Sunday, July 17, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Speak and Spell rhymes with….
Technological developments are sometimes reminiscent of technological developments of the past. Interactive whiteboards are reminiscent of overheads projectors, which are reminiscent of chalkboards, which are paper and pencil, which are…well…you get the picture.
Speak and Spell is one of those technologies. Speak and Spell would not typically come to mind when considering the evolutionary process of technology but being in the process of reading a work by Sherry Turkle, The Second Self, and having recently come across a Droid app that mimics the device’s purpose, it’s an excellent example of what has been and what is.
OK so what does it remind me of?!?! Why index cards, of course! Granted they don’t say the words but my dad did. Nonetheless, they were the prompts used to practice spelling and mathematical skills.
The Speak and Spell “was, perhaps, one of the first consumer electronics products based on DSP [Digital Signal Processing] technology.” What’s DSP? That’s the technology that brings us medical imaging and seismic data processing but it’s also one of the technologies that bring us speech processing and recognition. The Speak and Spell advanced alternative and augmentative communication devices; led to the development of consumer speech-to-text and text-to-speech programs, including talking dictionaries and calculators; and MP3s. What will it evolve into? I really don’t know. Maybe it could be used to improve upon technologies that augment and/or replace the physical structures used for hearing and speech. Maybe it could create algorithms to understand the sound patterns of animals and finally give Fido a voice. Maybe it could be used to determine potential problems with gas and oil lines before disasters occur. Maybe it could decode brainwaves into language for those that have paralysis or other such disorders that prevent even the muscular means with which to create sound.
Since the technology’s use is so far reaching in the first place, it seems only fitting to say that it could evolve into anything and that only time will tell what it will become.
Speak and Spell is one of those technologies. Speak and Spell would not typically come to mind when considering the evolutionary process of technology but being in the process of reading a work by Sherry Turkle, The Second Self, and having recently come across a Droid app that mimics the device’s purpose, it’s an excellent example of what has been and what is.
OK so what does it remind me of?!?! Why index cards, of course! Granted they don’t say the words but my dad did. Nonetheless, they were the prompts used to practice spelling and mathematical skills.
The Speak and Spell “was, perhaps, one of the first consumer electronics products based on DSP [Digital Signal Processing] technology.” What’s DSP? That’s the technology that brings us medical imaging and seismic data processing but it’s also one of the technologies that bring us speech processing and recognition. The Speak and Spell advanced alternative and augmentative communication devices; led to the development of consumer speech-to-text and text-to-speech programs, including talking dictionaries and calculators; and MP3s. What will it evolve into? I really don’t know. Maybe it could be used to improve upon technologies that augment and/or replace the physical structures used for hearing and speech. Maybe it could create algorithms to understand the sound patterns of animals and finally give Fido a voice. Maybe it could be used to determine potential problems with gas and oil lines before disasters occur. Maybe it could decode brainwaves into language for those that have paralysis or other such disorders that prevent even the muscular means with which to create sound.
Since the technology’s use is so far reaching in the first place, it seems only fitting to say that it could evolve into anything and that only time will tell what it will become.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Cell Phone Tetrad
The cell phone is a part of the mobile phone evolution. The cell phone was slow to adopt due to size (originally referred to as “the brick”) and cost. The adoption rate of the cell phone increased as the device’s size and price tag decreased.
As the cell phone developed, pager usage (outside of the medical field) decreased. The cell phone replaced the car phone because it could only be used in the car. The cell phone started to obsolete the home phone, which is also referred to the land line, but may have actually been credited with a spike in land line sales as reception and battery can stop calls from being placed.
Cell phones always reminded me of walkie talkies but with a longer range so, to me, it only seems natural that some are equipped with a walkie talkie feature because that is a quicker way to communicate a line or two especially when working on a project. I guess that could be replaced by the text message feature but only the walkie talkie will allow you to instantly verify that the communication was received.
While the cell phone remains a top technology, the smart phone may replace it. The smart phone has many more features that can be accessed at a speed that the cell phone cannot compete with. I mean, when was the last time you tried to surf the web on a cell phone? A latte from Starbucks can be had faster than the start up of the browser! But it’s being able to pay for that latte with a smart phone that may help expedite the “obsoleting” of the cell phone.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
14 months and emerged
I know it’s played out but I have to say it. I’m a special education teacher so I can’t dismiss it. I’m a teacher in the virtual environment so I have to name it. iPad. There, I said it. The iPad is a technology that has emerged in the last few years that shapes learning in education. Few years?!?! OK,14 months but whose counting?
The problems and challenges that have been associated with this technology are not as many as one would expect. The device itself has limited memory, no options for external memory, a very awkward means with which to share amongst different devices, and keyboard connectivity issues. The challenges with K-12 implementation are bandwidth and cost related. The issue with adoption in the K-12 virtual school environment is LMS and web based conferencing interface with mobile technologies.
The benefits of this technology are many. It’s a mobile device that is smaller than a netbook with access to numerous applications that allow the device to be used in ways a netbook cannot with 3G built in. Some examples: photo and video editing, online gaming with rich graphics, interactive ebooks, music creation, personal organization, etc. The benefits to K-12 education are that the device itself encourages engagement; increases access to learning resources; and allows for greater accessibility to peers, teachers, and learning materials for those with disabilities. In the virtual learning environment, it makes learning mobile.
The way the iPad is not talked about amongst the masses is with regards to the accessibility features and applications. I hinted to it in the above paragraph but the iPad can be used to meet the needs of many people with disabilities. The feature that most readily comes to mind is that of the AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) apps. These apps allow individuals with disabilities that impair verbal communication to communicate verbally. How does that benefit society? It empowers individuals and increases their independence. Broader picture? The iPad can be used a tool to improve academic performance by increasing student engagement; providing greater access to resources; and by making learning mobile and accessible.
The iPad can be improved upon. The text to speech feature for ebooks could be made better by allowing the technology to start and stop through user interaction with the device rather than limited to selected text. Collaboration could be enhanced by allowing local users (or remote users through the soon to be released iCloud services) to work collaboratively (as opposed to logging onto services like Google Docs). The device itself could be run using verbal commands. Oh wait…that’s already in the works. And a drop in price is always helpful.
The problems and challenges that have been associated with this technology are not as many as one would expect. The device itself has limited memory, no options for external memory, a very awkward means with which to share amongst different devices, and keyboard connectivity issues. The challenges with K-12 implementation are bandwidth and cost related. The issue with adoption in the K-12 virtual school environment is LMS and web based conferencing interface with mobile technologies.
The benefits of this technology are many. It’s a mobile device that is smaller than a netbook with access to numerous applications that allow the device to be used in ways a netbook cannot with 3G built in. Some examples: photo and video editing, online gaming with rich graphics, interactive ebooks, music creation, personal organization, etc. The benefits to K-12 education are that the device itself encourages engagement; increases access to learning resources; and allows for greater accessibility to peers, teachers, and learning materials for those with disabilities. In the virtual learning environment, it makes learning mobile.
The way the iPad is not talked about amongst the masses is with regards to the accessibility features and applications. I hinted to it in the above paragraph but the iPad can be used to meet the needs of many people with disabilities. The feature that most readily comes to mind is that of the AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) apps. These apps allow individuals with disabilities that impair verbal communication to communicate verbally. How does that benefit society? It empowers individuals and increases their independence. Broader picture? The iPad can be used a tool to improve academic performance by increasing student engagement; providing greater access to resources; and by making learning mobile and accessible.
The iPad can be improved upon. The text to speech feature for ebooks could be made better by allowing the technology to start and stop through user interaction with the device rather than limited to selected text. Collaboration could be enhanced by allowing local users (or remote users through the soon to be released iCloud services) to work collaboratively (as opposed to logging onto services like Google Docs). The device itself could be run using verbal commands. Oh wait…that’s already in the works. And a drop in price is always helpful.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
AT, ET, DNS, and ARCS
I once had this amazing student. He was bright, funny, highly intelligent, and musically gifted. I swear he was smarter than me and had a larger vocabulary than me. If I’m wrong about those observations, I can say with no uncertainty, he was funnier than me!
This student, who I’ll call John, was a tenth grader that read at a post-secondary grade level. He would read anything you put in front of him, any genre, any format. John particularly enjoyed novels from the Harlem Renaissance even though he had little to no understanding of the culture or the times. But John couldn’t write. He had a writing disability that translated into some fine motor issues, difficulty with transcribing his thoughts, and even problems with constructing paragraphs. You could watch time pass as he attempted to respond to writing prompts and essay questions. Ten minutes would go by and he had written his name, illegibly.
John was highly verbal and very articulate so I figured a transcription software program [an assistive technology (AT) device when used by someone with a disability] would be just the thing to get him again interested in school and maybe move on to college after graduation. He was initially excited by the prospect, he enjoyed training the program, and, as most teens do, he enjoyed stringing together cuss words and other profanities to watch Dragon (Dragon Naturally Speaking or DNS) record them effortlessly.
He used the program for an assignment. One assignment. Only one assignment. An assignment he never even turned in! I was crushed. I kept asking him to use it. I kept calling him out of his advisory classes to come and use Dragon for his work but he didn’t. So I got John a laptop with the program and talked with his mom. He still didn’t use it. I asked him why he wouldn’t use it, why he wouldn’t do his work. John never did answer me. It just seemed as if he’d lost all interest, in much the same way that he had with his written work. Now, reflecting on it all, maybe it was an overriding fear of failure. After all, you can’t fail if you don’t try.
If I had to do it all again, I would implement Keller’s ARCS model to motivate John to use Dragon and find the academic success he was worthy of.
A- Attention
I did have John’s attention. His curiosity was instantly peaked and I didn’t quell it by disallowing him to explore the program using academically inappropriate language.
I could have upped the ante and sustained his attention by showing him how the program could do more than just transcribe his speech into a word processing program. He may have been more motivated to know he could write emails using Dragon.
R- Relevance
John saw the relevance of the program. He did use it to complete a writing assignment. If John had turned the assignment into his teacher, he may have considered the program to be more relevant.
If given a chance for a do over, I would (as previously stated) show him the other capabilities of the program. I would also have John call over to the local colleges’ disability centers and have him inquire into which translation programs they used. Or better yet, have him send emails to them using Dragon.
C- Confidence
I want to blame this on John…had he turned in his assignment then he would have gained some confidence…
But I’m a teacher so I have to take some responsibility for this. His first written assignment crafted using Dragon should have been for me. I should have given John his first assignment, sat there with him as he completed it, and been there as he emailed it to me. Then I could have been the one to assign him his first grade on a written assignment. I could have then graded him on a rubric and provided him with a copy of previous work so he could see the difference. I’m certain the comparison alone would have given John enough confidence to continue using the program.
S- Satisfaction
As a teacher, I want to think that John being able to see what he is truly capable of would provide him the satisfaction necessary to continue using the program. If that weren’t enough for him, I would hope that his academic progress would provide the satisfaction. Other than that, I’m not really sure what it is I could do. I open this up to you for commentary.