Web Accessibility and Adaptive Technology

I greatly admire Mr. Sullivan for what he did tonight. His presentation really taught me that there are more tools out there than I realized for the blind. I also had no idea there were as many programs and things to make things so much easier to see and to help them read. I think him talking about what tools are available such as JAWS, Voice Note, and Magic to people who do not know about them will give them more hope for their every day lives.

Week 6

I think blogging is such a wonderful thing for students to communicate with. I found two interesting blog sites. The first one had access to many different school's blogs. It had access to blogs from the United States, China, England, and just about anywhere in the world you could think of. It gave links to blogs, and also gave quick profiles of the classroom and age of the students. This website is something students from different countries could also communicate over. One of the sites showed a conversation between a high school in the United States and one in China. It was very interesting to see how many conversations they had and what they talked about. The link to the site is here : http://www.epals.com/index.tpl

The second site was Gary Cole's 8th grade Humanities class blog. It had links to all the student's blogs, told all about Humanities, had their assignments, and different links to different sites to help them out with topics. It was interesting to see how the kids in this class who are in New Delhi, India work similiarly to the kids in the United States. Humanities seemed to have about the same concepts as it does here in the United States, however, this class seemed more about different history. The link to the site is here: http://mrcoyle.edublogs.org/about-humanities/

Week 5

I thought this was very interesting. I did not realize how many teachers were using the internet and blogs in their classroom today. I think it is a wonderful thing, but I never realized how much it was actually happening.

This was the first site I found: http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blog_id=676161&blogger_id=187221
This site was a 9th grade Science class that had posts about the homework and what all had been done that particular day and references for students who needed them. I think this could be very helpful for any student that maybe did not quite understand the lecture or possibly missed a day in class. It also had a link to Mr. Collins' wikispace, which I also found very interesting. It had a discussion board and links to different sites for his students about science topics. It also told about him and what he does and what all he teaches. Mr. Collins' blog and wiki were both very informative and helpful for his students in my opinion, and I believe they were a great addition to his classroom.

The second site I found was a true find for me it truly touched my heart seeing all their little things and what was going on in the classroom.
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337
This site was so sweet it had the accomplishments of all of Mrs. Cassidy's first grader's. It showed what they made on H day and W day and this day and that day. Every student was so proud, and I think that it is very important for students to see their accomplishments as well as their parents to see their accomplishments. This blog was a good idea for these young children because their parents or older siblings can log on and see what they are doing every day and see what they are accomplishing. This particular teacher posted mostly videos, but some pictures. Here are some of the pictures she posted.













I found quite a few sites of mostly middle school to high school blogs, but the elementary school blogs were truly the best. Most of the upper level blogs included feedback from whatever they had talked about that week, or a question the teacher had posed, or something of that nature. All of the students in the classroom had to respond to the question or post some sort of comment about the topic. The elementary blogs were truly heart warming. They were full of pictures from field trips and their accomplishments as well as encouraging words. I think this is a wonderful idea for teachers to put on the internet for their students. It keeps their students thinking about topics they have discussed previously and it lets them interact with each other on the computer, which is something students love to do today.

Week 4

This video really made me realize how much our world has advanced in the past few decades. Our world today advances daily it seems, and it does make one wonder what it will be like in the near future, or what it will be like for the next generation to come. It seems today facebook, myspace, and blogging is the way to communicate who you are and how you live your life instead of the old fashioned one on one getting to know each other. You can almost tell more about a person through their personal internet space than you can getting to know them in person, which is also why we have so many newly found couples who have met over the internet. Another way of the new decade that advances constantly is the cell phone and its capabilities. The video states more people send text messages daily than they do just about anything else. You can now get on the internet through your cell phone, you can access email, and you can reach anyone anywhere through your cell phone, but do we really know how much further technology can go or how advanced it really is.
This video made me wonder if I was being exposed to everything I could be exposed to in the technology field to further my education, or just increase my thought process. I feel I have had plenty of advantage in technology in my college career, but I know that there are more high-tech things out there that I could have been exposed to throughout my previous educational career. I hope to see a change in Alabama's schools soon with technology. Not every school is advanced as the other, but some do not have enough computers for the students to use daily, which I think is a sad situation in today's world. I realize funding is a large part of the problem, but it seems like educators would really try and push for more technology in their schools. Technologically advanced gadgets, online classes, and communication through the computer really is the way of the future, and most realize that students today need to be exposed to every piece of technology they can be. I hope as a future educator programs like ACCESS and ALEX will all be used wisely, and more programs will began to start up to further our children's education. It is important to me that I know everything I can about technology and how to work a computer because before long I know everything will be placed on the computer. So I truly hope for the future generations that we start taking action and advance things in the education field.

ACCESS

ACCESS is an internet-based program that will provide the way for the future for education in Alabama. This program will offer distance learning options that Alabama has never had before. Many new and improved course offerings will began to be offered through this program and help to provide a much better education for students statewide in Alabama. This program will provide many new features to the high schools such as AP courses, advanced placement courses, additional course offerings, and provide teachers with new resource tools. ACCESS will be a new way for students to reach new levels of high expectations, and be a great incorporation into high schools.

The ACCESS program will not only bring new things into the high schools it will bring a number of things into the classroom such as resources and distance learning. Teacher's will have to incorporate new learning tools into their classrooms as well as learn about new and improved software for the resources that are available because of this program. This will open up new opportunities for learning in the classroom, and hopefully the students will adapt to distance learning. This type of learning will provide a way for students and teachers to communicate with other students taking the same courses through technology resources. Distance learning, I believe, will be the way of the future, and I am so glad Alabama has incorporated ACCESS into our educational program.

I believe ACCESS is something that Alabama needed for its high schools. It is opening up many new opportunities for students in Alabama's public schools, and will hopefully bring most schools up to date with the newest technology. If I were teaching high school I would love to be apart of the ACCESS program because I truly believe this is one of the best things Alabama has brought into its educational program.

ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is a very helpful online resource center. It will help students, teachers, parents, and administrators use different tools to improve the quality of the learning process. ALEX includes weblinks, lesson plans, interactive resources, professional development, and other tools that will help bring quality learning into the classroom. It also offers a personal workspace option, and also gives teachers the options to communicate with other teachers to help improve lesson plans and bring more resources into their classrooms.

This program is full of information that is useful for teachers, parents, and students. Every option available to students gives them a different opportunity that will help to improve their education. They will understand more about their subject matter and broaden their knowledge. ALEX also offers information about ACCESS, and helps you to realize these two programs can go hand in hand. Distance learning is the way of the future, and the ALEX program supports distance learning.

I believe this program will be very useful to me while I am teaching. Online resources are a must for success in teaching today, and advice from other teachers will be something I will take to heart in my first couple of years. This program will be helpful to my students and parents in succeeding not just in my classroom, but in the future.