During this two day course, I would have been interested in learning more about the different devices students with disabilities use and how to better equip my classroom for a more accessible learning environment. A lot of discussion was centered around tools teachers can use to promote learning in a digital literacy age, and yet I wonder about specific individuals who 1) don’t have access to devices like phones and 2) have their own tools/devices they use to communicate when they have a disability/impairment.
One article I found: The Importance of Assistive Technology in the Virtual and Physical Classroom. https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/assistive-technology-in-the-classroom This reading came out in December of 2020 and I think that’s important to note as we ebb and flow between online classrooms and physical classrooms coming out of the COVID pandemic.
I used Microsoft Teams while teaching at North Central and it was amazing to have a digital copy of lessons for students to have and/or turn in work. I had a student with dyslexia and ADHD, and they were a student who pushed back hard on having to write out a response for their artwork. I was told several times, “this is not an English class.” With having something as simple as Microsoft Teams, they can talk into their phone and upload the assignment that way. In addition, I had several students who had to know what they were doing that day before class even started so I would put the daily agenda up as a PowerPoint and then post that PowerPoint on Teams for students to reference later. I ran my classroom very similarly to how a college course runs there, but having the content available online and also having in class materials as well. One thing I will say, is I ran into a lot of plagiarism issues and I did have questions on how to address that concern and how to manage it as well.
Meagan, I like this post. I would have also like to see a little more emphasis on how to use technology for accommodations and modification. I remember Jeff mentioned speech-to-text for students with dyslexia but not too much else. I agree that technology can be a great tool for students to explain their processes or inspirations without writing if writing is not specifically the purpose. I think that class social media pages or something like Flip can work really well for that also.
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ReplyDeleteMeagan, I like this post. I would have also like to see a little more emphasis on how to use technology for accommodations and modification. I remember Jeff mentioned speech-to-text for students with dyslexia but not too much else. I agree that technology can be a great tool for students to explain their processes or inspirations without writing if writing is not specifically the purpose. I think that class social media pages or something like Flip can work really well for that also.