Assistive Technology in the Classroom with "Dollars and Cents"

This week we read chapter seven in Bryant and Bryant's book Assistive Technology For People With Disabilities.  In the chapter the authors described ways of integrating asistive technology into academic instruction.  Our task was to take a look at the various software options listed and describe what they do and list some of the pros and cons of the application. I chose to review the math software called "Dollars and Cents"  The program is available on both PC and as an iPad app.  I downloaded the free app and experimented with the features.

Below is a description of the software right from the company's homepage .

Dollars and Cents Software is a great way to integrate functional activities into your math curriculum. Ideal for adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities, including autism. United States and Canadian currency is included.

Counting Coins has four activities: Naming, Matching, Sorting, and Vending Machine.

In Spending Money, students shop for items and pay for them with computer cash, using the exact amount or the next-dollar approach.

In Making Change, the most advanced program, students function as store clerks, entering purchases and giving back change.

All of the programs feature clear, realistic graphics and an easy-to-navigate interface. Plus, this money talks! Personalize each program: select activities, determine which coins and bills are presented, choose U.S. or Canadian currency, and set scanning options.

Standout Features:

• Realistic graphics
• Age-neutral content
• Speech supports
• Easy-to-use interface
• Unified management system
• Select coins and bills for each user
• Choose between U.S. and Canadian currency
• Access Dollars and Cents with single or two-switch scanning

Here are some Pros and Cons which I found after trying the free version.

Pros:

• the graphics are very clear and simple
• the voice is clear
• for many of the activities if I selected an incorrect answer the number of possible answers would diminish so that success was guaranteed, the voice would state " try again" or "not quite" 
• there was an increasing level of difficulty as you progress through the activities
• there were some good sound effects

Cons:

• the cost is high for example, 1 app is $39.99; 5 apps= $150.00 and 20 apps = $$400.00
• the CD Rom is $99.00 or 5 for $249.00
• The last level entitled "Vending" may be engaging due to the sound effects but I am not sure the mathematical processes are scaffolded enough to stimulate learning
• the naming activity shows three was to name each coin, for example 
• penny
• 1c
• 1 cent

Generally speaking I could see that this app can be supportive to students in the classroom.  A headset or ear buds would be needed.

References

Bryant, Diane Pedrotty., and Brian R. Bryant. Assistive Technology for People with Disabilities. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2003. Print.

PURPOSEFULLY USING DIGITAL FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TO GUIDE TEACHING AND LEARNING

Photo by: Fancy Jantzi

All teachers know that purposeful, formative assessment is critical to maximizing student learning. We always want to check and monitor student understanding as we design and differentiate our lessons.  The use of digital tools in the process of formative assessment can save us time and energy if used properly.  I say properly because there can be a tendency to let a prescribed software scope and sequence determine how to meet a student's needs with out carefully analyzing specific assessment results and aligning the digital application to what has been taught in class.  

Let's say for example that I am teaching a unit on the Grade 2 CCSS math standard 2 MD.7 - Tell and write time from a analog and digital clocks to the nearest 5 minutes using am and pm.  I might start with a 10 question, formative assessment such as this which I assigned from a program called TenMarks. This application is currently free to teachers but if you want to use the more advanced intervention features there is a per student cost of $20.00.  One aspect of the TenMarks program which I find beneficial is that the questions are read to the student.  This feature helps us rule out that the reading ability of students is the cause for student error on a math item.

During the unit on telling time to 5 minute intervals a teacher may want to build in the use of  Socrative, a student response system, to gain live feedback on student understanding.  The teacher could also assign an open-ended performance task. The task would require the use of an iPad so it is appropriate for a class which is equipped with iPads.  The task would involve each student or teams of students to create a time stamped photo journal of their day or a part of their day. The assignment can be either an in school assignment or an at home assignment.  Students would be asked to record  7 to 10 activities over the assigned time block and post them to Padlet.  Students would note the time to the closest 5 minute interval and label the posts accordingly.

After some guided and independent practice a teacher would want to assess learning before moving on to another concept.  One way to do that could be to use a free tool called thatquiz.org .  With this tool you can create your class, assign lessons, assign formative quizzes, and receive reports on student activity.  There are several features which allow a teacher to customize the assessment environment.  Teachers can set the length of a quiz by number of questions given.  The level of difficulty for a particular skill can be changed. The assessment can be timed or untimed.  Students may or may not be given immediate feedback on their answer.  There is even a feature to allow the teacher to Tweet the assignment or quiz to all their students. The site is available in 10 languages.

There are literally hundreds of ways to incorporate technology into your formative assessment process. Some tools are better suited for specific content areas.  Here are some links which I found fun and informative to explore.

http://www.nwea.org/blog/2013/digital-technology-tools-for-implementing-formative-assessment-post-one/

http://www.nwea.org/blog/2013/digital-technology-tools-for-implementing-formative-assessment-post-two/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9fLcU0hiPY

You Tube 10 minute video: "About Assessment: Reshan Richards at TEDxNYED"   Mr. Richards is the developer of Explain Everything iPad app.  Here is a tutorial which is demonstrated for college professor use but I could also envision our students using the app.

Resources:
Sophia.org
Tenmarks.com
that quiz.org
Socrative
Don't Use Kahn Academy Without Watching This First - Education Week

Assessing with Technology

This week I had the pleasure of working with my colleagues, +Joseph Depalma, +Nancy Atterberry , and +Elizabeth Hick to research and reflect on the topic of assessing with technology.  We had two Google hangouts to share ideas, discuss content, organize thoughts, and create a Prezi to demonstrate our work together.  We broke the task into parts so that each of us could work independently.  All group members were productive, respectful, flexible, and helped each other learn about the intricacies of the presentation tool Prezi.  It was a true collaborative effort and the final product is here Assessment In The Digital Era Prezi . 

The topic of assessing with technology is broad and ever changing.  There are some tools which are free and some which are costly.  There are wide scale assessment applications such as SBAC and there are classroom level applications such as Socrative which provide immediate responses.  E-portfolios have made the archiving of  student work easy.  Blogging allows a student to clarify their thinking in written form.  The multimedia aspect of technology allows for assessment to take on a whole new form which may be a better assessment of students' different learning styles.  

Although this video on Khan Academy is from 2011, (old in tech terms), it demonstrates how technology can personalize learning, provide teachers with standards mastery data, and customize the learning experience in a flipped classroom.  The benefits of using technology in teaching, learning, and assessing are varied.  The teacher/school/district does need to invest a certain amount of energy into aligning the curriculum, instruction and assessment tools.  Caution should be exerted to use an assessment because it fits the learning target, not because it is new and different.  Providing evidence of learning is no longer solely a paper based process.  As we move more into technology enhanced assessments the only constant is that there will be change!

Meeting The Needs Of Our Students With Mild Disabilities

How can we as teachers best meet the needs of students with mild disabilities?  Dave Edyburn in his article Assistive Technology and Students With Mild Disabilities suggests areas to pursue which he states will improve opportunities for our students with mild disabilities.  These are: “recognizing the contributions and limitations for enhancing performance,  reconceptualizing the forms of assistive technology, redesigning assistive technology service delivery systems, and responding to the need to document the impact and effectiveness of assistive technology.”  Each of these areas apply to system wide-efforts.  System-wide change efforts often take so much time that by the time that proposed technology can be outdated or obsolete.

I think that the most effective way to best meet the needs of our students is at the classroom level.  Collaboration time between the Special education staff and classroom teachers is a critical factor in continually evaluating and revising classroom practices to help our students.  Getting to know, at a deep level, how each student learns best is extremely  important.  

There are several learning inventory tools which can be used to help both student and teacher learn how the student learns best.  Considering Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences is also key to supporting students diverse learning styles.  Practices suggested in Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) for ELL/Bilingual Learners such as :

Cooperative learning,

Explicit, targeted vocabulary development

Slower speech with clear enunciation and fewer idiomatic expressions

Visuals, demonstrations and hands-on learning

Text adaptations

Homework adaptations

can help all students in a classroom. 

Developing clear, achievable learning goals and mapping the path to achieving those goals is crucial to building success for our students with mild disabilities.  The list is of ways to create an environment which provides success for all is long.  The classroom teacher, if provided with the appropriate resources and support, holds the key to that success.

Meeting Students' Emotional Needs

I would like to reflect on the high-incidence disability area which Beard, Carpenter and Johnson referred to in Chapter 5 as emotional or behavioral disorders.  I have worked with several children in my teaching career who have been diagnosed , and sometimes not diagnosed, with emotional or behavioral disorders.  Many of our students live in conditions which include “situational stressors”.  Their home life may include violence, substance abuse, sexual abuse, poor living conditions, and generally unhealthy living conditions.  For some of our youngsters emotional health is a luxury and school is a safe place.  We, as their teachers, must support their emotional and social development.

In the Alper and Raharinirina article Assistive Technology for Individuals With Disabilities: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature the authors note “Todis (1996) found that students’ educational and social needs could only be successfully met only if the following factors were present: (a) the student’s education program was based on the family’s goals and values; (b) AT and student’s goals were linked; (c) family, student, and professionals work collaboratively;

(d )communication is ongoing; (e) equipment is replaced or modified as needed; and (f) problems were immediately resolved as soon as they arose.”

All of the readings this week underscore the importance of family involvement in the development and implementation of the IEP for students with emotional and behavioral disorders.  As a professional educator we should work for our children to ensure that the school to family connections are as strong as they can possibly be.  We need to be aware of the environment in which our children live and support them in all ways.

Assessments, Feedback and Technology

Feedback emphasizes strengths of performance and strategies for overcoming challenges. It is targeted and personalized to maximize growth.  How can technology support assessment feedback?  Here is one example.

Grant Wiggins (1998) contends that “assessments should be authentic, with feedback and opportunities for revision to improve rather than simply audit learning”.  There are many ways which technology can support assessment efforts specifically as it relates to providing feedback.  Robert Marzano in his book,  A Handbook for Classroom Instruction That Works, provides us with some questions to consider when planning for providing feedback.  Here are a few of them.

What knowledge will students be learning?

What will I do to ensure that students understand the rubrics?

What will I do to ensure that I provide feedback in a timely manner?

How will I engage students in the feedback process?

How will I monitor the impact of feedback on student learning?

What will I do to help students who are not responding well to feedback?

In his Seven Keys to Effective Feedback Grant Wiggens describes the need for feedback which is timely. Technology affords timely results and feedback to our students.   Several math practice sites such as That Quiz provide immediate feedback as students problem solve.  Many of the gaming programs provide instant feedback on student progress towards a goal so that corrections can be instantly made.

Video and audio recordings of work can provide very specific and transparent feedback to students as in this app. Educational App for Formative Feedback

The computer assists in archiving feedback and assessments with such applications as comments in Google docs.  Kaizena is another way to give verbal feedback to students embedded right into the google doc.  Here is a video to see how it works.  This type of feedback is authentic and is very specific to items on the student’s work itself.

Technology can also provide assessment results to teachers as they form plans.   I would suggest that this is a type of feedback...for teachers.  Teachers can easily aggregate assessment data as they create instructional plans for students. Here is a video I created demonstrating the concept. Accessing Standards Mastery Reports on NHPS Schoolnet .

Using an Infograph to Share Information -Can Digital Resources Support Mathematical Achievement ?

An info graph or pic-to graph is a way of presenting a wealth of information in a graphic and visual way. There are several free web sites which assist you in creating a info graph.  Here are a few:

Info.gram

Visual.y

Piktochart

Glogster

This week I explored each site to find one that "worked for me" to present research and information about utilizing digital resources to increase mathematical achievement.  Over the past 5 years I have experimented with numerous digital resources to support mathematics instruction.  I have discovered that there are pros and cons to all of them and some have very specific strengths and purposes.  A major pitfall of some of the mathematics digital resources has more to do with the way the teacher uses it than the program itself.  I have seen too many cases of what I call " the plop and drop syndrome" where a student is blindly sent to a computer to "play a math game".  I personally feel that when used in a carefully designed plan digital resources can be extremely beneficial.

 I was surprised to find out that the conclusions of a current study, The Effectiveness of Educational Applications for Enhancing Mathematics Achievement in K-12 Classrooms: A Meta-Analysis by Cheung and Slavin, 2013, found that "educational technology is making a modest difference in mathematics achievement".  This realization has helped me to reflect on many other strengths of digital resources in addition to student achievement.  These facts are displayed on my infogaph here:

Can Digital Resources Support Mathematical Achievement?

As I was developing my infograph I was able to post the initial idea and gain some feedback from my peers.  The feedback supported the development and refining as I revised the project.  The process of creating the infograph helped me to see and articulate years of work with digital resources. I learned that the student achievement in mathematics attributed solely to use of technology is modest but that it is important to look at the many other uses of technology in the larger framework of teaching mathematics.  For example the areas of diagnostic and formative assessment, providing access to real world problem solving, differentiation and personalized learning, student engagement, and mathematical modeling can all be enhanced by utilizing digital tools.  So my original question has spurred more questions for future investigation in terms of  how much each of these tools impact teaching and learning.

The infograph is one way to present much information and show relationships in a visual manner.  The best way to get started using them in your class is to click on the links above and "play".  It takes time to discover the various features of each product.  You could use these tools in your class as a way of reporting a number of assignments.  Students will find them either totally engaging or frustrating, dependent on their own style of learning.  As we provide alternate forms of assessment for our students I see the infographic creations as a powerful tool to utilize.