I had the opportunity to attend this thought provoking discussion at Buzz2010 today. All about the growing place for social media and how we can leverage these tools effectively in our organizations. Follow the conversations at http://www.buzz2010.org/blog/
I love this quote from one of my career transition colleagues, Marianne Moore from Virginina, “it is not acceptable for kids to be silent passengers in the classrooms and teachers need to change/facilitate that process so that kids are engaged!”
I’ve made a new committment…I’ve bought a smartphone. Mind you I’m also an iTouch and iPad carrier too. However, I’m a Verizon subscriber and for now, I’m staying with that carrier. Thus, I recently took advantage of an upgrade with my contract and chose the LG Ally and I am impressed.
As a smartphone, the Ally has many of the same features as many such as a touchscreen interface with a slider keyboard, access to the Droid operating system of Apps, a nice camera a video recorder, and a 4 gb removable memory card. But what I find impressive is the speech recognition quality. Without even training my voice, this phone was able to understand my commands for a Google web search, a text message and a map destination. For me that is a wonderful design and saves my normal sized hands and fingers from trying to adapt a keyboarding style to a minature keyboard….let alone trying to thumb type! I also like the fact that this phone has raised keys on the keyboard so they serve as good tactile orientation points for anyone needing that assistance. Hats off to LG — life is good!
This is always encouraging to see and recently forwarded to me by a colleague “Department of Ed Lays Down Law on Kindle E-Reader Usage
The United States Department of Education and Department of Justice have just issued a reminder calling for colleges and universities–as well as K-12 school districts–to make sure devices such as e-readers that are required in the classroom comply with accessibility laws. The federal action came on the heels of a settlement agreement made by Justice with five institutions that were running Amazon Kindle e-book readers as pilot programs. According to the agencies, Kindle devices aren’t accessible to students who are blind or have low vision”
http://www.1105newsletters.com/t.do?id=5296263:19856432 I’m encouraged to see these types of statements which help us shift the importance of accessibility back to the developers!
Today marks the conclusion of another successful week of teaching graduate students about the framework of universal design for learning (UDL). This is our eighth year of offering this course at GW University in Washington, DC and I’m always encouraged when students leave the week long institute stating that they’ve learned so much. This speaks to me as an instructor that we’ve accomplished what we hoped — to impart the information they needed to learn, to clarify clear goals that they understood, and to engage them in a learning experience that engaged their interests.
Indeed, so much has changed and evolved in the field of UDL since our first offering of this course in 2003. Texts have been written, websites have debuted, the UDL principles have been clarified and expanded, and legislative references to UDL have helped to anchor a definition and direction. These are exciting times. Unfortunately, so many educators still need to understand the what, how and why of UDL.
As students left our institute this week, I was impressed with their ability to grasp the big picture. To quickly identify the differences between UDL and assistive technology and why each are important. To recognize the effective design of an online course portal and why this design helps to highlight the critical features of a course, offer multiple means of representing the course information, and encouraging multiple avenues that engage the learner.
Every educator hopes that their students will assimilate new knowledge in their classes. As they practice their craft, they become true guides on the side in this learning process–recognizing the strengths and interests of the learner, sharing the vast array of information and resources and, designing an instructional setting that can reach and meet learners through their multiple neural channels.
If you’re passionate about universal design for learning, consider joining a national community of practice at http://www.sharedwork.org.
Last week I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at the Better Learning by Design Conference in Burlington, VT. This was a wonderful opportunity for like-minded advocates of universal design for learning to gather and discuss best practices. The focus of this conversation centered around UDL in postsecondary settings — an important place for the framework of UDL. Both Dr. David Rose and Skip Stahl opened with insightful messages as our keynoters and their materials are also listed. Worth a visit!
It is always comforting when a seasoned technology innovator predicts that a technology of 20+ years is still in its infancy. That was the case last night on the 60 minutes show and the discussion from the inventor of the cell phone. I was pleased to hear this inventor discuss the importance of having cellphones that offered features that provided important functions—those that really addressed the needs of the user. In fact, I was amazed to hear that this inventor is also responsible for developing the Jitterbug phone that is such a great tool for those needing simplicity in their lives. Listen to this broadcast and especially what his predictions are for the future. Sounds alot like good principles of universal design to me 
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6512514n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel
I’ve been recruited! Having just sat through an hour long APPLE demonstration on the iPad, I can now say that I am converted. I want to get my hands on one of these very slick mobile devices. Not only is this electronic device the size of a small book, the thickness of a 1/2 inch pad of paper and weighing just 1.5 lbs but, this tool has an amazing array of features and apps.
For instance, the iPad has the same adjustable view that alternates on a turn between portrait or landscape. Using the keyboard is simpler in the landscape view that allows a wider keyboard reach for accessing keys. Direct link to the YouTube selection or a downloadable NetFlix app provides seamless access to movie views. The device also packs with a case that doubles as a stand. Thus, the iPad can become a display for sharing photos, a stand to watch a movie or perhaps a stand to hold the iPad that has been set as my alarm clock
In addition, Apple has loaded this tool with a set of Accessibility features and functionality. The ability to have voice-over capability to listen to the words on a page, the ability to enlarge the view with the touch of a finger, and the ability to have the pages automatically turned. Words within text can also be explored with a direct link to an embedded dictionary. Great tools to support reading. I just wish they would lift these tools up into the main part of the device instead of subsumed under “Accessibility”. Functions such as these are universally appealing to all learners — not just those needing access for a special need!
The 14th National Issues Forum on Vocational Evaluation and Career Assessment has been in process this week in Oklahoma. I’ve been fortunate to be attending this great event where such practitioners assemble from all over the US (and parts of Canada) to share best practices, strategies and resources. I’ve attended these Forums since the second in 1986. Always a great place to reunite with like-minded professionals that value the importance of vocational evaluation and career assessment processes that celebrate multiple hands-on measures to determine career abilities.
This Forum was especially exciting with the kickoff keynote address by Brian Kurth author/owner of Vocation Vacations. I enjoyed Mr. Kurth’s message around adult career mentorship that assured work life balance. As Mr. Kurth noted, such work/life balance for any individual should include a career opportunity to do something that allows passion, fulfillment, and the pursuit of happiness. I’m looking forward to one day hopefully “test driving” one of his listed dream vacations!
