Listening and learning from Sandra McAulay and Valerie Irvine really opened my eyes to what Ed tech can mean for the learners in my classroom. The theme that really resonated for me in both presentations was accessibility. I had never thought of technology as a tool for accessibility for learners but after participating in both lectures, it became clear to me that technology is essential to provide options for learners in terms of not only participating in the learning but assessing the learning. Sandra McAulay showed us a variety of ways and apps that we can be using with our student to enhance their experience in the classroom. The two that stood out for me were Epic! as well as Pic Collage. Epic is a fantastic app where learners can access books and have them read aloud through the app. This is great way for some learners to access literature even if they are not strong readers. There are studies that show that being read to is just as effective as reading and this app provides a much-needed learning opportunity for many of our learners. I really enjoyed playing around with Pic Collage and can see how this would be a great way for some learners to show their learning. For those that have difficulty expressing themselves in written form, this app provides an opportunity for them to type or use pictures to show their learning.
Victoria talked about ed tech and accessibility in a slightly different way. She discussed the ways in which technology can help learners to access course content in a personalized way. Some learners prefer face to face, but other learners may face barriers in getting to class. These barriers could be anxiety or a physical disability. It is our responsibility as educators to be providing a personalized experience to every one of our students and we should be open to different modes of delivering that education. Some of these modes could be platforms like BlueJeans where a student can video conference into the learning. The lesson could also be recorded so the student could view it at a time that is more convenient for them. The technology that really blew my mind were the robots that allowed a student to video conference into a learning environment but also move around the space, which would allow them to participate in small group discussions or interact with individuals in the class as if they were actually there. I am so excited to see where this technology can take education for learners that historically have not been able to participate in traditional classroom settings because of barriers like disabilities or their geographic location.
Everyone deserves access to education and whether it be access to instruction through different modalities or access to technological tools that help students express themselves or access information, I hope to be able to incorporate some of this technology into my learning environments to improve my students access to a great education.
Jordan Hall
I really love how you tied Sandra and Dr. Irvine’s presentations together in this blog. Your synthesis of how they both talked about the over arching umbrella of accessibility (in slight different ways as you mentioned) was very well thought out and articulated. You really showed how both speakers are strong advocates for accessibility in the classroom and to essentially throw out the modality bias’s that many educators have.
ashlie.cook
I really enjoyed this blog post! Both presenters brought completely ideas to the table, but yet they had so many similarities. Sandra introduced to us so many different apps that can be brought into the classrooms through iPads and these apps can make learning accessible to all learners. Victoria talked about using technology to make learning accessible to all learners, far or near. Your thoughts and ideas throughout this blog post brought it all together and made it click in my mind. Thank you so much for sharing!