Shannon+Seibert




 * How I intend to utilize this homepage and make it helpful to others as well **

Hi, welcome to my site. I created this page to share with you experiences I have had in the classroom pertaining to assistive technology. I hope my experiences can give you insight into how I have seen technology at work for students. I will briefly discus my philosophy toward integrating technology in education. I have also shared several websites and articles that I found helpful resources. Also checkout the various examples of assistive technology software I have included. I hope you found my homepage helpful and look forward to sharing information as we learn about technology in the classroom. My hope is that I will continue to grow as a work in progress.

** Technology plays a major role in effectively educating students, especially those who have disabilities. Special education is about finding ways for students to be successful. This is about making accommodations and modifying. Technology is important to successfully "include" students in all classroom functions. The students need to be given the resources to effectively participate in the classroom and this includes integrating technology to meet the deverse and specific needs of all students. I also feel that technology can make learning more fun for students. It allows students to learn about history through the web making it more interesting. Different lesson plans can intergrate technology into the classroom instruction.
 * My personal philosophy toward technology integration in education

5 websites that contain useful information on technology integration in classrooms and assistive technology for teachers **

This site promotes teaching and learning for all children with the assistance of technology. ATC provides specialized technology and training opportunities for teachers to create an enriched learning environment that enables students to meet learning standards through universal access techniques. These innovative uses of technology will promote student success and independence both in school and in the community. In addition, ATC offers follow-up support to teachers and students in the form of study groups, site visits, and phone/ email communication. On this web site you will find dynamic, user-friendly universal access tools for teachers to support diverse learners in accessing the BPS standards. The Student Access Map (SAM) packet of materials offers a structure for general, special or bilingual educators; Student Support Teams; or IEP teams to identify student areas of need and to provide appropriate no/low, mid and high tech support strategies and tools. The Access Tech Center has developed the Student Access Map (SAM), a dynamic, user-friendly tool designed to assist educators in aligning instructional supports with student needs. Derived from practical fieldwork, this tool and related materials were created to ensure applicability by general and special educators and related service providers, and to incorporate a more comprehensive emphasis on state and district curriculum standards.
 * [|www.boston.k12.ma.us/teach/technology/emmanuel.asp]**

This site offers assistive technology software which can be downloaded and tested. Some examples are listed below: A simple screen magnifier. Magnification ranges from 2x to 64x with a quick locate option to position the viewing window. The tool magnifies the area around the mouse pointer. || [|Download] || Allows quick and easy changing of the background and font colors, without having to go through the Screen Properties dialogs. || [|Download] || Mouse clicking replacement software. It can carry out left click, right click, double click, highlight and drag-drop actions. || [|Download] || A unique piece of software, provides an on-screen, slotted ruler. Useful with dyslexia, when the user skips lines or drops from one line to the next. This version allows the user to select the bar width, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of screen width and set the slot height to the required font size. || [|Download] || This package provides an expanded ring around the mouse pointer for users who have difficulty locating the pointer. Unlike the Windows XP version, this package places a permanent ring around the pointer. This version introduces the option to vary the color of the Sonar ring. || [|Download] || This application causes the mouse pointer to wrap around the screen instead of stopping at the edges. It can be configured to start at Windows startup if required. || [|Download] || This package counts the number of key depressions, and can be set to suggest breaks are taken after a set number are carried out. This application does not log keystrokes, and provides no reporting facilities. By hovering over the taskbar icon, you can quickly view the total of key presses to date and for today. || [|Download] || mmFollow quite simply adds a cartoon character to the mouse cursor. It ensures rapid location of the pointer, and obviously adds a little fun to using the computer. In use, the application adds an icon to the Windows Taskbar area. By right clicking on this icon, you can vary the character. || [|Download] || There are some software applications which attempt to correct for the varying types of color blindness by adjusting specific colors, however these rely greatly on the user having a standard form of color deficient vision. Washer simply renders everything underneath its window in a grey scale format, thus catering for a high proportion of color deficiencies. The software itself is very simple to use. When started it will display anything beneath the main window in shades of grey, and can be dragged around the screen to select different areas. || [|Download] || A selection of bigger cursors for anyone who finds the existing cursors too small. Simply download the zip file and extract into the Windows/Cursors folder and you are ready to go. || [|Download] || A selection of chunky cursors for anyone who finds the existing cursors too small. Simply download the zip file and extract into the Windows/Cursors folder and you are ready to go. Tegrity has provided award-winning products that improve learning outcomes, impact retention and advance envolment at over 400 educational institutions.
 * http://www.fxc.btinternet.co.uk/assistive.htm**
 * || **KwikLoupe (527Kb)**
 * || **RapidSet (539Kb)**
 * || **Mouseketeer (559Kb)**
 * || **Vu-Bar 4 (684Kb)**
 * || **Sonar 4 (677Kb)**
 * || **Edgeless (272Kb)**
 * || **KeyCounter (529Kb)**
 * || **mmFollow (863Kb)**
 * || **Washer (786Kb)**
 * || **Bigger Cursors (28Kb)**
 * || ** Chunky Cursors (24Kb) **
 * [|http://www.tegrity.com]**

[|**http://www.classroomtech.org**] Classroom tech provides effective technology resources for teachers. Several quick links are offered for technology baed on various grade levels. Adaptive lesson plans are also available.

[|**http://solutions.3m.com**] The 3M site illistrates the lastest technology advances through demos. This allows teachers to see first hand how the technology helps individuals, and as a result, we can see how to apply it to the classroom.  [|**www.readwritethink.org**] ReadWriteThink offers online student materials to complement literacy learning in K-12 grades. This allows students to apply technology while learning literacy.   [|http://www.starfall.com] Starfall is an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children. It provides interactive and fun ways for students to learn literacy. It has been successfully helping struggling readers become more engaged
 * 3 websites that students can use for literacy and content-area learning **

[|**www.booksharel.org**] World’s largest accessible Online Library. gives print disabled people in the United States legal access to over 34,300 books and 150 periodicals that are converted to Braille, large print or text to speech audio files.


 * Assistive technology devices that can help the Deaf **

There are several methods and strategies for teaching the Deaf and hard of hearing. One strategy, an FM auditory assistance unit is one of several teaching aids being used in the education of hearing impaired students. The teacher wears a microphone during class, allowing the teacher’s voice to be transmitted to the student’s hearing aids. This direct link reduces the effects of background noise and eliminates the problem of listening from a distance.
 * FM Unit**

The hearing aids will magnify everything in the room, not just the teachers voice like the FM unit. It is important to remember that the magnification of sounds into the hearing aids may be distorted. (A hearing aid is not a fix all).
 * Hearing Aids**

The tacilator vibrates the skin to let the Deaf student know every time the teacher is speaking. This can also be used as a safety measure, to notify a Deaf individual if the fire alarm is going off.
 * Tactilator**

Another strategy is to use an interpreter. The interpreter should sit facing the student or stand in front of the class with the teacher. The interpreter may be a few words behind a teacher, so consideration as to how fast one is speaking needs to be considered. It can also help to give examples when doing demonstrations. This will better help the interpreter explain the topic to the child since it is impossible for the child to watch the interpreter and a teacher’s demonstration at the same time.
 * Interpreter**

** [|**http://www.axistive.com**] Axistive is a news portal for assistive technology, providing a wide range of free services including product reviews, industry news, market trends, workshops, downloads, and product and organization information. The article offers: f ree, accessible and objective information on assistive technology products, organizations and services.
 * Two articles I recommend reading related to technology in education

[|**http://www.unf.edu/~tcavanau/presentations/preparing_teachers_for_the_inclu.htm**] This article talks about preparing teachers for the inclusion classroom. It gives an understanding of assistive technology and its role in education**.

** ** There are several ways in which I hope to expand on my knowledge of assistive technology. Seminars are a great resource to learn about the newest, cutting edge technology. Teacher inservices are another avenue to learn more technology in the classroom. I also think we can learn from our own students; they're a great resource to see what technologies students are using. The internet can also be used to browse to see what technology is avaliable for specific disabilities. Our students' needs will change and we need to use these tools to keep ourselves knowledgable.
 * How I plan to improve my knowledge in assistive technology (my professional development plans and venues)

** I see many opportunities to utilize wikis in the classroom. It can be a tool that the teacher can use to make the lesson more interesting for the students. Many children today are creating their own homepages and are interested in the internet. Wikis can be used in the classroom to allow these students to explore and learn about creating their own home page. It can also be used to create a home page for the school or classroom. In these ways, it can be a great learning and exploring tool for students.
 * How wikispaces might be used in k-12 classrooms

** My plan to sustain the usability of the homepage content for my future references ** I plan to sustain the usability of my homepage content by updating as I obtain new information. It can all be used as a resource while I am teaching. It stead of having a file of information, I have wikispaces which can easily be accessed. I have websites that will continue to help me with student needs as I teach. I do plan on using this site because I found the websites and resources posted on it helpful and I can see the need I will have for it in the near future. ||  ||