Chrome - Google Tone

I continue to be impressed by the options for access that are being developed for the Chrome Web Browser.  Google just released an experiment called Google Tone.  The concept is that it will play a short tone that other computers can hear, and they will open the URL you shared.  The extension must be installed on all the computers nearby (wish it worked on mobile devices!) and have access to the microphone.  Just click the link in the toolbar and it sends out the "tone".  You can install the extension here - g.co/tone and it works in Chrome for Mac, Windows and all Chromebook devices.  Happy Sharing!

Patrick

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weekly Diigo Post (weekly)

• AZTECH Crazy for Chrome! - Symbaloo

  tags: tech chrome edtech at extensions education

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

weekly Diigo Post (weekly)

• What Works Clearinghouse

  tags: education research resources clearinghouse RTI what_works literacy

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

weekly Diigo Post (weekly)

• Free Technology for Teachers: Turn a Set of Spreadsheet Cells Into Easy to Read Documents

  tags: free teachers spreadsheet education googledocs how-to ideas copy

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Wandoo Planet

It took me quite a while to get through my backlog of podcasts, so I just listened to a great episode from Chris Bugaj of the A.T.Tipscast.  Episode 132 featured an interview with a former educator spreading the word about Wandoo Planet.  Wandoo Planet is a recommendation engine for children, think Pandora or Netflix.  Basically, kids pick some of their favorite interests, via a fun game, and the website suggests books and/or movies for them to check out.  The goal is to help students find books in their interest and get them reading more, which as we all know, is one of the best ways to increase students ability to read!

I took a few minutes and tried it out myself, and have to say it's fun.  The game is a great way to get children thinking about their interests.  Some students may need to have the interests read to them, and a suggestion to make it more accessible might be to include pictures or text to speech for the interests.  It looks like a fun way to engage students and get them reading!

Patrick

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Powtoon - Free Accounts for Teachers!

Powtoon is a fun platform for creating animations.  I've personally used it to create the trailer for the EdCeptional Show.  So far that's all I've done, but I can see it would be a fun way to engage students and excite them about a topic or lesson.  So, that's why I claimed my FREE Powtoons account!

Powtoons is giving away over $5 million of teacher and student accounts before October 2014.  All of these accounts will be valid for 1 year, and include 1 teacher account with 60 student accounts!  You can get yours now at Powtoons ToonUp.

Patrick

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AAC/Medicare Changes

I was hoping to have written this post last week, so that you might have more time to help out, but life got in the way!  This is a VERY important post, especially to those of you who rely on Medicare to secure AAC devices.  Specifically this is related to patients with ALS, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Rett Syndrome,spinal cord injuries, spinal muscular atrophy and other impairments and their ability to retain and receive Speech Generation Devices (SGD).

As of September 1, Medicare will be changing the rules and will not allow patients to receive this devices to "unlock" them.  Thereby, denying individuals the ability to communicate with their families and other individuals via email, text, video chat, etc...  Even though the unlock fee is not paid by Medicare, they will no longer allow individuals to purchase devices that this could be done on.

Medicare has also been denying Eye Gaze devices for those individuals whose only means of access if via an eye gaze system.  Many of these cases have 2 medical professionals certifying the need for an eye gaze system and it is still denied. The backlog of appeals is years long and many patients are being denied the ability to communicate.

Please take a moment and go to this website - Center for Medical Advocacy, fill in your zip code, and the short form that follows to contact your representatives and urge them to sign a petition to stop these rule changes!  It takes just 2-3 minutes.  You only have until August 27, so please do it right away!

Patrick

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