this course as I assumed it would be too difficult to grasp, to work through, to learn "new" technologies and apply them.  Was I ever mistaken!!!!!!! I ended up loving the course, bought an iPad mini in the process, and allowed technology to transform ME, how I think about technology for all, but especially in supporting each and every student I work with, how to provide technology support and consult with other educators as to what might work well with students and assistive technology, to help support happy, positive and successful students, and  instill as much independence as possible.  This is what I see as true UDL for all, and thinking back to our UDL Learning Guidelines - representation, expression and engagement through multiple means of representation.  The apps we have at our fingertips are endless - and the presentations spoke to the great use of assistive tech to support so many of our students early into the start of their school careers, and to support them through school and into independent life and ongoing learning, professions, etc.  

I wanted to add a few comments about some of the presentations that I could not comment on via individual blogs because I continue to experience difficulty accessing some of your blog sites.  I did comment on other individual blog sites, but the following are my classmates that I could not access:

Elaine:  Your presentation was wonderful!  Your student was an inspiration and speaks to our students that have so many gifts and talents in other areas. The barriers that curriculum outcomes and curriculum in general (and lets not even talk about assessments) present for many students, but especially students with learning challenges, LD's, etc., continues to be a real problem.  It just goes to show what good assistive technology can do for students that have learning challenges in working memory, processing, phonological awareness, writing output/production, comprehension, etc.  

Amy: Awesome presentation!  I hope your student gets the assessments he needs!  Thank you for supporting this student and helping instill the much needed support, self-confidence he needs in making a difference and continuing to positively impact his learning, his knowledge sharing and output other than the traditional paper-pencil (argggg) tasks. Voice to text has certainly made a huge difference for so many students, and.... for me too!  :)  

Shawna: Your son is wonderful!!!!!  Thanks for sharing his story too.  Thank you for demonstrating the "old and traditional approach" to the "new approach" to spelling, working with sight words, and using the iPad and the various apps that have proven time and time again to be so effective in helping children in their learning through fun, positive, and super-reinforcing ways!  Little Speller app is great!  I love the Grasshopper and Alligator apps.  Will be using these a lot!

Thanks to you all for a great learning experience and learning so much together!  I wish you all the very best and Happy Holidays to you all.  What a course!

Donna :)

The following videos are neat!