Case Study Presentations Round 2

I enjoyed all of the presentations last night. It was great to see the wide range of students involved and the apps that were used to support them in their learning. I am very curious to play around with Comic Life. In the presentation, it was used with reluctant and unmotivated grade 12 students and it seemed to have a significant impact on their written output. Too bad they had to endure the tech issues. This can really frustrate already frustrated students. The Chosen One was an interesting presentation. It was evident that he really could handle the I Pod and manipulate the program. I think the Chosen One would be an interesting student to work with given his level of intelligence, energy and enthusiam. He will need a number of apps to keep his focus. The presentation of the student in grade six was great. I like to hear positive social stories and learning that a student new to the school and having lower functioning capabilities can be so supported by his peers is great news. Obviously, the programs in place to support his learning are working very well. I really enjoyed the last presentation because it was with an adult learner. I think that it is great that a 40 year old is still so motivated to learn after what he has gone through. You can really see the power of the text to speech apps when it allows a grown man to improve the quality of his life. The apps that he is using will no doubt make a significant impact in his education. Also, great to see that there are such institutions out there supporting adult learners in this capacity. Great night!

Case Study Presentations Round 1

Tonight there were 6 case study presentations. I really enjoyed all the presentations and it is evident that we all learned a great deal about assistive technology in this class. I really enjoyed the presentation of the young girl from NG. I like hearing how the apps supported her learning and the ah ha moment for her when she was able to point and hold up the I Pad when she needed to do so. I also enjoyed watching how a girl who was using the I Pod touch to communicate with her friends. Great use of the program Pictello! The My Toolbar presentation was very informative and detailed. It was great how the presenters broke down the positives and the neagatives of this program. I have since downloaded this program and am now exploring it. I was fortunate to go first and presented my case study which involved working with two grade 1 students on a Hyperstudio project. The project involved exploring, brainstorming, creating and presenting information and software. The theme of the project was social acceptable behaviors in different areas of the school. The kids learned how to create pages that were linked to each other, animation, video, input sounds and transitions. Both kids came up with great ideas of how children should behave in the classroom, the hallway, gym, cafeteria, on the bus and on the playground. I think they enjoyed themselves and they did a wonderful job. Our next step involves them presenting their project to each of their classes. Hyperstudio 5 is a great program for project based learning. It is easy to use and highly engaging for kids. The program costs approximatel $60 but you can get a 30 day trial for free at http://www.mackiev.com/hyperstudio/index.html  Check it out!