Homework+for+Tuesday+Feb.+7

1. Reading: “//Special Ed. Pupils Find Learning Tool in iPad Application//” - The iPad offers independence to students with special needs - iPads can be very pricy - Depending on what your needs are, there may be other devices that are like the iPad, but do not cost as much - There is an app that uses a game to entice students into solving math problems - The iPad is more convenient to carry around than a laptop - After purchasing iPads for the classroom, how much money will it cost for the upkeep? - If special education students are able to sue the iPad for life skills, will this also mean that they have a more likely chance of being able to work a job? - How much time in the classroom should be devoted to using the iPad or any other technology?
 * __ Homework for Tuesday Feb. 7 __**
 * __ Reading Journal __**
 * __ Five Most Interesting Key Concepts __**
 * __ Three Questions or Ideas to Pursue __**

2. Reading: “//iPad As a Mobile Classroom and the Newest Tool for Special Education Teachers//” - From a student’s perspective(as well as a teacher’s) the iPad is a cool thing to be able to use - This put into perspective of how a student might feel if they were the only ones who were using technology in the classroom - The iPad is better designed to fit special education student’s needs; better than other technology that is out there - The iPad is like a newer version of Neo 2.; but better - Now, mobile iPad labs can be provided in schools - Even though the iPad gives Wi-Fi access, shouldn’t there be a way that teachers can control what the students are doing on the internet? - How can we (as teachers) make technology more accessible to students, both special needs students and general education students? - Will schools be able to provide iPad labs for each grade level? Because then only apps that are appropriate for the grade would be available and it would be able to help conserve memory space.
 * __ Five Most Interesting Key Concepts __**
 * __ Three Questions or Ideas to Pursue __**

3. Reading: //“Apple in Education: Useful to Everyone Right from the Start”// - Has a feature that allows students to be able to keep track of their daily assignments - The iPad can be designed for braille use and has a voice that tells the student what is on the screen - There is high-speed chat rooms specifically designed so that students can use sign language to communicate - Students can use a stylist to write on the screen if they have fine-motor trouble - The slow keys feature is designed for slow-typers' so that there is a lesser chance of them making keyboarding mistakes. - If we are trying to teach students how to spell on their own; why would we have them use a tool that does the spelling for them (the Word Completion feature)? -The technology design of the iPad for special ed. students is wonderful! Maybe there is a way to apply these features to other forms of technology? - Could the GarageBand app be used not just for students who are deaf but for entire classrooms (and parents) as a way to find out what was assigned if the students missed class?
 * __ Five Most Interesting Key Concepts __**
 * __ Three Questions or Ideas to Pursue __**

4. Reading: //“2011: The Year of the Media Tablet As a Learning Tool”// - Using iPads and smartphones as learning devices. - iPads are being used as an extension of the classroom - Apps on the iPad are used as the tool to make learning new knowledge fun - The iPad allows for instant feedback from anyone you are working with from wherever you are - Is there a way to make the iPad custom to schools and only allow certain apps to be used? - Could there be a way to take tests using the iPad as what you take the test on, but limit access to the internet? - Why aren’t there more companies using the iPad?
 * __ Five Most Interesting Key Concepts __**
 * __ Three Questions or Ideas to Pursue __**


 * __ Question in reading, “Universal Design for Learning” __**

//1. Consider how assistive technology such as ones explained or researched could be a “universally designed feature for learning.” Demonstrate how one set of materials provides access and which of its features, if any, are universally designed.//

One form of assistive technology is the iPad and is in the process of being researched to see how it affects students’ learning. There is research already done, and continually being done, that has shown what an important role the iPad can be for students with special needs and how it can fit into Universal Design.

Suppose a teacher has recognized that a student needs special education. After evaluating what that student needs, let’s say this student wears a hearing aid and uses sign language to communicate; the teacher can use the built in iSight camera and Apple iChat software and communicate in sign language to the student homework if they were absent from school. Or the teacher can use the GarageBand app to help the student distinguish different voices and help with auditory comprehension skills. The teacher will be able to tell if the student is having success using these skills to determine is this is a learning program that will fit this student.

That same teacher can use the same iPad for a different student in her class. Let’s say that this student is blind. There is an app that is called the VoiceOver and it reads to the student’s not only what the text is, but gives a complete description of what is on the screen. This app also works with many other Braille programs and the teacher can use the same universal Design assessment to see if this learning program works for this student.

Now, this teacher also has students in her class that are not in the special education program; but that doesn’t mean that the other students can’t use it too. Along with all of the other apps and features that were mentioned above, the iPad have features called the iCal, Finder, and Grapher. With the iCal students are able to keep track of homework deadlines; with the Finder students’ homework assignments and documents related to what they are searching for; and the Grapher can be used for analysis of math equations.

The Universal Design for Learning is a program that can be adapted to fit any student and the iPad is a piece of technology that can be adapted to fit any student. If a teacher was able to have a mobile iPad lab for her classroom, it would be a very easy piece of technology to adapt into the program.