Blog Post 7

Adaptive technologies are different types of technology that help assist and support students (and anyone) with disabilities with common tasks that you and I might take for granted. The podcast talks about using different input and output devices to help students with physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy. It talks about the option of a joystick for those who can't type or effectively use a normal computer mouse as an example. The book breaks up the different adaptive technologies into many categories to farther understanding. I have met several people with visual disabilities that use adaptive technologies to do things like magnify the font of something so that they can read it. I think the main challenge of using adaptive technology in the classroom is learning to use the program effectively as well. Many of these technologies need extra material in order to be helpful. If a screen reader is reading a power-point presentation with pictures on it, it cannot read the pictures aloud. The teacher would have to provide supplemental descriptions of every picture they include in the document and properly insert them so that the screen reader knows to read the description of the image.

I had no clue how to create a web page before doing this assignment. I learned that Weebly is a free website that can be used to make your own web page online. I liked that the website was very simple and easy to use and figure out. I did not like that most of the pictures that are on the site itself have to be payed for. This is easily worked around by finding images on google images and adding them in. This can be used to create a classroom website in the future. Classroom websites can improve organization and communication with parents and students. I can improve in the future by familiarizing myself with the website and learning how to do more than just the basic functions.
http://eme2040lp.weebly.com/

Before working with Diigo, I was unaware that anything like it existed. I learned that students, coworkers, etc. can collaborate with each other and bookmark, highlight, and make notes on important webpages and share them in one place that can be easily accessed by a group. This can be very useful when collaborating with my fellow teachers. We can share useful articles on lesson plans, teaching strategies, or games and then give each other insight on our own personal connection to each article. Students can use this technology similarly by sharing articles and taking notes/ giving feedback when working in a group or on a group assignment.