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Assignment 1  Article 1 = How will the iPad change education? [|How will iPad change education?] "How Will the IPad Change Education? « PBS TeacherLine Blog." //PBS: Public Broadcasting Service//. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. . This article focuses on how tablets like the Ipad will change education to the extent of bringing us from now into the digital age. Rob Reynolds feels that these type of devices will succeed because of Ipads potential for productivity, convergence, mobility, price/availability, and community. The future is publishing companies having textbooks available for students to download them on Ipad reducing need to purchase textbooks saving time, money, and paper. I agree with the author about the potential of Ipad in education bringing us from the now to the digital age. Tablets have the opportunity to revolutionize education. No longer will each student in a classroom need to purchase a textbook or carry it along from class to class. Textbooks will be available for rent and students can use their Ipad to have each textbook downloaded onto it. There are so many more ways that Ipads can change education then the downloading of textbooks. One can not underestimate the importance of applications for students. (1) Incredible reference tool for APA formatting, dictionary, thesaurus, english-spanish translation, math reference, and science technology are just some of the few. (2) Critical thinking tool: gaming applications will challenge students to compete against others and the game itself will improve their thinking skills through classic games, new video games designed for specifically using Ipad technology, game show games using memory skills like Wheel of Fortune/Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. (3) Learning Reinforcement: multiplication tables, learning sounds-letter associations, math games, and spell board. (4) Exciting visual: Sky Walk, 3D Brain, Human Anatomy. These alone will make students want to learn more about astronomy and human biology because of the exciting features and information which can be used in inclusion, pullout, or personal settings. I have spent stimulus funds this year to purchase 25 ipads in the school district. At first, I started to handout a large number of them to individual teachers. I think this was good to expose them to this technology. Now, I and the teachers, are to the point where multiple Ipads should be administered to special education classrooms. This would help smaller group of students use these Ipads and help teachers incorporate them into their curriculum, lesson planning, and objectives for the students. It will be exciting to see where we are in education with these Ipads a year from today and five years from now. Article 2 = Measuring the iPads Potential for Education McCrea, Bridget. "Measuring the IPad's Potential for Education -- THE Journal." THE Journal: Technological Horizons in Education -- THE Journal. 01 Jan. 27. Web. 06 Oct. 2010. []. [|Measuring the iPads Potential for Education] This article featured comments from teachers across the field asking questions like: about will schools be able to afford this technology for each student? Students are already using technology at home (like ipod), so how can schools use this technology in our classroom? If laptops aren't yet used in the classroom, then how can Ipads be used? and thinking ahead to the day when textbooks are replaced by text that is enhanced by using dynamic content with animation, movies, video, and other multimedia built into it. Multiple teachers were featured in this article with their direct comments. I agree that the day will come when textbooks as we grew up will be completely different than today. The idea or concept that they can be downloaded on computers plus feature "animation, movies, video, and other multimedia" will only increase student attentiveness and excitement into the learning. Schools will have challenging times purchasing an Ipad for each student, but if small steps are taken could one grade level at a time receive them? Can they be purchased through a combination of federal and state grants, local donations, etc. Maybe, but it is not just the cost of $499.00 per Ipad, there are applications, vga adaptors, camera connectors, and wireless routers in each building will also need to be purchased. Simply purchasing an Ipad or laptop for each student will not be enough. Staff training will be needed to learn how to use this technology as part of curriculum, lesson plan, and activities. Other questions that will need to be answered - how many itunes accounts should be downloaded per district? Who will be responsible for syncing Ipads? How much money should be spent on applications? How much professional learning communities time should staff spend on this curriculum? Does this PLC take place of other reading or math essential outcomes? How can this be aligned? There are challenges which will arise, but also so much opportunity for growth and productivity for students. It will be exciting to see where we go. Article 3 = iHelp for Autism Harrell, Ashley. "iHelp for Autism." San Francisco News, Events, Restaurants, Music. 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 06 Oct. 2010. []. [|iHelp for Autism] I enjoyed reading this article as it featured many personal examples of adults and how they used an iPad with their children with autism. Also nice was the specific examples of which applications to use such as Proloquo2Go, Stories2Learn, iConverse, and Draw Free app. They also discussed a new application called Popchilla that is being developed to challenge children with autism to identify the emotions of a robot named Popchilla. Parents commented that these applications helped their children sustain attention and communicate better even with intensive and severe autism. Visual schedules can be made including interactive dragging, animation, and cool sounds. As previously mentioned, Stories2Learn has been a successful application. One example was Rosa creating a social story pairing photos of food with audio explanations and text. There was comparison of the past Dynavox tools like Communication Boards which ran between $5000 to $10,000 and now that same communication concept can be downloaded onto the iPad at a much less rate. An example was given of Rosa and her children at a Ferry building, and she needed to pullout the iPad because it was time to review a social story in there about food as her son Leo was starting to struggle. The article ends with talking about what next will the iPad be able to do. That is why I am so excited to have these in our schools and with our students. We don't have all the answers to know what is next. However, to wait for the next big thing to happen, is not helping prepare our students with disabilities for future success. With the purchase of 52 iPads in our school district, it will be exciting to see the development of this technology for our students with autism and all disabilities. Article 4 = How schools are putting the iPad to work: Enterprising educators have big plans for Apple's new tablet [|Mathis, Joel. "How Schools Are Putting the IPad to Work." www.macworld.com/article/153672/2010/08/ipaded.html] [|How schools are putting the iPad to work] I enjoyed reading this article as it featured several examples of how universities are starting to use the iPad. Recruiting tool, catalyst for classroom participation, shoulder saver, and computing with less distraction. Classroom participation can be increased through No Advance NOtice (NANO), an ACU built assessment tool that let Dr. Shepard of Abilene Christian to instantly quiz the entire class using polls, true-false questions, and open-ended essay queries. Dr. Shepard believes this tool will help him draw reticent students into classroom discussions instead of having 20 percent of students dominate the discussion. Applications were mentioned for reasons of excitement and optimism for Hawaii Preparatory Academy. Their professor felt that applications like Star Walk for Astronomy, Molecules for Biology, iTranslate for language classes, and SignalScope for Physics classes will be great for education. Another professor Dr. Paterson is cautious about the iPad. He feels that the technology is not completed understood and we are giving to students and staff and say "use it." The analogy of putting a cart before the horse. I spoke about a month ago with Randy Oaklief from NorthCentral Technical College in Medford. He stated that every Dean from NTC received an iPad and the college is looking into requiring all students to have one next year. Ipads are coming to universities and students will need to be prepared. This is one of the reasons why I have advocated for my high school special education students and alternative high school students to use their iPads actively in class. The more that we can prepare them with for this technology, the better they will be. I plan to conduct monthly trainings with staff on how to use iPads and learn which applications would be good for students. I also hope to meet with students and demonstrate the Ipad and applications for the students. Article 5 Milne, Jay, and Genee Marks. "IPod Therefore I Can: Enhancing The Learning of Children With Intellectual Disabilities Through Emerging Technologies." Readings in Education and Technology: Proceedings of ICICTE. University of Ballaret Australia. 2008. Lecture I found this article referenced in a major feature on the Apple website. I chose this article due to it is one of the few major studies dedicated to Apple technology with special education students. In this case it was focused on on the learning of children with intellectual disabilities through emerging technologies. The research focused on the usefulness of iPods in achieving IEP goals of various students in the areas of literacy, social development, and behavior modification. Ipods were used in classroom to be used with students under supervision of teachers, using music, photographs, Picture Card Symbols, videos, spoken word, and social scripts in video, textual, and slide show format. I am not surprised to read that students embraced the concept of using Ipod technology in the classroom, recess, and all settings. Also not surprising is that teachers are excited to use technology, but need so much more training to successfully embed this technology into curriculum and classroom activities. Teacher training is needed in college preparation classes and on the job training. I had anticipated the type of students being evaluated. Students that were assessed had IQ as measured less than 50 which is significantly low. Majority of students fell on the autism spectrum disorder who had poor communication and no functional reading skills. The Ipod technology targeted various curriculum areas including leisure, health, physical education, reading, and mathematics. Specific examples of how video modeling of behaviors were used was described. Student IEPs did not mention or include Ipods as an assistive technology for students. Educational goals addressed by Ipod use were met with 60% accuracy. I would anticipate that appropriate applications would indeed help support student achievement towards IEP goals/objectives. The challenge that I see is searching the app store to find suitable applications for each grade level or development of student. As the Director of Student Services and Special Education, I need to locate apps that will be suitable for fine motor skills, reading, math, speech, language, communication, and social skills. Each of these areas and content will be different depending if it is for early education, elementary special education, autism, 5th grade regular education, middle school special education, high school special education, READ 180, or alternative high school. Article 6 Cerebral Palsy victim's life is revolutionized by Apple iPad Buchan, Jaime. "Cerebral Palsy Victim's Life Is Revolutionized by Apple IPad." 26 June 2010. [|www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article/aspx/1801074?UserKey=#ixzz0zRYCEHhh] [|Cerebral Palsy victim's life is revolutionized by Apple iPad] This article focused on how Apple iPad technology changed the life and future of a 10 year old girl with cerebral palsy. A primary reason this has been so successful for her is the touch screen design. She has been using the keypad on the iPad to write papers because pen and paper do not work. The social and educational aspects of this technology could have a profound effect on her. I have a similar story of my profound student with disability Gabe who is in 4th grade. He is completely paralyzed with exception of moving his head. Our district Occupational Therapist Caroline Radlinger had taken this iPad graduate class through Marian University. After one of these classes she emailed me a link where RJ Cooper had developed a tool that could be attached to a student's head and then he could bob his head to use the touch screen to work the iPad. In the hallway by Gabe's classroom, I showed him my iPad. He had never seen one and was immediately excited about the features. I showed him the Tap Fish application which Gabe was excited about the Great White Shark. We named the shark after him. His eyes completely lit up. His private duty school nurse was also excited about the iPad asking multiple questions about cost and use. Gabe's teacher Kathleen Schumacher walked by and said "I was going to show Gabe my iPad tomorrow!" Good stuff. Article 7

Terry, Jennifer. "The IPad Changed My Daughter's Education: I Know She Will Succeed." //Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers' Network//. 27 Sept. 2010. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. . [|The iPad Changed my Daugher's Education] This article was written by a parent of a child who uses an iPad due to her limited written communication and verbal communication disabilities. She focused her article on: the iPad is better than a desktop for special education; stock apps are better than off the shelf computer software; free classroom ready apps; and funding an iPad for special education. I agree with this parent/author on several accounts. The iPad has the potential to be better than a laptop or a desktop computer for some individual students. Applications are becoming more technologically exciting than computer software. They are becoming more and more diverse for topic and grade level making them useful for students of any ability level. These can also be downloaded for free for the full or lite versions of most apps.