Digital Images Lab--Practice Task

Autism Ribbon: Digital Image Practice Slide Show

In the future, I plan to use a blogging service other than Blogger when attempting to embed videos or digital work--although this was a small task intended only to provide us with practice, it was nearly impossible to embed the material that I worked with and/or created (digital images, slide show, etc.). In my opinion, much of the difficulty that I experienced can be attributed to the fact that, with Blogger, one can only embed video from either Youtube or Google; because I used Photoshop to produce my work (which, although easy to navigate, was somewhat uncooperative), in order to connect others with my work, I was limited to only providing a text-based link.

Photo Licensed Through Flickr

It took a bit longer than I expected, but here's the photo that I licensed with Creative Commons

Click here to access Flickr page

Flickr, Creative Commons Photo post, Critique

Photo Attribution:

Original Image: "DSC03379"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yodieann/2076024032/#/photos/yodieann/2076024032/lightbox/By: yodie ann
Released under an Attribution License:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en





 In almost any content area in the classroom, the use of images can potentially be effective when  attempting to connect students to a cluster of viable information or important resources in a timely and/or non- intimidating manner. Similar to "in-text", linked citations such as this, with a click of the mouse, students are able to access the emphasized, target information directly without having to hassle with the "traditional", MLA citation methods that are, in my opinion, rote and meaningless to the 21st century student. In a more general sense, especially for students with special needs who thrive on visual stimulation, the use of images can be of  enormous assistance in helping them understand content and stay engaged during classroom instruction.

Increasing Students' Time Management Skillls

Time management, as we all know, is crucial for many students in special education, regardless of their diagnosed disability. However, from my experience in the field, these skills are rarely fostered for students that truly need them to be able to excel in the classroom. A student's inability to efficiently manage time can lead to, among other things, behavioral issues and academic struggles. Here's a list of simple, yet effective time management strategies that can help students in the classroom. As a sibling of someone with special needs, I know from experience that, many times, behavior/organization strategies don't necessarily need to be "ground breaking". Sometimes, it turns out that simpler is better.

"The Innovative Educator", Current Reform Pushes Us Back to 20th Century Education

"When politicians, administrators, or even parents believe that succeeding at our current education (i.e., memorizing the multiplication tables, mastering the long division algorithm, being good at paper-book reading, and studying science, history, and civics in traditional ways) is what is important for today‟s and tomorrow‟s students, they put those students at a huge disadvantage relative to the fast-changing future". 

The above excerpt was taken from "The Reformers are Leaving our Schools in the 20th Century", an extremely thought-provoking and relevant article written by Marc Prensky (and highlighted/summarized on a blog titled "The Innovative Educator"). In as brief of a summary as possible, in his article, Prensky advocates for our nation's schools to revamp the current curricular format-- in the author's opinion, it is not the U.S. educational system that needs adjustment. Rather, it is the actual, day-to-day education that is provided to students within the system that must change. If thousands of other industries are acknowledging the fast-paced, technological changes that are occurring each and every day  in our world, why is it that many educators refuse to adjust their instruction? There is no reason why the students in today's schools should be forced to sit through the same teacher-dominated lectures and lessons that I experienced a decade ago. Times are changing, and the field of education must begin to take action. Last night, in one of my special education courses, my professor said something that really hit home for me--he said, "Our goal as teachers shouldn't be to make good kids. It should be to make good adults who will be able to function well in society in adulthood". If the use of technology in the classroom (and its appropriate use) isn't promoted and increased, our nation's students are going to be left in the dust.

Another really impressive portion of Prensky's article touches upon our responsibility, as teachers, to truly come to know our students--often times, due to the objective, standards-based assessments that have become the current focus of education, the unique and individual personalities of our students are ignored . Unfortunately, this trend of "teaching to the test" hinders our ability, as educators, to develop (and maintain) meaningful relationships with our students--they become numbers and scores, not people. In my opinion, simply displaying the desire to come to know each of our students' personal interests, strengths, weaknesses, and fears can be the key to developing a comfortable and innovative classroom. Allow students' ingenuity to come to the forefront in education!! The technologies that we are beginning to explore in this course can hopefully be used as tools to help promote student-centered learning!

One more thing--check out TweetDeck (there's also a link to it on the wiki for this week). I've had a twitter account for a while now, but this is the first time that I am actually exploring the site's possibilities. TweetDeck just makes it so much easier to organize and sift through tweets, articles, and other useful information. It eliminates the stress from tweeting!

CEP 416--Introduction!!

Hi, everyone! As you probably know by this point, my name is Brian Leslie, and I'm a senior majoring in Special Education--this blog was originally created during my time in CEP 452 last semester, and I can tell you that this specific technology has been the most practical and helpful tool that I have put to use over the course of the past year. If appropriately utilized, the blogging experience can not only provide you with unfiltered access to some of the most pressing issues facing all of us as future educators, but can also expose you to a plethora of differing opinions, view-points, and perspectives that are present all throughout the social-networking atmosphere. However, like anything else, the advantages of the "blogosphere" only present themselves if you are willing to "push the envelope" and truly explore what the online arena has to offer. I am, by no means, a "blogging" expert, but, through the creation of this particular technology, I have become attached to sifting through the thousands of educational blogs that are avaliable to me,which, I believe, has helped to shape my still-evolving pedagogical beliefs and philosophies.

In addition to blogging, I also have a rather significant amount of prior experience working with various text-to-speech programs. My oldest brother, now 27 years old, is both autistic and mildly cognitively impaired, and began experimenting with the "Write:OutLoud" program in his early teenage years--simply being provided with a consistent and comprehensive linguistic model has helped him to significantly develop as a writer. More specifically, "Write:OutLoud" has increased the breadth of his writing exponentially--he now is able to compose pages upon pages of work, primarily due to the fact that this text-to-speech program has worked to make the compositional process a fun and enjoyable experience! This program is most definitely an example of a specific tool that I plan to utilize within my own classroom someday.

During my CEP 452 coursework, as a portion of our semester-long  project, I constructed an "informational" Google-Site focusing on "Natural Reader 10.0", a more modernized text-to-speech program that provides users with the ability to convert either self-created or "internet retrieved" documents into mp3, WAV, or OGG audio-formats that can be downloaded and synced onto one's smart device (iPod, Blackberry, etc.). Obviously, this technology greatly increases the amount of access that users can potentially have to computer-based material--if utilized during classroom instruction (although multiple smart devices would also be required), "Natural Reader 10.0" could greatly benefit students who do not have access to technology in their homes.

Through this course, I hope to continue to hone both my skills and comfort level in regards to my work with technology. I am very much looking forward to this online experience, because I believe that personal experimentation is the only true way to achieve technological aptitude--being told by someone "how" to use or apply different technologies can only take one so far, and I am looking forward to the challenge of becoming comfortable with exploring the use of this class's various tools on my own. In addition, I hope to come to better understand the ways in which I can effectively and meaningfully implement technology into my classroom--in my experiences in the field, I have often been a witness of ineffective uses of technology. Simply providing students with the opportunity to explore content through the use of technology is not enough; as instructors, we must have a clear vision of the ways in which the implementation of technology into our daily instruction will personally benefit each of our students. This requires us to come to personally understand both the academic and social needs of each our students, and to possess the ability to identify the types of technology that would be most appropriate to apply when addressing each of their individual strengths and weaknesses.

Where I Started, Where I Am Now

Technology, and all that came along with the broad concept of "the internet age", always intimidated me. Unlike many of my peers, in high school (and early on in college), I never succumbed to the inevitable pull of "social media", simply because I honestly felt that these sites, programs, and technologies were silly and that they served little purpose in my life. I never possessed an understanding of the ways in which I, as an aspiring educator, would likely depend on these types of communication channels in my classroom.

That is, until now. CEP 452 has taught me (among other things) that technology was never intended to be feared, but, rather, to be embraced. I suppose that, during the time in life when I believed that technology was taboo, I was under the impression that technology, and the massive (seemingly insurmountable) concept of the internet, was something that was too difficult and intimidating to navigate and utilize. This class has worked to completely alter my perspective of technology--I began this course not knowing how to use  many of our generation's commonplace technologies (Google sites, docs, Twitter, etc.). Now, as the semester comes to a close, I not only have become confident in using these technologies, but have also come to learn how to find similar technologies to implement within my classroom. If you know how to search (and know exactly what you are searching for), effective technologies seemingly "fall into your lap"--this newly developed technological knowledge base that I now possess will be extremely helpful during my eventual job search, and is something that I am extremely grateful for.