Universal Design

Assistive and adaptive technologies are used to support learners by allowing students to complete their tasks even though they may be unable to type or see things. I think its a great tool but it is very specific to certain students. I feel like typically students that may be impaired are all put in a special needs class which may be easier to use these tools in the whole class as opposed to pointing certain students out and causing a "divide" in the classroom. I feel like that would make the student's who need assistive and adaptive technologies a bit worse.

The key principles of Universal Design are important to address the larger issues of usability because they question everything needed for it to be accessible to everyone by asking "Why? What? and How?" The Universal Design key principals are set in place in order to give extra support to the teacher so their students may learn the most they can.

Two academic software tools that I would like to implement in my future classroom would be Ted-Ed and Kahoot! I loved Kahoot in school because I am so competitive. I feel like if you give students something to be really excited about like possibly a pizza party to the group with the most wins or the top 5 students with the most wins get a treat of some sort would motivate the students to actually do better. Personally, I love Ted-Ed the videos are so educational and keep you intrigued the entire time. I can't think of two better academic software tools.

I honestly love the blogging process. I have always wanted to make my own "lifestyle" blogs anyway so this has been a nice trial run to see how the process works. I like the fact that blogging allows me to express my feelings on a subject and read other classmates' thoughts on the subject as well. I feel like it's a really good way to collab and grow. I think the most important thing I've learned is to keep your blog post short and simple but spice it up as well.

I commented on Olivia and Hannah's blog post.