Journal for 11/28/11

Last week's class was split into 2 different halves: the presentation about the various technological accomodations for students with various physical or mental disabilities and the web 2.0 presentations. The primary focus for this journal will be on the first half as accommodating students with suitabilities is something that I am going to be dealing with in the future as a teacher.  I myself was considered "disabled" and had my own IEP since I am epileptic so I am well aware of that fact that some kids need extra help in order to learn. Some of the tools discussed by the professor, whom I cannot recall her name at this moment, appear to be great a way for disabled students overcome the obstacles prevent them from learning at a "normal" pace. For example, I really liked that one program were you basically install an electronic overhead projector into the computer via the USB drive. Through this program, it can digitally project any image it is focused on, such as a page in a course textbook, and that is a great way for students who have difficulty reading due to visual problems. There seemed to be some kind of technological accommodation for nearly every kind of student with a disability ranging from smaller, more portable keyboards for people in wheel chairs to bigger, more simple keyboards for student with low motor-skill abilities.  It is great to know that many of these technologies can be at my disposal when assisting students with disabilities.