Class #4:  Tuesday, July 8th

Life on iPad:

At the beginning of today’s class, we looked at a video entitled “Life on iPad” that demonstrated the use of ipads in a vast number of fields.  Some of these areas include: athletics, cooking, agriculture, navigation, science, imagination, music and travel.  It was amazing to see some of the ways that ipads are used in such a range of areas.  Following this, we discussed how ipad and other mobile devices disrupts other technologies.  More specifically, there is less of a demand for devices such as GPS or personal computers now that we are able to use ipads to complete the tasks that we previously used individual devices for. 

 

More App Smashing:

We spent the remainder of the class working on our first assignment. As mentioned in a previous posting, I have found the work that we’ve been doing on this assignment extremely valuable.  Mark and I put together the remainder of our presentation using a huge range of apps, and integrated video and audio where appropriate.  After looking at the video that I took of Mark using the ToonCamera app, I realized how this tool might be effective for students who resist appearing on video or images that are shared with the class.  Since there are varying degrees of “cartoon lines” that you can choose for your video or images in this app, those students who resist this type of activity will have the opportunity to change the clarity of the video for presentation purposes. I am looking forward to seeing the presentations during tomorrow’s class.
 

 

The Education of Dyslexia:

Today’s article focused on the background, definitions, prevalence, diagnosis and treatment of Dyslexia. Sally Shaywitz, Robin Morris and Bennett Shaywitz included a very thorough review of the specific reading disability.  In defining dyslexia, Shaywitz et al. emphasized the notion that it is viewed as an “unexpected difficulty in reading”.  Since those diagnosed with learning disabilities have presented with average to above average intelligence, this part of the definition make sense. I previously worked at a specialized school for students with learning disabilities, where about 75% of the student had some degree of dyslexia.  By the time most of the student were identified as having an LD and enrolled in this school, their motivation to learn to read and spell was limited due to the lack of success that they had in their previous educational experiences. In order to break through this barrier of lack of motivation, a key component of the program was to teach students about their own LD, with an emphasis upon their strengths, including their capacity (or the intelligence required) to learn.

Shaywitz asserts that “the reliance on memory systems in these populations of older disabled readers may have implications for treatment of dyslexia”. I can relate directly to this comment as a significant number of the students that I work with in the Resource setting have reading disabilities that inhibit their ability to receive a significant degree of the content that is taught in their courses due to the methods in which it is presented (i.e. mainly text based).  While these students may still benefit from remedial interventions, at this point in their school careers they are mainly focused on attaining the credits they require to graduate.  This is where the importance of programming adaptations comes into play for these students.  In this case, the programming for students with disabilities such as dyslexia focused on compensatory strategies (i.e. assistive technologies) with less focus upon remediation.,