As I write this I think of how fast the time as gone. I cannot believe that it is already time for Thanksgiving Break!! It seems like yesterday that I was unpacking all of my stuff in my dorm, thinking about how this year would turn out, wondering how my classes would be, making new friends, and saying my goodbyes. And now it is the end of my 12th week at Indiana University. It seems like life is going by too fast.
While I look back to what I have accomplished in my W200 class, I realize that I have learned a lot. For example, I learned how to create my own website on Google! I added pictures, videos, and links to all of my accomplishments so far. I have made this blog for example, to reflect on all of the things that I have learned. I have made a video of how I invision my classroom to look like, which was actually pretty fun! I have created a page for all of my bookmarks to cool websites that will be useful as a teacher in one central location. I have learned how to navigate on the Internet and learn about my online identity.
Although many of these things do not sound that interesting or serious, I see many ways that I will use what I have learned in this class for when I become a teacher. Overall, I feel that I have become more confident with the computer. For example, I find myself helping my friends fix problems on their laptops, people in the lab have come to me for advice, and I haven't needed to call my dad that much about my computer problems. I feel that this class has not only helped me with my teacher career but it has helped my confidence in relation with the computer. I can only imagine what the last couple of weeks will bring.
For our lab today, we had to choose three different types of assistive technology tools. The first one that I choose was the on screen keyboard. This would be helpful for students who have trouble typing on the keyboard or only have a little movement in their hands. As you can see from the picture on the left, it was the same exact keyboard as we use but on the computer so all you need to do is click what letters you want to use.
In my second assistive technology tool, I use the magnifier. This is a tool that has half of the screen as the normal size while the other half is zoomed in. This could be used for kids who have trouble using the computer because the text size is so small. When you use the magnifier you can choose what size you want the screen to be magnified and what sized of the screen stays the same.
In my third assistive technology tool, I explored using sticky keys or other things that might make it easier to use the keyboard. This could be helpful for students because they can use shortcuts on the keyboard so that it is easier to do different things for the computer. For the sticky keys you can control what they do and where they are located. This will make it a lot easier for students who have trouble using the keyboard to use the computer.
