lesson three

The focus of this week's lesson was on the world of Desktop Publishing resources as well as looking into WebQuests, text to audio converters, and various online tools to aide teachers in the classroom is a functional and interesting way. Below is a flyer I created for a children's camp in the summer. The flyer was for a Tshirt competition that kids and adults enter each year. I am not a teacher (yet :)) So this is about all I had that was a visual creation.

What makes the item visually appealing?
When I created the flyer, I used a template that was provided on Microsoft publisher, a common DTP program. I chose a color scheme already provided to make sure that the colors were complimentary of each other. I also feel like the font selection is visually appealing because it is easy to read, and also a more youthful font. It's amazing what you can do to a document by simply changing the font or the colors!
What distracts you from the message you are trying to communicate?
The only aspect I feel is a little distracting is the sizes of the colored circles, as well as the overlap of the two circle colors on the left side of the flyer. Where the colors change is kind of distracting. Other than that I feel like the idea of the flyer comes across easily.

TECH EXPLORATIONS:

7) Assistive Technologies- Gpat.org

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	GPAT stands for Georgia Project for Assistive Technology and was created by the Georgia Department of Education. GPAT was started in 1991 and works in Georgia schools to introduce assistive technology devices and services to students with disabilities. Their mission is to change the lives of students with disabilities by making them more independent, improve their school achievement, increase inclusion, and also educate their teachers. The GPAT site offers many resources including: background information on assistive technologies, legal mandates for assistive technology, software, evaluation and implementation techniques.  I never really knew that all classified as an assistive technology. The site listed them including the following: listening devices and aids, mobility aids, adaptive seating devices, visual aids, and many more.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	I feel like this website itself is a great resource for teacher. Like I said above I never knew what all classified as an assistive technology and this site breaks down each category. For some teachers, especially first year teachers, they may have a student in their class that is using or needs to be using one of these aids and they may have no background knowledge on the technology. The GPAT site breaks it down for the teacher and provides extra resources that the teacher could also share with fellow employees that would be working with the student. The site also includes tutorials, lesson plans, and follow up activities that the teacher could use.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I’m not sure if this is something that I feel is a “must have” for educators. It would be nice to provide this site to all staff of a school just in case the need for this information would arise. The site is very easy to navigate and it is broken down into categories to pinpoint the exact needs of the student using an assistive technology device. It would be a good thing to have on file though as an educator.

  

7) Assistive Technologies- Zoho

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	I had never heard of Zoho or anything like it, so this tech exploration was really interesting. Zoho is an online office suite productivity application—which basically means it keeps up with your productivity and data by putting it all in one place where sharing and collaboration are seamless. Zoho offers chat capabilities, discussions, online meetings, invoices, surveys, calendars and online notebook—all of which can be accessed from anywhere.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	At first glance I thought that Zoho was a strictly business based application, but after looking into it, I feel  like there are aspects of it that would prove to be beneficial in a classroom. The chat and discussion capabilities would make for easy collaboration between team teachers. Online surveys, reports and invoices would increase communication with parents and allow to easily poll parents for their opinion and take money for field trips. Finally the online notebook, calendar, and spreadsheets, all of which can be synced, allow the teacher to take documents edited in the classroom with them. Zoho really does have endless possibilities of ways to make things easier for a teacher.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I would recommend this as a resource to educators, but only those who already feel comfortable with technology. While the Zoho website is easy to access and navigate, each product is broken down into fees and downloads. SO while the teacher could customize exactly what they want for their classroom, it may be confusing to teachers who are not familiar with online technology. I do feel like the resources provided would be worthwhile to try in a classroom.

8) Online Tools for Teachers: Classroom Architect

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Using Classroom Architect, teachers can brainstorm how to set up their classrooms. Teachers can enter the dimensions of their own classroom and select furniture icons similar to what they would have in their rooms. The icons can be moved around to see how things would look where, and then the layout can be printed out. There are also ideas from other educators on the site, as well as information on how a space can effect students’ learning.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	This resource was created for teachers so it is very easy to use in the school setting, especially for first time teachers. It is very easy for a teacher to position their desk, student desks, rugs, bookshelves etc and see how things would look in different places. Utilizing the information on space and learning is another excellent resource.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I would, especially to first time teachers, mainly to be able to brainstorm different setups and flows without having to move the entire room around. Teachers could also save their layout and have it just in case things are moved around over the summer. It also makes it easy to share ideas with other teachers.

 

8) Online Tools for Teachers: QuizStar

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	QuizStar is an online resource that allows teachers to create their own multimedia quizzes in various formats. Using QuizStar you can create the quiz however you would like, organize your quizzes by class, administer the quiz, and also grade the quiz without having to do so manually.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	QuizStar could be used in a school setting for really any area. For example in Langauge Arts a teacher could create quizzes for each of the books that the students will be reading over the year. This could be done well in advance and saved all in one folder for easy access. The quizzes would be done online so the results would also be there and would be easy to transfer into a grade book.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I would recommend this resource because it is a good free resource that teachers can use to organize their quizzes, especially if they teach multiple areas. It allows teachers to organize their quizzes and takes away the tedious time of hand grading quizzes for your class.

8) Online Tools for Teachers: CasaNotes

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	CasaNotes allows educators to create custom notes to be given to students or sent home with the students. Everything from reminders, to thank yous, to certificates—it can all be created on one site. CasaNotes also has templates available that can already be used. CasaNotes can also take a note made by the teacher and translate it into Spanish.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	I know this is definitely a resource that some of the teachers at my school should be using, particularly with our ELL and ESL students. A lot of times our multiple language students do not bring in their homework because their parents do not understand English and cannot read the assignment or permission slips. With Casa Notes the teacher could easily translate a note to send home with them.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Overall this resource helps with communication, makes it easy to customize notes, and helps with working with parents/guardians who do not read English. It is extremely easy to use and free, so yes, I would recommend this.

 

8) Dimio

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Dimio is selection of free software that users can download from one website. The D-Software that is available includes the following three programs: DSpeech, DShutdown, and DSynchronize. DSPeech is the one I looked at the most. DSpeech is a program that allows the user to take text and create a audio speech version. The program can read aloud the text entered and then the user can save the file. This file could be shared, and the voices uses can also be customized.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	I feel like this could be used in classrooms, but mainly in classrooms with students with maybe a visual or speech impairment. If a student had some sort of visual impairment, the text could be entered by the teacher so that the student could hear it. For students with a speech impairment, they could use the program to get across what they would like to say quickly.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I’m not 100% sure I would recommend this resource. It is free, and doesn’t seem to be hard to access or use. So for that reason I think it would be a good resource to know about, especially if you had a case in your class that this resource would make things easier for the student. I also think it would be neat to use this as some technology component of a student assignment.

9) FullMeasure

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Powertalk is similar to DSpeech in that it is a program that converts text into an audio format. The difference is that Powertalk is used with Powerpoint presentations. Once you download the program and open it during a presentation, Powertalk will speak the information on the slides. Powertalk is able to recognize when the text has appeared to read it, and can also read hidden text that is attached to an image.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	Powertalk could be used in many different ways,especially as a resource to aide students with vision issues. With Powertalk running, the student would be able to follow along with a powerpoint presentation without having to actually read the text. I think Powertalk would also be a good resource to do read alongs with students.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Yes I would recommend Powertalk to other educators as a resource to make their job easier. A teacher could play a powerpoint presentation for their students while getting other things ready. This would entertain the students in an informational manner, freeing up the teacher to do other things.

 

10) Webquest

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	I honestly had never heard of a webquest until viewing this page. Webquest provides information to educators like me who do not know what one is. It also allows those with experience in Webquest to share or search for Webquests. Webquests are lessons that require students to search for answers and information online. With webquests a teacher can only allow access to certain websites to make sure the information is correct and not inappropriate.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	I think Webquest can definitely be used in the school setting, especially as a way to first teach students how to access information via the internet. For example in a Social Studies class, a teacher could make a webquest search on  a timeline of events for a certain time period and place. The students would find the correct website from the webquest and then have to search for the answers from there. It would definitely help to make a student feel more confident working with technology and the internet.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Yes I would recommend this website to other educators. It does a good job of explaining what a Webquest is and allows you to make, share and search for webquests. I think this would be pretty user friendly, and I like that templates are provided for beginners.

10) ReadtheWords

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	ReadtheWords is a text to speech converter with the ability to convert documents into audio form. Three different languages are provided, as well as the ability to incorporate images along with the recordings. There is a free membership, as well as a teachers pack. The site allows recordings to be saved and embedded, and the possibility of podcasts is available as well.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	ReadtheWords is another interactive resource that can hold the attention of most students. This resource could be used in the classroom to record children reading so they can hear their own pronunciation, teach new vocabulary words, or record notes that can be played aloud for students to follow along with.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I think this would be a resource I would recommend. The site does a great job of providing examples of things to record, and seems user friendly. I like that there is a library saving option, making it easy for an educator to record things a head of time and have them all saved in one place. I do think that using ReadtheWords would take some practice and technological knowledge to utilize the resource to its’ fullest.