AIMing for Digital Equity

What
This article covers the importance of having learning materials in the classroom that are accessible for students with disabilities. One of the authors, Gayl Bowser, is a retired special education teacher who has experience with disabled students and is a consultant on the topic of helping disabled students with technology. The other author, Joy Smiley Zabala, is an expert in assistive technology. Their combined knowledge on the subjects of technology and disabled students make them a reliable source for this topic. As digital media slowly replaces print media as the format for classroom materials, it is important to ensure that the new media is available in formats that disabled students can use. Digital media offers new opportunities for disabled students, such as audio text to assist students who are visually-impaired or have difficulty reading.

So What
Recent advances in education technology may turn out to be very beneficial to disabled students if teachers and administrators ensure that disabled students are able to access the resources available to them. Vision-impaired students can benefit from audio narration of textbooks or the ability to zoom in on digital texts.

 

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Now What
One of the ideas in the article is the use of recording lectures so that students can listen to them as an audio. Hey, where might you have heard an awesome idea like that before? As a social studies teacher, I would seriously consider recording my lectures so that students who are struggling to keep up can listen to them at their own pace. The educational system has made a lot of progress toward meeting the needs of disabled students but we now have to make sure that the transition from print to digital media does not leave anybody behind.

Source:
Bowser, G., & Smiley Zabala, J. (2012). Aim for digital equity. Learning & Leading With Technology, 39(7), 16-19. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Store/Product?ID=2467

Crafting Digital Artifacts

What
Bernajean Porter's article, "Beyond Words," discusses digital storytelling. Porter goes into detail about the technical and aesthetic details of the craft, including the use of sound and how images should be displayed. A key point made in the article is that "People process visual information 60,000 times more quickly than narrative information," (Porter, 2006) showing the important of utilizing visual media when it is available. Porter is an author of two books on digital storytelling and has been a featured speaker on the subject at many events, so she seems to know the subject well.

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So What
The article's focus on technical and aesthetic details of creating digital artifacts is provides useful information that many students and teacher may not consider. In creating a digital artifact for education purposes, it is important to ensure that it can capture and keep the audience's attention while still getting the point across.

Now What
This article has refreshed my ideas on how to teach students who are planning to use video in their projects. You cannot expect them to be able to take some film and sound and create a good digital artifact with it, unless you provide them with some guidance on, as Porter puts it, the "grammar for images," (Porter, 2006) such as using images to convey an idea without having to blatantly say it in the narration.

Source:
Porter, B. (2006). Beyond words. Learning & Leading With Technology, 28-31. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Store/Product?ID=1436

Digital Storytelling In The Language Arts Classroom

What
This article by Glen Bull and Sara Kajder discusses the use of digital storytelling (video) in the classroom. It mentions how advances in technology, especially digital cameras and video editing programs, have advanced to make digital storytelling feasible for teachers and students. The authors lay out the elements of digital storytelling and the various aspects of it, including point of view, dramatic question, emotional content, economy and pacing. The article then lays out seven simple steps to create a digital storytelling artifact. Both of the article's authors work at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.

So What
Video technology has great classroom potential and this article not only explains why, but gives great tips on utilizing digital storytelling within the language arts classroom. It is interesting to read how creating a video can help students who are struggling with reading or writing, by using digital storytelling to form a connection. Creating a visual storyboard or recording narration can help students with literacy.

Now What
I don't plan on teaching language arts once I complete the credential program, but I still see how digital storytelling can be useful in a social studies classroom. The use of film clips and/or narration can help bring any subject alive for students who are visual or aural learners. No matter what subject I end up teaching, I would encourage students to incorporate video into their projects.

Source:
Bull, G., & Kajder, S. (2004). Digital storytelling in the language arts classroom. Learning & Leading With Technology, 32(4), 46-49. Retrieved from http://www.digitalstoryteller.org/docs/DigitalStorytelling.pdf