Monday, February 13, 2012

Blog Post #3

Technology in Special Education


     In this video, Lacey demonstrates how technology benefits students in special education by asking them questions about their experience with computers. The students appear to be high school age. Many of the students are in wheel chairs. Her class has a mixture of students with learning and/or physical disabilities.
      I never really thought too much about children with special needs. I went into this program strictly thinking about teaching students with average or above average learning capabilities. However, I had a change of heart just by watching this video! At first, when Lacey spoke with Chris, he didn't show any signs of communication except through his eyes. Later, when Lacey showed what Chris wrote on the computer, I was shocked! He typed a whole sentence using correct grammar! With technology, students can reach their learning potential because they are able to communicate and pay attention more effectively.

Education Application


    The education app I chose is called Fotopedia. In this application, students can see up close up pictures of animals in the wild. Animals in the application include sea turtles, foxes, sea horses, and much more! Children of all ages should enjoy looking at the great quality animal pictures. There are even descriptions about the animals. The application includes interactive maps to show where the animals live. Overall, the application looks fun and educational. The coolest part is that it's free!

Gary Hayes Social Media Count


    When arriving at this <a href="http://www.personalizemedia.com/garys-social-media-count/">website</a> I was instantly amazed! Gary Hayes set up a counter of how many things have occurred within the last second, minute, day, and so on. These things include items shared on facebook, emails sent globally, sms's sent worldwide, and ect. I'm stunned that there are more emails being sent than sms messages. I found the Social Media Count most interesting. What's more shocking is that about every second there's an hour worth of videos uploaded on to Youtube.
       Taking this class and watching the counter on Hayes' website, makes me realize what kind of activities I'll have to plan for my students. Even then, I'll have to continuously update myself on new technology so that I can prepare my students for what they'll have to use in the future. I have a better idea of what the world is doing based on this web page.

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

   
     This video is filmed in a classroom with college students holding up signs that contain the average facts about the life of college students. I found this video to be very informative. If I averaged my 7 day week out to a day it would be like about 2 hours of classes, 4 hours of homework, 4 hours of work, and the rest would be free time and sleeping.
      Some of the things that were on the papers that the students held up were shocking but some were understandable. I've spent much money on text books that I hardly used and I've read many things for school that would not be relevant for my life. I agree that chalkboards need to be done a way with. Students need more visualization so that their comprehension of the subject being taught improves. We need a system that teaches students for life, not just a semester.


      

1 comment:

  1. Hell Eva,

    There seems to be an issue with a link in your post. It's probably an HTML problem. Ask a lab assistant to take a look next time you're in the lab. Also, you need to have a title tag for your image. You seem to have a good grasp of the topics for this post. Good work.

    ReplyDelete