Digital Video and Assistive Technology

I have worked with iMovie for most of my digital video, though my iMovie work often involves creating a slideshow from still photos.  For every Arts Night at my elementary school I put together a movie showing our students at work in art and music.  Now I realize my background tracks were breaking copyright and will have to brainstorm ways to work around the legal issue!  Upon arriving at Case, a professor suggested that I videotape my choir rehearsal and gave me a Flip camera to do so.  Although the video footage is not stellar, the simplicity of use with this camera cannot be beat.  Often our students record their teaching with mini-tapes and I am skeptical about their review of these tapes due to the extra steps needed to put the footage on their computers.  Flip cameras resolve the issue.  I hope to use these more in my future research, especially for transcription purposes.

The assistive technology article provided clear definitions of assistive technology and the rights students have to this technology.  Throughout the article, I found myself thinking "they receive this for all other classes besides 'specials'."  I worked with many students with disabilities that required the use of a Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and/or adaptive instruments.  However, I received no training on the technology or about the disabilities in general.  Paraeducators worked to include music words on their 'talkers', but the technology was inconsistent.  Also, if I wanted to purchase adaptive instruments, which I tried to do each year, it came from my general budget.  As in most areas of education, the use of materials comes down to available funds.  These adaptive instruments are often extremely expensive, taking at least one quarter of my funds for one purchase.  This was a difficult situation because (a) the ratio of funds did not equal the ratio of students using the instruments and (b) the price allowed me to buy one, allowing only the child with disabilities to use the instrument.  In the Universal Design Instruction approach, I would have prefered for many students to use the adaptation, rather than singling out the student with a disability.  A separate account from the administration should be set aside and used for these students, especially in schools with specialized programs. 

PLN: Twitter Discussion

This post relates to an earlier question about the educational use of Twitter.  It is an interesting debate...

Digital Photography, Digital Citizenship, GIMP, & Copyright

After reading the copyright article I am still rather confused about copyright law and its use in education.  What I was able to glean from it is when in doubt, cite.  However, while making my WebQuest I ran into difficulties in citing.  Images are being used all over the internet that do not have proper citation.  How then are we to find the origin of the image? 

The general areas of behavior in Digital Citizenship should be something that is taught to students and posted in classrooms.  Much of the behavior aligns with the Character Counts program or the philosophy of IB schools.  Regardless of specific programs, these nine areas of behavior can be applied across the curriculum.  In addition, faculties and other groups of both digital immigrants and digital natives should be taught these behaviors as manners are taught (or used to be!) - by those informed modeling appropriate behavior.

The GIMP tool is a great free resource, though it duplicates many of the tasks already available on my computer.  Digital Photography did not reveal any new information to me as I have used a digital camera since they first came out  almost ten years ago. 

PLN: Smithsonian Folkways Podcast

This podcast, Sounds to Grow On, features a wonderful collection of Folkways recordings narrated by Micheal Asch, the son of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways Records.  These podcasts are a great way to become familiar with the Folkways Records literature and could be use to introduce new music to students, as well as inform your own knowledge.

PLN: Evelyn Glennie

Our Music in Early Childhood class is currently using a book, Moses Goes to a Concert, that features a class of deaf students going to a concert.  I believe this artist was the inspiration for the story and on this posting she talks about the difference between hearing and listening.  Too advance for our students, but though-provoking for us!

Technology and Learning Articles

Although connected in a general sense, the articles read this week each contain a different nugget of interesting information.  The WebQuest page is highly accessible for educators.  Examples of others' work and the established template make creating web based projects easy.  I plan to use this resource when creating a technology module for World Music, MUED 305.

The Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants article provides new perspective on the effect of the information age.  As technology moves forward at a rapid pace, I find the definition of 'generations' to be somewhat blurred.  No longer does the word apply solely to levels of ancestry with a large span of years dividing the levels.  Learners 5 years my senior or junior have varied comfort with technology than my own.  For example, those 5 years older went through undergrad just as email became mainstream.  Their ways of communicating with classmates and professors, of taking notes and preparing for exams, and of researching varied greatly from own 5 years later.  The difference is then magnified for the youngest of students that I teach and, as the article points out, this has critical implications for strategies of teaching and learning.

My only concern with the article is its dependence on games for teaching.  Yes, digital games are effective and there are ways for students to work collaboratively, as stated in the last article.  However, where does human interaction fit in?  How do students learn to make sense of the world around them if they use non-realistic methods of exploring that world?  Can a digital game lead to the same valued experience of make-believe play or play in general?  Is the effectiveness of most technology tied to novelty?  What happens when students are so used to technology it no longer has the same capacity to engage?   

PLN: Tomorrow's Professors

I believe there are many of us who are hoping to find a job in academia some day.  This blog discusses issues related to us, "tomorrow's professors".

Multimedia and WWWaveforms

The required reading was very informative this week. Worldwidewaveforms clearly details the necessary steps for compressing file.  Although many of the definitions are probably fleeting in my memory, it is interesting to understand what is behind the many acronyms associated with sound files.  In addition, it is helpful to have an example of the specific html text needed when embedding a sound file on a website.  I am most familiar with iWeb, having used that program for all my websites currently running.  In using iWeb there is no need to understand html text.  However, if forced to use another web design program, I will now have a general understanding about the necessary text. 

Similarly, Dr. Estrella's Multimedia Basics shares the mystery behind tiff, gif, jpeg, etc. files.  In all of his work that we have read, I appreciate the detail of description used by Dr. Estrella.  He is extremely aware of his audience and assumes nothing when introducing a concept.  His writing is teacher and techno-phobe friendly and should serve as a model for other authors in the field.