From DSC:
Ofer Chermesh alerted me to a product of his company called Ghotit. I don’t know much about it, but I wanted to post it here in case folks are looking for a tool such as this.
On 02/03/2012,
in accessibility / UDL, tools,
by Daniel Christian
Multimedia lectures: Tools for improving accessibility and learning –– from Faculty Focus by Mary Bart
Excerpt:
College course work is meant to be challenging. The content and the vocabulary used are often unfamiliar to many students. For at-risk learners, the challenges are even greater. In some cases, these students have physical or learning disabilities that create accessibility issues, other times the challenges may be the result of the fact that they’re an international student, have anxiety issues, or a strong learning style preference that runs counter to the instructor’s style.
For all of these reasons and more, today’s student body is a highly diverse group with many different learning challenges, often manifesting in problems with notetaking and listening comprehension. All of this creates what Keith Bain calls an “accessibility imperative.” And although there are many legal obligations that institutions must satisfy with regards to accessibility, Bain says recording and transcribing lectures can improve retention and success for all types of students.
On 01/17/2012,
in accessibility / UDL, drama/theater,
by Daniel Christian
Using theater to teach social skills — from Harvard Graduate School of Education by Patti Hartigan
Researchers document improvements for children with autism
Volume 28, Number 1 | January/February 2012
On 01/06/2012,
in accessibility / UDL, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, emerging technologies, neurodivergent/special needs, tools,
by Daniel Christian
Also see:
- Yes folks, it’s artificial artificial artificial intelligence
This is about using what The Economist calls artificial artificial intelligence (like Mechanical Turk, which uses people as artificial computers) to enhance (artificially intelligent) machine vision
The idea is that the disabled can finally turn the tables on disability. They’re getting involved in developing tools to help the rest of us help them.
…
Real-Time Crowd Support for People with Disabilities - VizWiz.org
— I originally saw this at Steve Knode’s December 2011 newsletter
Review: Top iPad Guide for Teaching Special Needs Students — from gettingsmart.com by Sarah Cargill
Also see:
On 10/28/2011,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, Augmented Reality (AR), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, convergence, corporate / business world, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, e-books, e-readers, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, interactivity, interface design, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, Microsoft, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), new media literacies, online learning, online media, personalized/customized learning, reinvent, tablets, technologies for your home, technology (general), television, tools, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), user interface design, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
On 10/10/2011,
in accessibility / UDL, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, future of higher education, game-changing environment, innovation, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, trends,
by Daniel Christian
Excerpt from their Value Proposition page:
The concept of a broad based, highly educated population began its journey to reality a 150 years ago, when Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862. The Act called for the establishment of “at least one College in every state upon a sure and perpetual foundation, accessible to all, but especially to the sons of toil” (emphasis DSC).
…
Despite the unprecedented success of America’s public university system that is the envy of the world, reduced state and federal funding, almost a trillion dollars in student loans, tuition soaring out of reach for middle class families, stunning demographic changes and declining preparedness for college-level work, today’s public higher education is at a crossroads. Our old ways of doing business are no longer sustainable and the promise of the Morrill Act is in peril (emphasis DSC).
Also see:
On 09/27/2011,
in accessibility / UDL, ethics, hearts -- matters of the heart, psychology, sociology,
by Daniel Christian
Clinical Psychology Guide: Understanding Bullying and Victims — from clinicalpsychology.net and Sarah Ruddell
Also see:
- Standing up, not standing by: A free cyberbullying toolkit for educators — from commonsensemedia.org
- 56% of Teens Say They Have Been Bullied Online [SURVEY] — from Mashable
On 09/13/2011,
in accessibility / UDL, communications, educational games / serious games, neurodivergent/special needs, play,
by Daniel Christian
On 09/07/2011,
in accessibility / UDL, blogs / blogging / vlogging, neurodivergent/special needs, teachers, teaching & learning,
by Daniel Christian
40 inspiring blogs every special education teacher should read — from mastersinspecialeducation.org
On 09/01/2011,
in accessibility / UDL, elearning, instructional design, neurodivergent/special needs, online learning,
by Daniel Christian
E-Learning expands for special-needs students — from edweek.org by Nirvi Shah
But obstacles to greater participation remain, and questions persist about what works best for students with disabilities.
On 08/29/2011,
in accessibility / UDL,
by Daniel Christian
Universal Design for Learning: Meeting the needs of all students — from asha.org by Patricia Kelly Ralabate
Universal Design for Learning and Online Education — from academicimpressions.com
Re: event to be held on November 17, 2011 :: 1:00 – 2:45 p.m. EST
On 08/25/2011,
in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, digital audio, digital learning, higher education, K-12 related, memory, metacognition / metacognitive skills, mobile learning, mobile technologies, tools, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
On 08/12/2011,
in 21st century, accessibility / UDL, assessment, engagement / engaging students, higher education, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, multimedia, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning,
by Daniel Christian
My thanks to Mrs. Krista Spahr, Calvin College, for this resource and the quote below:
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is meant to minimize barriers and to maximize learning.
…
Reflections from DSC:
Though I still have much to learn about Universal Design for Learning (UDL), my initial thought is that I really like this approach, as it moves us away from the one-size-fits-all approach and towards a teaching and learning environment that offers more choice, more selection, and more opportunities for customization and personalization. Plus, as companies such as Apple and Microsoft have seen, functionality that started out trying to address accessibility-related needs ended up helping everyone!
Along these lines, I created this graphic years ago — with the idea that students would have a choice on which media they might prefer to use to absorb the information:
Again, the idea being that we could provide the same content in 3-5 different ways and let the students select what works best for them. Plus, in the example above, we could even see how other students are describing/making meaning of something.
But it goes further than this as I’m understanding UDL. For example, the methods for achieving a learning outcome can be greatly varied, as the assignments for a particular outcome might be reaching via watching a video clip, or reading a book, or doing a project, or writing a story, or creating music, or ___(fill in the blank) ____.
Also see:
