Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Accessibility for all Students
After reading the article, AIM for Digital Equity by Gayl Bowser and Joy Smiley Zabala, it reminded me strongly of the conversations we had the other day in class involving the importance of making sure all students have a fair access to material online and where ever else class material is involved. This discussion, as well as with the reinforcement from this article, allowed me to understand that education in today's classrooms and on the internet requires accessibility for the seeing and hearing impaired (or simply for those who have various learning disorders or other special needs). These types of tools required may include subtitles or close captioning, or simply large print text, and screen readers for those who have difficulty reading or simply cannot read. I look forward to learning how to upload text to include in videos, and have found the screen reading resources like Chrome Vox given in class extremely valuable. These things I will take with me into the classroom in order to best serve all of my students. Like Bowser and Zabala say, it is important to give these kinds of options to all students so that they know they have the tools to help them succeed and learn as well as any one of their classmates.
From this article, I have learned about these valuable organizations such as the AIM Center (National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials and the NIMAC (National Instructional Materials Access Center that provide help for teachers who need resource aides for students. I think these are really important for all teachers to know about and have access to.
One of the things I found really interesting about this article is that it talks about a shift from traditional school textbooks to only having electronic devices for our books and other educational information. I found this fascinating, and a little sad/worrisome. Sad, only because I am attached to the old methods of pen and paper and paper books. Yet I understand that with technology, we can more easily reach all students with different abilities and learning styles. This is a wonderful thing. However, I agree with the writers that the shift to technology only classrooms is worrisome because the people creating these programs and devices must create them right, so that they have the resources that students need to be successful (such as screen reading and closed captioning). Either way, it is hopeful that soon society will get to the point where things are worked out and students are having an easier time learning and teachers are having an easier time educating through technology.
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This was very well written. One thing I did not consider in my blog was how closed caption can help students that are deaf or have some hearing impairment. I think this would be helpful for teachers that are considering the "flipped classroom". Here the teacher would record a video and upload it online with the text of the entire classroom. I think other teachers that use video often can benefit from using closed caption. I was also a little sad that we are moving to a point where textbooks will only be available online or through digital sources. I honestly worry that this will have long term effects to their eye health. I wonder if overexposure to viewing monitors will have some unexpected consequences to students vision and overall health.
ReplyDeleteRick made a strong point in my opinion. Is all this technology advancement and integration really a good thing? In reference to student learning, I am starting to warm up to the idea, but when we think about student health I begin to get concerned for students health. How can we prevent possible eye problems for our students if they are staring at screens for an extended period of time? I mean, we should 100% offer the programs to those students who need it but is there a different way to provide these resources? Just something to think about.
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