Session #1 - May 5, Morning

Here we are again! Back at the NS Community College in another Assistive Technology course with Barb Welsford. We're in a different room, but it still has a nice view of the Halifax Harbour. The windows aren't as big, but at least it wasn't foggy!

We started with the Pic Collage app (free!). Here is my group's. Michelle is headed Portugal, Kari to China, and I'll be home with my ukulele. Sipping red wine.

Pic Collage would be a great app for several kinds of assignments:

• All About Me
• Countries
• Favourite books
• Animals
• My School

If students have access to iDevices outside school, they could also use Pic Collage for:

• My Vacation
• My Family
• My Neighbourhood

BIG IDEAS

• AT is about providing ACCESS to a task and improving performance of an individual with a disability.
• Training, training, training
• Mac is da bomb.

IN WHICH ADELE LEARNS NEW THINGS ABOUT iPADS

• They can be accessible to blind people.
• You can tap them with your tongue.

How Do You Choose the Technology? ASSESS:

• skills and needs of the user
• user's experience with technology
• milieu – people, place, home, school, teachers,
• tasks that the user is being asked to perform
• characteristics of the technology itself, for example, ease of use, cost, availability

Continue to assess for change over time. The user, milieu, tasks and technology will keep changing,  so the "fit" may need to be adjusted.

BUT IT'S SO EXPENSIVE!
We spent some time talking about how some of today's mobile devices are cheaper than older technology, as well as being more effective, portable, functional, accessible, inclusive, and flexible. Wow, is that all?

I don't know how expensive Bliss Boards were, but, boy, they were big!

ADELE ANSWERS:
Any assistive technology is cheaper than a lifetime of dependence, institutionalization and unemployability. Plus, humans are better off without those things.

And then there's that Universal Design thing. These technologies have potential for all learners, including "typical." And we don't find out what they all are until we implement the technology.

BUT, if your school board is not convinced, BYOD.
(Bring your own device. <SIGH>)

AND FINALLY, THOSE SQUIGGLY SQUARES, OR QR CODES
I'd put one here, but I can't see the advantage of a QR code over a link in a web page. But out in the world!--that's another story. They're on posters, signs, flyers, business cards, menus. Actually, I've never seen a QR code on a menu, but why not? They could be linked to the ingredients or history of a dish. Or a photo of it! Instead of googling food terms on my iPhone, I could be directed to a site chosen by the restaurant.

So how could you use them in education?

• scavenger hunts (following directions)
• send student around the school to measure things
• instructions for centres
• background information on a hand-out

Jess gets free advertising on my blog, just because she has a pretty QR code.