It’s official, the Kindle 2 has been released. I must admit that after seeing the Kindle 2, I now think that I may have purchased my Kindle too early. Although expensive ($359 at the time of this writing), it has updated many of the things that I find problematic with the 1st generation Kindle, including: …
Category Archive: Instructional Technology
Nov 13
Text to Speech just got easier
Most of us are probably familiar with products that turn digital text into speech. Programs like Read&Write Gold and Kurzweil are feature packed applications that will not only read almost any digital text to you, but also provide numerous other supports such as advanced spell check, word prediction and more. Other programs, like ReadPlease are …
Oct 15
Podcasting 101
I’ve held off on doing a post on podcasting because every school, district or organization I help get started have things in place that make them unique. For example, I typically recommend using a blog to run your podcast through, but many places do not have or even allow the use of blogs. Others may …
Jul 29
Podcasting and Podcatcher Options
For those that aren’t aware, a podcatcher is a software application used to collect and play podcasts. By far, the most popular podcatcher is iTunes. However, not everyone wants to rely on only one software application. In addition, there are many schools or entire districts that do not allow the use of iTunes. So what …
Jun 01
Video Self Modeling Part 2 – The techy stuff – Updated June 2008
This post is part 2 to my introduction to video self modeling (VSM). Part 1 is only a few paragraphs long so I recommend you read it first to gain a better understanding of what video self modeling is. You can access the post BY CLICKING HERE. So now the fun part… What do you …
Jan 25
Intro to Video Self Modeling – Part 1
The idea of using images or videos of appropriate behavior in hopes to get individuals to replicate that behavior is a rather common strategy used today. We see it anywhere from exercise tapes to instructional videos. An adaptation of this strategy that you may not see as often is known as video self modeling (VSM), …
Jan 25
Blogs in Education
I’m writing this post for a couple of reasons… First, I believe that blogging is a great new way for educators to embrace a universally designed classroom. Secondly, after asking my class to create a post regarding blogging in education I feel obligated to at least make a short post myself. So, why should classrooms …
Jan 25
Markup your PDF Documents
Most of you probably know what Adobe PDF documents are. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, they’re those aggravating documents you receive from time to time that you can read, but cannot edit. They require you to have special software (Adobe Reader – free and standard on most PCs) to open them. The good …
Dec 19
Assistive Technology vs. UDL
I’ve asked students in a class I’m teaching to identify what they think the difference between Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning is. After a bit of research they all seem to be right on track, but I notice quite often while in the field that not everyone understands this difference and I believe …
Dec 04
Another Free Graphical Organizer
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of open source software. Not only is it typically cheaper (usually free), but many times I find it to be less buggy and provide greater support when needed through forums and discussion boards. For the reasons mentioned above, I recommend for everyone to give …