Yesterday,
we looked at AT & Learning Disabilities and AT & Sensory Disabilities.
We researched each disability and determined which high/low tech devices could
best support the needs of the students. Today, we are going to be looking at
two websites that will help facilitate learning in the classroom.
Graphic
Organizers
Inspiration
Software, Inc.
Website Link- HERE
Inspiration
Software, Inc. is a great research tool that can be used in the classroom by
the teacher or at home by a parent. The site provides much needed information
along with examples that reinforce the written material. In this website I
focused on the tab for Graphic Organizers under Visual Learner. I found this
tab to be extremely essential to classroom learning. I know that I'm a visual learner and that most people are, this is why I wanted to share this link. On the site you are able to see
different types of graphic organizers and what type of organizer works best for
each situation. In the future I will use this site when determining what
graphic organizer I can use for each class. This would be a great addition to a
new teacher or to a teacher who has been teaching for twenty-years. The cost of
the software will vary. There are different software packages (Inspiration,
Kidspiration, InspireData, Webspiration Classroom, and WebspirationPRO). Prices
seem to be roughly $30-$60 per single user depending on which one you pick.
However, there is a free trail that you can operate before buying. This is
great for a parent that might want to try Kidspiration.
Text-To-Speech
WordQ
Website Link- HERE
WordQ was design
is to help students/individuals who have physical difficulties with writing.
WordQ is efficient and useful because it uses word prediction to prompt the
software to write sentences that user is typing. Another element of the
software is that it uses text-to-speech voices to read back the words the user
has entered. The writer is able to proofread his/her work and also edit what
was written. WordQ is available on Mac, Windows, and now on the IPAD. Prices
range from $199 to $279, based on the computer that you have at home/school. I
was surprised to see the app on the IPAD was the cheapest of the group, with a
price of $24.99. WordQ and SpeakQ are now available together in one software
with a price of $279. SpeakQ was designed just like
WordQ, but the focus of SpeakQ is speech recognition. Like the prior website,
you have access to a free trial. This is worth looking into if you know someone
that could benefit from this software. To me this would be a fantastic software
tool to have in the classroom. You can reach so many of your students that have
any type of writing or language disability. They will be able to take part in
classroom activities without having to reply on another person. The best
part of this site was being able to watch the tutorials that are displayed on
the bottom of the pages. I like to see a device in action and this showed that.
References:
http://www.goqsoftware.com/#
http://www.inspiration.com/visual-learning/brainstorming-webs
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