Apply and Discover 3.2

Apply and Discover 3.2

Apply and Discover 2.2

In my short paper for module one I addressed the importance of having a differentiated plan for technology instruction. Thus, allowing educators to learn technology at their own pace, taking into account their background knowledge, abilities and limitations. Similarly, the UDL (Universal Design for Learning) approach outlines the importance of having a “curriculum that includes alternatives to make it accessible and appropriate for students with different backgrounds, learning styles and abilities in widely varied learning contexts” (Gardner, Schweder & Wissick, 2004). Another facet of UDL is presented by Schrum and Levin (2009) when they describe the needs of  “Millenial learners”. According to the authors, this generation needs to be challenged and want to learn/work in an environment that supports collaboration, creativity, flexibility and entertaining. Technology allows us to meet these demands and support the needs of diverse learners. For instance, the article: Technology Applications that Support Diverse Learners (Gardner, Schweder & Wissick, 2004) offers accommodations alternatives, such as graphic organizers, for students that have limited memory, and attention/retention difficulties. There are many types of organizers available in the Internet for different applications, these can be customized with pictures, large font, bright color background etc… These can be further modified for students that require additional challenges. Other tools that I would implement in my classroom are alternative web browsers, such as the BrowseAloud tool, EReaders, optical character recognition software and text-to-speech such as the Mac TTS.  For students that exhibit a passive learning style or that have a tendency to lack motivation (may be due to issues at home, etc..) it is recommended to engage in interactive multimedia, this can be achieved by using artifacts such as the SmartBoard, see article: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4278772&page=1#.Txsyo5jgWFI. If this technology is not available, teachers can always create interactive lessons by incorporating computer games, videos that can be paused for group discussions, and online simulations or representation of concepts.