Technology comes in many different shapes
and have played many fascinating roles in life. It could be as simple as a cell
phone that made communication easily accessible from remote distances, or an
electric chair that had helped disabled people move from one location to
another. It could be a simple portable laptop or a computer in the classroom that
serves many purposes. The video, “Enabling Dreams” provides both positively and
negatively advantages to students especially those with physical impairments
with learning which is the essence of this reflection that I would want the
parents, administrators, or all the educators, like myself, to be aware of.
According to the video, assistive
technology helps students to do their homework and it saves them time. It
enables students to do researching and exploring the net quickly. Furthermore,
it has been proven productively, and a major foundation of life. Dell,
Newton& Petroff (2012) refers to assistive technology as a device to use to
increase, maintain, and improve students’ capabilities for the disabled.
Other devices have important results which include
laptops and other tablet devices. They are appropriate apparatus and are
portable and can be used both in and outside of classes. It is a good way to
those whose handwriting are poor and sluggish and the quality of their
note-taking improved as well (Vaughn & Bos, 2009). It improved spelling,
and expressive writings and reduce distraction. It improves student’s ability
to read and academic outputs. Furthermore, it is an amazing tool to improve
math skills instead of memorizing facts. Lastly, it provides immediate
feedback.
Assistive technology can provide enough
time for students focusing on communication bypassing the aspect of writing by
using spell check and grammar features. The output of the paper is more in a
neat condition than in a handwritten style or output. In the classroom, when
students are writing their journals or classwork with sloppy handwriting,
teachers often missed the essence of the writing or spent a lot of time trying
to figure out what is the intended point.
Some of the technologies include text-to-
speech software that can read out digital or printed text. This is important
because it gives students more time to pick up the correct pronunciation of
each word as they are read to them. It also gives positive effect of decoding
and word recognition (Rasskind & Higgins, 1999). Text to speech helps to retain
skills in listening, catching their mistakes as it reads to them, and helps
them to revise their work quickly and easily. Still many types of assistive
technology / instruction include: speech to text, word production, mid tech
devices, graphic organizer, calculators, and etc. These advantages of assistive
technology if used properly during instruction may bring accelerating results
with my students, which I had missed in teaching.
For the pass years, the department of
education in Guam continued to perform poorly. What had happened to students’
learning when we are learning that technology had helped in improving learning?
According to the video, students will
continue performing lower because the implementation of technology was not
implement properly or not included in the planning process. This process as
well as practice is not consistent either.
Another prominent obstructions is that its a
hard learning process and takes time for the processing process to actually
works. All personnel must be trained with learners to be equipped with the
proper documents that parents might have difficulties funding.
It is my recommendation that all
stakeholders work diligently to find possible means to equipped children not
only those with physical impairment but all learners so that all this dream
cannot just be a dream but a reality to all learners, that is, improved
learning result.
References:
Edutopia. (2010). Assistive
Technology: Enabling Dreams. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXxdxck8Gic
Morrin, A. (2014-2015).
Text-to-Speech Software: What It Is and How It Works. Retrieved from: https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/assistive-technology/assistive-technologies-basics
Raskind & Higgins (1999).
Assistive Technologies: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications.
Retrieved from: http://booksgoogle.com/books?isbn=146645032
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