July 9th

Today we presented our APP SMASH I-books.

Angela and John started.  Angela noted that she was a bit of a "dinosaur" in terms of technology, and that she had a real sense of accomplishment from completing this project.  Me too!  Angela and John defined "presumed competency" in terms of assuming that your students are understanding when they are not, but they also mentioned the importance of "presuming competency" in students with learning disabilities.  Barbara interjected to emphasize the point that it is especially important to presume competency in non-verbal students who are not able to verbalize their understanding.   We also discussed the difference between Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction.  UDL allows ALL students various means of accessing learning through various means of representation, expression, engagement...designed INTO the curriculum right from the beginning.

Nice work, Angela and John!  Neat work merging apps, like the PicPlayPost and Telegami smashed together.

Ainslie and Ashley took the creative aspect a little further with a curly haired theme!  Great opening trailer!  The sock puppet app was really fun - I can see my students really liking this.  Ainslie mentioned the fact that has not until now felt that she wanted to put the time into learning new technologies because she always felt something new would come along.  But the I-Pad is so versatile that it is hard to imagine anything that will supplant it.  Maybe this is the technology that will stick around for a while.  There will be improvements to it...but maybe nothing to disrupt it will come along for a while.  I hope so!

Shauna and Liz had a cool video that they made using the trailer function of I-movie..great job!  Often it is the movie functions in which people are finding the best outlet for their creative genius!  They had written definitions and then narrated them, to provide a choice for how learners could access the information.

Mark and Darah also felt they had learned a lot from this activity.  Strip design seems to be a common app...I don't think we used it.  The video of Ella gave a compelling example of how AT can give a voice to children who cannot speak on their own.  I was impressed with their use of VideoScribe to make their Convergence of Technologies page! 

Janet and Lindsay asked the question, "How do we get I-Pads in the hands of students?"  They have accessed their school board PDF funds with project-based proposals to get I-Pads.  They have also managed to get I-Pads into the hands of Grade 7 students for math class.  I am sure that it is only a matter of time before all students will be given I-Pads in our schools.  I liked their definition of presumed competency:  judgments about what a student can and cannot do.

Simon and Eleanor talked about how Assistive Technology really goes hand-in-hand with Universal Design for Learning.  Good basic book...more use of the creative trailer app (I-Trailer).  Again, a good definition of presumed competency:  "If the student can't...then do the modification!"  Powerful video about assistive technology narrated by Stephen Hawking.  Think about how this man has been able to communicate so powerfully because of AT.  Eleanor praised "Popplet" as a good graphic organizer app.  Simon wondered if there was a way of using voice command to access apps on the I-Pad...

Ashley and Natalie had an app called "ExplainEverything" that allows you to get a film onto your I=Pad without having to just hold the I-Pad to the computer screen.  Also EduCreation which allows you to draw over vidoes and images.  Useful for students who need to take notes by speaking...they can speak over their images.

Meaghan and Candice used many of the same apps that the rest of the class had used.  They had an app called "Download" to allow downloading videos from the Internet to the I-Pad.  Much better than trying to film the computer screen.  Again, the statement, "Please presume my competence" was meaningful for me.  They noted that they had had trouble with recording longer clips using Tellegami, which only allows 30 seconds of speaking.

Christie's book was very cohesive..starting with diverse learners, looking at the possibilities for perceiving, creating, communicating...then going through the different terms.  She presented a quote by Douglas Biklen:  "Presuming competence is nothing less than a Hippocratic Oath for educators."  It really seems as if we are moving to a place where this idea can become more than a vague understanding to something that is really put into action.  Christie gave an in-depth description of Universal Design for Learning, and also took the idea out of the school and into the community.  For disruptive technology, Christie talked about a new movement to use Educational Games, and something called "Able Gaming" to involve people from all over the world in a new way of participating in the world.

THOUGHTS
Overall, this was a great activity to introduce us both to many different I-Pad apps and the five terms that are use in this field today!