Alternative Teaching with Technology

There are a wide range of adaptive technologies that are being used within school curriculum. These adaptive technologies are used to help students with special needs and disabilities. The main goal is to aid students with all manners of disabilities to be successful in classroom activities. One current assistive technology tool being used, are mobile devices. These devices offer another avenue for visual, auditory, and tactile learners due to the voice and touch interfaces. The touch interface appeals to young children that have intellectual disabilities or developmental delays, and children with autism.  Another adaptive technology that is being used are computers. Computers provide children with access to information and thought-provoking resources, such as the NASA Education Program.

For me, I primarily use the phone and computer on a daily basis; albeit, not always for educational purposes. I also use digital books for school and for personal use. I like that some of the books that I am interested in are free to download and can be listened to. It makes it easier for me to multitask when I can listen to my book while doing another task. Some problems with institution assistive technology is that students are not being properly trained to use certain technologies or they don’t have an appropriate amount of time to use them. Not to mention, that not all schools have the funds for these technologies which means less training time is available for the students to become satisfactorily familiar with them.

In completing the WebQuest assignment, I learned how to build and create my own website; which is pretty impressive in my book. In addition, I learned how to structure, plan, and coordinate a scholastic assignment. My highlight of this assignment was being able to be creative and design the WebQuest website. I like being artsy and having fun with different designs or patterns. What I didn’t like, was trying to maneuver around the website and not being able to place things how I wanted them. For me, it wasn’t user friendly, at all. It was definitely easier than having to code the site myself, but it definitely had some features that I felt were lacking. It took a great deal of time and I hit high levels of frustration, but I did feel accomplished once I got it done. I feel that I need to improve upon my patience and software skills. I should try and use different software programs and become more comfortable with their layout. By becoming more in tune with different software applications, I will be able to research better and become more aware of how different web pages operate. This can help me be more productive and efficient at my job.