Tech.+ideas+for+Level+3+programs

Greetings Assistive Technology Team!

Ok, so you are asking yourself: Why was I invited to this site, and what's in it for me? Hopefully, plenty, for now......just need you to sound off with me to brainstorm some ideas for our programs using wikis and blogs. I have quite a bit to show you, and we may need to meet "officially" to get things going. In a very small nutshell: wikis are a way to present information to members (think our students). At that point members can edit/manipulate/change/update the information from student computers or from our iPads. Wikis are all about collaborative and connective publishing. At this point, this site is public, which is how I need to share it with my online course instructor. However, when the class is complete, I will be able to make it private:member invitation only. WHich will allow us to control who is able to view and edit.

Let's start by creating a Dreamlist of uses for technology that we could investigate. Basically, when you are ready, click on the edit button and add your ideas to the page. Don't worry about overstepping anyone's additions, as all is saved and we can go back in history if you really screw up and we don't want your ideas noted. Make sure you click on save. We can insert other documents, images, files, and link to other sites.

Thanks for participating in this with me.

Here is something I found. It is a little old, but it can jumpstart some ideas. :) Shelly []

I am interested in finding an Elementary DCD/Mildly Impaired class to create Web Pals for my students. If anyone has some ideas as to where to direct my search, I would really appreciate it. There seems to be quite a bit of Special Ed "stuff" out there, however, it is difficult to sort through all the technical material to find more down to earth connections. Welcome Newest members. I have been trying to locate more websites that are "Special Education" related. Take a look at this Google search. It is for the top 50 Special Education teacher blogs. Perusing through some of the sites, there is valuable information. WE ARE NOT ALONE. []. Let us know what cool information is discovered. My hope is that soon, we will have information to share, too.

Don't for get to click Edit when you want to add information, then click Save when you are ready to submit an entry.

Found another Mulit-blog link: []

I might have a group of kids who could be Web Pals with your students. They are 4th-6th graders (LD) who come to the resource room I work in on Fridays. They are in need of practicing writing and this might be a fun way to help them. We can talk. Janelle, Welcome to wiki. I am actually looking for vloggers, as my students cannot write independently. MY hope was to use video to connect. Now, if you want to try us vlogging and you writing, perhaps that will work.

Have any of you heard of a program called Helloslide?? It is a great way to transfer information from Text to Speech. Our district filter has been modified so that you can download this program onto your desktop/ipad. Basically, you can take any ppt or word document, Save As a pdf. file, then upload it into Helloslide. From there, the program turns any text into Speech. The voice is a British male, however, it is one of the best attempts at inflection and expression that I have heard with computer-generated voicing programs.

For those of you that have accepted wiki membership, here's the information I promised (or, the bribe payout). Ask HelpDesk to load the iCloud photo folder onto your desktop. What that does is create a bridge between your ipad and your computer. Whenever you take a picture using your ipad, it is sent directly to that folder. No need to find the picture, email it to yourself, etc. I have been using it to take pictures of my students writing projects. So much easier than ripping it out of their Journals, walking up to the office to make a copy, then filing the copy into their Portfolio. Plus, when I get my website up and running, I will be able to share the writing sample with their parents.

I found an excellent resource for Special Education. Check out the "award winning" link: [] Any one heard of Delicious.com? Basically it allows you to tag any site you find of interest online. once you tag it, you can follow all others that have tagged it as an interest. It's where I found this site and many many others. WE ARE NOT ALONE.

And one more thing, take a look at this techie link: [] It's pretty self explanatory, the site provides 180 short tutorials (about 5 minutes long) on many topics. Of course, there are many that you won't have need of, however, there just might be a burning question answered for you.

Hey, Drew here from the HS (finally I get around to adding something...), and one of the favorite tech bits from my classroom is an iPad app called "Super Speller". It allows anyone to type a list of spelling words, add their voice to sound out each one, and has a built-in dictionary! Generate quizzes, tests, word searches, and scrambles and it keeps the students' scores. It's one of our favorite things!