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!
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Each week I will be featuring an app from BridgingApps.org. These apps are features in the Bridging Apps newsletter each week and are reviewed by Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, and Special Education Teachers. Come back each week for a new review. If you’d like more information on how to use the BridgingApps.org website, or to find more app reviews, please click here.
This is a simple and fun drawing app. Because of the simple interface, most children can use this app completely independently and just have fun creating all kinds of drawings. This app can also be used as a teaching tool when encouraging someone learning how to write.
The app offers the user many choices to draw. They can choose to draw with crayons, spray paint, stamps, glitter, etc. Placing "stamps" on the blank page is as simple as using an index finger to select a stamp and the stamp appears every time the screen is touched, making it a great cause and effect exercise. There are two options for "erasing" or "clearing" a drawing - selecting to clear the screen or gently shaking the iPad.
There is a running advertisement at the top of the screen in this app. Sometimes the children would touch this and it would send them to a site on the Internet. We suggest enabling Guided Access in this app to block out the ability for the user to get out of this app and go to an advertisement.
This app was used in a Pre-K classroom with children who have Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Developmental Delays, as well as typically developing children. We used this app to work on drawing shapes and letters, connecting dots, finger isolation, and tracing.
The children especially loved making letters with the stamp feature. The stamps make a sound when you touch them and the children enjoyed this. They also liked using the stencils that the app offers to make perfect shapes.
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Each week I will be featuring an app from BridgingApps.org. These apps are features in the Bridging Apps newsletter each week and are reviewed by Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, and Special Education Teachers. Come back each week for a new review. If you’d like more information on how to use the BridgingApps.org website, or to find more app reviews, please click here.
SoundingBoard is a simple yet effective AAC communication board for children or adults who are non-verbal or for students who may "freeze" in an emergency and can not get their words out.
The app is preloaded with 14 boards with the option of 9 pictures per board depending on the needs of the user. AbleNet has an extensive library of pictures to change photos. There is also the option of using your own photos for certain boards. The other nice feature is the option to use your own voice when editing pictures such as your name and phone number.
Editing the board is also very user friendly. Caretakers, teachers or therapists just turn off the edit lock in the settings and simply go to the board they want to edit and either add or delete pictures. This is where you also can change the given voice and put in your own.
There is an option for in-app purchases from Able-Net to purchase boards dealing with restaurants, movies, general conversation getting dressed and mealtime. They are separated by female or male making the expressions more appropriate for a variety of users.
This app is one of the tools we use with all of our students as it helps with choice making, expressive language, receptive language and social skills. Two important boards are the Emergency Information and Emergency Help. In our classroom, we use this as one of our warm up exercises.
This is a must have tool for as it can be adjusted to the needs of the child. Our non-verbal students will use this app when they need to get information out quickly, especially for requesting help.
For those who are unable to use a touch screen, but who can operate assistive switches, the app can be used with 1 or 2 Bluetooth-connected switches.
Auditory Scanning: SoundingBoard now allows auditory scanning in addition to single and dual switch scanning. Auditory scanning works by playing a short "prompt message" during single or dual scanning actions. When the user selects the appropriate cell, the full message plays.
The app offers detailed videos and instructions at:
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Recently, an interesting app crossed my Twitter feed, and the creator is looking for a little help. Quick Key is a simple app that can help you quickly and easily collect and grade formative assessments. Think scantron for your phone!
I saw the demo that Walter posted and was instantly enthralled by it. I immediately saw implications for tracking behavior as well as what it was originally created for. It also connects with Learning Management Software (like PowerSchool and others), so you data is automatically uploaded and available in your grade book.
Walter is getting very close to releasing this app, but needs a little more help. Take a moment and check out his Kickstarter campaign, to raise $20,000. He's over halfway to his goal, and still 41 days to go!
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Do you know somebody else who would find this post interesting or useful? Please forward it to them. Did somebody forward this post to you? Visit Teaching All Students and subscribe to receive posts for free. If you need a tutorial please visit this post: RSS Readers.
Have you ever wanted to listen to a blog post instead of read it? Podcastomatic does just that. It takes a standard RSS feed and uses Text to Speech and turns it into a podcast. In fact if you are interested in receiving this blog in podcast for you can subscribe to this link - Podcastomatic RSS Feed or subscribe to it in iTunes - Podcastomatic iTunes Feed. You can do this for any blog you follow.
Podcstomatic is light on features. It has one voice (my ear says it's Alex), and one speed. If this site continues I would hope they would expand the choices. I do have to say the conversion is extremely quick and easy to do.
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QR Codes are everywhere, and I've started using them in my classroom. One use I have been trying, is attaching them to homework for students. Typically I'll print them out on an address label and the code will link to a screencast or video explanation of the homework activity. I think it's a great way to share information with parents, and help students remember what they need to do on worksheets. Nothing special but an easy way to incorporate multiple representations in an activity.
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My experience in using ClassDojo has been limited by the fact that I didn't test it out with my students until the last week of summer school, but it was extremely positive. On a whim, I set up the class and tried it one morning. I got off to a slow start, but immediately saw my students engagement increase. They were excited to see the points on the board, and really wanted to hear the audio notification! One of my students tried harder at reading then I have ever seen while we were using ClassDojo!
I found the site easy to use, easy to set up classroom, and very easy to award points using the mobile log-in on an iPad or iPod Touch! I even found myself giving more positive feedback to students, and avoiding negative comments. This in an area that I think makes ClassDojo unique. By having a list of positive reinforcers in front of me (or one of my instructional assistants), it forces you to go to the positive first. I'm the first to admit that I have a tendency to focus on negative behaviors of students and this really helped me stay more positive.
I have chosen to turn off notifications (visual and audio) for negative behaviors, this a personal choice. I still tracked those behaviors, but didn't want the students to get caught up in seeing negatives displayed for the entire classroom. The students didn't seem to notice, they just liked seeing their number go up!
As of right now there is no way to track individual students across different classes, but in Twitter conversations they have mentioned this functionality is coming. I think this is my biggest holdback with the site. While students do have a place to access their data and customize their avatar, the data it shows is aggregated from different classes and the student has to enter several different codes to get it working. I'm hoping that upcoming updates will help with this, because I think it is essential if multiple teachers what to track one student and get the most accurate data.
I also think the data keeping could have some improvements made. It is a nice feature to have a classroom report emailed to you at the end of each class, with an overview of the points given. This is wonderful in a general education setting. In a special education setting it is not enough information. As I stated in the previous post, you can email individual student reports to yourself or parents, but you have to enter an email address for each student, every time you end the class. This can obviously become cumbersome very quickly!
With that being said, I think this is a very transformative tool for classroom management, and will be very seriously figuring out how to make it work for my classroom situation. I think using the "percentage" as a way to gauge a students behavior, might be an extremely positive way to look at it. Not just numbers (which is essentially what I'm doing now), but a more complete picture of their day. In my head I think that showing students their "percentage" throughout the day may help them see how they can improve their day, if needed. I haven't worked out all the details, but it's the direction I'm heading in.
This tool has a lot of potential and I'll be looking forward to the upcoming updates!
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I'm not sure where I first heard about ClassDojo, but I never took the time to do more than glance at it. I knew it was a website for tracking behavior, but didn't give it a chance until I heard an interview with the creators on the EdGamer Podcast. Liam and Sam (the co-creators) did an excellent job of explaining why they started ClassDojo that I realized I had to give it a try.
So what exactly is ClassDojo, a fun, easy, mobile way to track an entire classroom worth of behavior! The website is still in beta and free for teachers (and intends to stay free!) so first head on over and create an account. Setting up a class is simple too, just type in your students names and you're set. They have already pre-loaded 6 positive and 6 negative behaviors to track. You are free to customize, add or delete these behaviors as you like! Another fun aspect is each student is assigned a fun avatar that you can change or they can customize (more on that in another post!).
Once the class is set up it's time to start. Click on Start Class and you can start taking data. Click on a student and then click on the behavior they exhibit. A running total of points is kept by each student, and their's a pop-up at the bottom that shows what they did and gives a small audio cue. You can even choose to show notifications for both positive and negative, or you can turn off one or the other. Same with the audio notification it can be set to only go off with positive notifications! The last setting is to have combined points or you can separate the positive from the negative points, giving each student 2 numbers to watch.
The interface is designed to be displayed to the entire class while it's being used, so it works great with a SMARTBoard or Projector during class times. The beauty is that you can then use a mobile device to assign points from anywhere in the classroom or school even. Multiple devices can be logged in at one time and can all be giving points during a lesson! You can even see the points on the mobile device if you want to show it to a student. Just point you iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, Android phone or tablet to http://mobile.classdojo.com to sign into your account and get started!
When you are finished with a class and click end class you are presented with a graph that gives you the overall positive percentage. While showing you the positive and negative points you awarded. You can view this as a classroom or by individual student. You can email yourself a copy of the report (PDF download is coming soon) and you can email each individual student report to yourself or parent by typing in their email address.
I have quite a bit more to say about ClassDojo.com, but think I'm going to save that for another post. Please give it a try and let me know how it goes in your classroom!
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Talk Typer is an interesting option for creating Speech to Text in the Chrome Web Browser. It has a very simple interface, just click on the microphone on the right hand side and start talking. It even accepts punctuation marks! If you are satisfied with what it put in, you can copy down the the bottom of the page and then copy, print, send an email, Tweet or translate using Google Translate. You can get a full set of instructions here - Talk Typer Instructions.
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Fleksy is a very interesting iOS keyboard option for users with visual impairments or who need word prediction. Like other input apps (Dragon or Typ-O) it does not replace the stock iOS keyboard, but is an app that you use to input text, but have quite a few options for getting the text to other apps or into messages. It has the most complete sharing list including Twitter, messages, email, copy & paste, and I would assume Facebook when iOS 6 is released this fall.
The concept is that you just need to know the general layout of the keyboard to type and the app will predict what you meant. After watching the demo video I couldn't believe how inaccurate you could type and have the app still get the correct word. Once you type a word you use simple swipe controls to select the word you want (swipe up or down for different word options, right to put them in the message). It works seamlessly with Voiceover so all the words are said out loud as you type. Check out the demo here:
I was completely blown away watching the demo at how well the word prediction worked in this app. I can see using it with many students who need word prediction, especially in this form factor. The simple design, larger keyboard layout, and simple commands could make it very easy to master for many students. Integrated with Voiceover you have something nearly as powerful as Write Out Loud or other word prediction software suites.
Fleksy is $14.99 in the App store and requires iOS 5 (which means older devices cannot run it). It only runs on iPhone and iPod touch at this time.
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Lifehacker shared an interesting tip recently for the iPad. If you've ever tried to use the split keyboard (and I have) you may get tripped up by having to use a specific thumb for some of the keys in the middle of the keyboard. What they found was that there are actually hidden keys on each side of the split keyboard that allow you to type those letters with either hand. Check out the image above as an example.
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If you are paying attention you'll start to notice these symbols appearing in a lot of places. They are called QR Codes and have been around for a few years. OK, so now you know what it is, what does it do? If you happen to have a smartphone (iPhone, Android or Blackberry) and the right app (try i-nigma for iPhone or Quickmarks for Android) you can "read" this image, straight from your computer screen (go ahead try it, I'll wait)....
For those of you without smartphones...it's a link to my About.me page. So what...why take a picture with a smartphone, what's the point? Well, my point is that there is more to this little symbol than it seems. Imagine being able to read this symbol using a webcam, most laptops have them these days, now imagine your class full of students going to the correct webpage without you having to help them! Here's a screencast of what I'm talking about. By making simple QR Code sheet, you can hold it up to the webcam and voila, instant website!
Ok, so how do you do it? It's actually quite simple. First find the site you want a code for, copy the site, then head to goo.gl, paste the site into the box and click shorten. You'll see a list of the links you've shortened, click on details next to one. On that page you'll see the your QR code in the top right corner, right click and select "save image as..." Print it out and you're ready to use it or better yet, sync that picture to your iOS device and hold that image up to the webcam (it works really well)!
So the next think you need is a way to read the QR Codes. The program I'm using is call QRReader - you can get the directions to download it here - QRReader Installation. Once it's installed you can read any QR Code, just make sure it's well lit and you hold it straight. It takes a little practice, but I'm sure most kids will get it pretty quickly!
This is one of those ideas that can be used in many different situations, but I really see it shining as a way for students who can't type to have access to their favorite websites. Or instead of a teacher putting the link on board and then fixing the link on 5 different computers. and I'm sure there are many more uses for them. Good Luck!
Patrick
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Annemarie, from SMARTBoards & More, shared another great site. GameGoo is a fun site for teaching literacy skills. It's fun, easy to use, and would work great on a SMARTBoard!
Patrick
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Anne Marie of Talking SMARTBoards & Much More posted a great site called Photo Peach. PhotoPeach is an easy way to create photo slide shows. You can upload photos from your computer, or use photos from you Facebook or Picasa account (Flickr seems to have some issues as of right now). You can then add music to your slideshow. You can pick from pre-selected music, or even borrow songs from Youtube.
It's a easy site to use, and makes a great slideshow. You can also share files, or embed them in other websites (Facebook, blogs, etc...). Here's a short one that I created in about 5 min.
Memphis on PhotoPeach
Patrick
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