Class #1:  Thursday, July 3rd

 

In today’s class we used an app called “Pic Collage” to briefly introduce ourselves to the class.  After familiarizing ourselves with this app, we learned how to use “airdrop” to share the collage with the class.  I can see how the use of airdrop would be very useful in the classroom setting where students use ipads individually or in groups.   I have minimal experience working with airdrop, as my school has a limited amount of ipads for student use.  As mentioned in the “Breakthrough for Josh…” article (McClanahan, et al) a practical concern with the use of such apps is the limitations of hardware and software availability and teacher training. While the number of ipads and other related ICT has increased over the past year in our board, we have students who could be directly benefiting from their use.  The example of Kurzweil was one topic of discussion that I related to during today’s class.  This is a very costly text reader program that is used frequently in our board, while there are highly accessible apps (such as “Prizmo”) that are available at a fraction of the cost. Such apps are crucial for students who are unable to access text conventionally.

Another activity from today’s class required us to write with our non-dominant hand, and then write without using our hands.  This simple activity was enlightening as much of the time I we do not take the time to think about the challenges that many of our students have relating to the task of writing.  In reflecting upon the process of writing with my non-dominant hand, I was able to think of several students that I have worked with in the resource setting that struggle to put words on paper. The emphasis on forming the actual letters and trying to maintain appropriate spacing meant that I was less focused on the actual task at hand.  The use of the ipad as the “medium of intervention” (McClanahan, et al) would allow students with writing difficulties to focus on the concepts that are being taught, rather than the process of recording the information. Following this activity, we used the "Poll Everywhere" (or PollEv) application to submit responses that indicate how we felt when completing the reading and writing tasks.

 

In the McClanahan article, it is noted that the manipulative touch screen and the stylus promoted engagement for Josh as he was learning in a multimodal environment. I strongly agree with the idea of incorporating a range of learning styles into our daily teaching process that reach all learners.  The range of apps that have been introduced in our first assignment provide a variety of mediums for students to present their learning.  During class time today, I experimented with Cloud Art and Tellagami. While I am familiar with Wordle (which is similar to Cloud Art), I thought Tellagami was very interesting and user-friendly. I can see using this with my students as an alternative presentation or an app to integrate into a larger presentation, such as our first assignment.  I introduced Tellagami to my nine year old son this evening, and he promptly watched me use it for a moment, then created his own “Gami” using a silly background and message J

I am looking forward to exploring the plethora of apps that have been suggested for use in our first assignment.