Continue reading »]]>

The most common question I am asked when I speak at a local or national conference is “How do you stay up to date with all of this stuff?”  While it would be nice to be able to say that I travel the world going from classroom to classroom and lab to lab to find only the best products and practices, it really is much simpler than that.  There are two primary ways I stay up to date:

Conferences
There are 3 or 4 national conferences dedicated to Assistive Technology that I try to attend at least two of each year.  They are:

• ATIA Orlando and ATIA Chicago (January and October)
• Closing the Gap (October in Minneapolis)
• CSUN (March in California)

In addition, there are tons of state and regional conferences available all over the United States that are great ways to network and learn about new products and strategies.  This year, I will have the opportunity to visit Australia to speak at Spectronics’ Inclusive Learning Technologies Conference, which looks to be a great time and learning experience.  So in short, there is no shortage of opportunities to learn and network in this area.

Blogs
Traveling to one conference, much less multiple conferences isn’t easy for most folks.  And even if you do get the opportunity to attend one, you can never get around to every session available.  Because of this, I use blogs and news feeds from several sites to stay up to date.  If you aren’t familiar with a feed reader, now is the time to learn.  A feed reader basically takes any frequently updated content with an rss feed (think news sites and blogs) and puts them all in one place for you.  This way you don’t have to visit 10 or 20 different sites each time you want to see what’s new.

I personally use Google Reader and check it at least once a week.  It is a great way to pass time when flights are delayed or I am waiting somewhere.  I will typically have over a thousand items I can look through when I check it.  Not that I’ll ever have time to review everything, but it is always nice to just skim through and see what sticks out.  I can also sort it by date, topic, etc…  If you do decide to start using a feed reader, be sure to subscribe to this blog!

Bonus
I also like to read through the QIAT Listserv.  You can sign up at QIAT.org.  Note that is a very active listserv so you may want to setup the emails to go into a folder until you have time to read them.  I am also becoming more and more of a twitter fan.  If you follow the right people you can learn about tons of useful sites and products in no time.  Follow me at twitter.com/jkcarroll.

This may be a longer answer than those asking the question wanted, but hopefully it helps!

Continue reading »]]>

Are you a visual learner?  If not, maybe you are more auditory or kinesthetic?  If you are not sure, don’t worry because there is no shortage of websites or preference assessments you can purchase that will help you determine what type of learner you are.

I bring this up because learning style preference assessments are nothing new.  I remember when I first started in the field of Universal Design for Learning these were common amenities used to help determine the best way to present information to your students.  I recently just deleted a post on this blog from a couple years ago that listed free preference assessments you could find online.

Here’s the problem… According to a recent literature review published  in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, “there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning styles assessments into general education practice.”

This will come as a shocker to many of you.  It did for me.  But this is a great example of what happens in classrooms everyday.  We continue to do things others have done because we assume it works or because it is what we did when we were in school.  You will probably want to take the time to read through this article yourself.  It is simply titled “Learning Styles, Concepts and Evidence” by Pashler, et. al.  A couple of the main takeaways for me include:

• There are tons of studies that reference learning styles, however, “very few have included methodology capable of testing the validity of learning styles.”  So even it you read something discussing how important learning styles are, it wasn’t likely from a strongly run study.

• They are quick to mention the difference between preference and disability.  Most learning styles assessments involve preferences, where students say they prefer one method over the other.  This is different than using visual or auditory supports with students because of a disability.

I hope you give the article a read.  Whether you agree with it or not, it has been a great discussion point at sessions I present because it forces folks to really think about why they are doing what they are doing in schools and classrooms.

Continue reading »]]>

In general, this blog is about instructional and assistive technology.  However, I have been dealing with an increasingly large number of general technology issues, so I have decided to add a new category to the blog  for this type of stuff.  Today I want to briefly explain how viruses and malware work, in hopes of helping readers prevent these sort of problems occurring on their computers.

Malware is short for malicious software.  There are different types of malware (including viruses) that can cause all sorts of problems on one’s computer.  Malware can be contracted in a variety of ways, including:

Continue reading »]]>

Ran across this post on an AT blog from the Virginia Department of Education about iPad orientation locking.  iPads are becoming more and more popular in the classroom setting.  However, I see some students struggle when it comes to holding them.  If tilted just a little too much in one direction or the other, the orientation changes (this is super frustrating if you have ever tried using one while laying down).   To change this setting, simply flip the screen orientation lock switch on the side of the device by the volume button see image below (from tothepc.com).

Continue reading »]]>

We all know that it’s a good idea to use multiple means of representation when we present content.  There are several ways to do this including lecture, images, PowerPoint, audio, video, etc… Many times video poses a problem however.  First, it is not always easy to find sites that schools allow us to access.  Then of course, if we do find videos online it isn’t always easy to get them on your computer so that you can insert in a PowerPoint or share when internet (or certain website) access isn’t available.

To help with this, there are two websites I use when I need to grab a video from the web and save it on my computer to include in a presentation.  There’s been countless times when I found the perfect video to share while presenting at a conference only to find out there was no internet service, leaving my links useless.

• Zamzar – www.zamzar.com
• Media Converter – www.mediaconverter.org

Both resources are similar in the way they work.  First, find the youtube or other video you would like to download.  Next, simply visit one of these sites and paste the url of the video in and choose a file format.  If you are using windows, choose .avi or .wmv.  For macs, choose .mov.  Click submit and in no time you will have a copy of the video available for download.

Would love to hear your favorite resources in the comments section below.

Continue reading »]]>

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 basic (but free) and allow you to copy and paste any text in and have it read out loud.

The only major downfall to these programs is that a student must be sitting in front of a computer to use them.  Having one computer with text to speech capabilities doesn’t do you much good when 15 kids need it at the same time.

To help remedy this, there are several products out there that allow you to turn text into an audio file (typically an mp3 or wav file).  Once created, students can listen to it on their portable mp3 player, cd player, or even their computer at home.  Granted, this isn’t always as effective as being able to see the text as it’s being read out loud, but it does work for many students.  Surely you’ve seen all of the earbuds hanging out of kids’ ears haven’t you?

Before I list some options, I should mention one concern I consistently get is that not all students have the mp3 players.  This is true, but according to a recent report specializing in tracking the use of digital music and digital music players, over 70% of respondents ages 12-17 already have some type of portable music player.  This is up from 54% last year.  What’s more is that not all portable media players are as expensive as iPods.  A recent search on WalMart.com showed a 2GB video and audio portable media player for under $30!

Now that that’s out of the way, how do we turn text into audio files?  Well, there are really 2 ways: a software application (or one feature of a software application) and a web site.  Let’s look at each…

On the Web:  These websites allow you to paste digital text in and they will automatically create the audio file for you.

• Vozme.com
• HearWho.com (only free for limited amount of text)

Software Applications:

• Read&Write Gold – Contains a “Speech Maker” feature that turns text into a wav or mp3 file
• Text to Speech Maker
• Other options – a website containing several low cost text to audio programs

If you know of any additional programs, especially free programs, be sure to post in the comments section or send me an email.

Continue reading »]]>

Finding a solid free application to convert videos to an iPod format isn’t easy.  I’ve tried several out and have came to the conclusion that WinFF is about the best available at the time of this writing.
WinFF is about as simple to use as it can get.  Simply click “Add” (see screenshot below) to add the video you would like to convert, then choose what format you would like to convert it to.  The purpose of this post is to show a good converter for converting videos to an iPod format, but WinFF can convert to many other formats as well.

Download WinFF for free at http://code.google.com/p/winff/

Continue reading »]]>

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 want to use their own server for podcasting while some organizations do not provide access to their servers by anyone except IT staff.  Having said this, I’ll use this post to provide the basic information you will need to create your own podcast.  You may email or leave a comment if you have additional questions.

The first thing I recommend is to give my previous post on “Podcasting and Podcatcher Options” a read.  It talks specifically about what a podcast is and how you subscribe to one.  This is important because I find that most people interested in creating their own podcast would be just as well off finding podcasts that are already out there.  There is no use in re-creating the wheel when many high quality podcasts are already available for you to download and use with your students for free.

Keeping the above in mind, here’s my 4 step process to creating your own podcast:

1. Record your audio.  Most podcasts are audio podcasts unless defined otherwise.  To record audio, I recommend downloading the free application Audacity.  It is simple to use and works great for podcasting.  One thing to note is that by default Audacity does not save audio files as MP3 files (the format needed for podcasting audio).  To remedy this, you must download the LAME MP3 encoder.  You can find this on the Audacity download page.  Once downloaded, upzip the file and copy the folder onto your computer in a location that you will not delete or move (your C drive, my documents, etc…).  The first time you use Audacity and export your audio to an mp3 file it will ask you if you would like to locate the encoder.  Just select yes, and browse to the folder. You will only have to do this the first time.  Audacity will remember the location for future exports.  Although Audacity works with both PC and Mac, most new Macs come with Garage Band, which has all sorts of additional bells and whistles for creating audio podcasts.
2. Store your audio file. This is where the unique part comes in.  Once you have created your audio file, you will need to store it in a place that is accessible via the web.  For example, my organization has a website at www.cksec.org.  If had an audio file named audio.mp3, and uploaded it to our server, you could access it by going to www.cksec.org/audio.mp3 (this is just an example, it will not work if you try to access this link).  Once there, you would either download the file or listen to it straight off the site.  This is important because if your file is not accessible through the web, no one except you can access it.  So where will you store your file?  Several options exist… For example, you may be able to store it on your organization’s server.  There are also several hosting services, like switchpod.com, that will host your files for you (usually for a fee).  You may also use a blog to store your files.  Blogs typically come with a predefined amount of storage space for videos, images, etc… that you want to share.  I use Edublogs.org and it gives me 100MB of storage for free.  This should be sufficient for several short audio files.  If you plan to produce large files (like video or long audio segments) you will want to upgrade your storage limit or only keep them up for a specified amount of time and remove them afterward to save space.
3. Syndicate your files.  Syndicating your file simply means making it available for subscription.  I explained in fairly good detail why you want to be able to subscribe to your files in my podcasting and podcatcher options post mentioned earlier.  In short, a podcast is not a podcast if you can’t subscribe to it.  It would only be an audio file on a website.  Syndicating your files is the primary reason I recommend using a blog to run your podcasts through.  Since blogs are already syndicated, simply including a link to your file in a blog post should suffice.  If you are not using a blog, you will want to use a service such as RapidFeeds.com to create RSS feeds for your files so users can subscribe.  Other services, like feedburner also help with syndicating feeds, tracking your subscribers and more.
4. Subscribe to your podcast.  Most information you need here is also available in the podcasting and podcatcher options post.  You need a podcatcher, such as iTunes, to subscribe to podcasts after they are syndicated.  Once you have your feed from step 3, simply go to Advanced – Subscribe to Podcast in iTunes and enter it in.  Then iTunes will automatically download your most up to date podcasts each time you open it.  If you use a blogging service, like Edublogs, this feed can be found by clicking the subscribe to posts button.  After clicking, copy the link from the new web page that is displayed and paste it into the subscribe to podcast box in iTunes.

Hopefully this post will be enough to get you started with podcasting.  If you are interesting in video podcasting, know that is very similar to audio podcasting excpet you will be recording video instead of audio in step 1.  I’ll go over some things to think about when recording video in a separate post.

Continue reading »]]>

OK, so this post doesn’t really have much to do with educational technology, but it solves an annoying problem.  In Vista, if you have a shortcut icon on your desktop there is a huge arrow that attaches itself to the icon to show that it is a shortcut to another location.  One way to fix this is to edit your registry, but that’s never really recommended unless you are an experienced user and aware of all the risks.  Instead, download the free Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover by FXVisor.  You can download it from http://www.frameworkx.com/ or PC World.

After installing, simply open the program, choose no arrow and log off.  Once you log back on you’ll see that you no longer have a shortcut arrow on your icons.

Continue reading »]]>

Today’s post goes along with the third principle of Universal Design for Learning: Multiple Means of Engagement. It is critical to keep students engaged in your lessons if your goal is for them to retain the information you provide. To do this you must engage them. Engagement must be often and relevant. Relevant simply means something related to the content you are teaching. It should build on students background knowledge. Research shows time and time again that relating content to background knowledge increases retention, so why shouldn’t engaging activities do the same?

The picture above is something I picked up from a Bob Pike Group training a couple years ago. You will see me mention things from their trainings quite often as I think almost everything they teach relates to good teaching and Universal Design for Learning. It basically says this: In a 90 minute window of time (think block scheduling for some of us) we should chunk our content into 20 minute sections making sure to engage learners every 8 minutes or so. Simple, right? Let’s take a deeper look:

90 Minute Block – This may not work for some of you teaching 50 minute classes, but the remainder of the rule still holds true. In general, whether we provide training, teach a class, or anything else that involves holding a groups attention we should be sure to provide a break at least every 90 minutes. This has been the case time and time again. How do you think they came up with 90 minutes being the optimal time for block scheduling in the first place? I can assure you it wasn’t by accident

20 Minute Chunks - You must break your content up. No one can hold attention for 90 minutes straight. You must break this up into chunks. 20 minutes has been shown to be the optimal amount of time for any section of content.

Engage every 8 Minutes – This is just a general rule of course, but it does have some research to back it up. Did you know that by the time your students graduate high school they have spent more time in front of a television than in a classroom? What happens about every 8 minutes when you are watching TV? If you guessed a commercial break you would be correct. So imagine how tough it is to hold attention for an entire class period with out some type of break in the action. This is where the engagement piece comes in. It doesn’t have to be complicated, in fact it can be as easy as having everyone stand up and sit back down. I would recommend putting a bit more thought into it than that however. For example, one social studies class I work with has a student be the timer. Every 8 minutes they ring a bell that signals time to throw a blow up globe. Whoever catches the globe must find whatever the person who threw it asks them to. The whole thing takes maybe a minute and instantly engages all students with something relevant to the content. Who should you make the timer? Doesn’t really matter, but any student who likes to make disruptions would be an excellent choice.

Hopefully this quick and easy strategy will help you design some of your lessons to be more engaging for your students. If you happen upon this post and try it, I would love to see comments about how you made it work in your classroom.