1. Technology
for the Inclusive Classroom
Sandra Bens, M.Ed.
Project EXCEL
College of Mount St. Joseph

2. Purpose
 Consider access and equity in education
 Expand understanding of strategies and
skills necessary for learning
 Discuss technology that may be beneficial
to all and essential to some learners
SED 340: Teaching in an Inclusive Setting,11/04/2010
College of Mount St. Joseph

3. Teaching use of Technology
 Once skills are internalized, students can
transfer that knowledge to other situations
 Students can become increasingly
motivated to learn when they are successful
 Digital learning offers experiences that are
varied, interesting and accessible

4. Educational Technology
 Beneficial to all learners…
and essential to some
 Memory
 Focus
 Academic fluency
 Organization & time management
 Speaking
 Hearing
 Mobility

5. Tools for Independence
 Text to speech
 Speech to text
 Voice recorder
 Visual recorder
 Organization of thought
 Communication
 Hearing
 Location tracking
 Presentations
 Community forums
 Business

6. Universal Design
 Mobility –
Construction
 Elevators
 Ramps
 Automatic doors
 Learning – Curriculum
 Layered Curriculum
 Tiered Instruction
 Computing – Tools
 Software programs
 Hardware devices
 Universal computing

7. Changing Learning
Consider: What lies ahead for our students?
 Digital Learning
 Interacting with information in constructive ways
 Access to much information about a topic of interest
 Social Learning
 Demonstrates rather than explains process
 Allows casual mentorship
 Encourages collaboration
 Offers safety buffer
 Informal Learning
 Subvert traditional rules set by institutions
 Negotiate restrictions on access to information
 Rewrite rules

8. Direction of Change
Competencies Learners Need in order to
Succeed in a Globalized Knowledge
Economy:
 Acting autonomously
 Using tools interactively
 Functioning in heterogeneous groups

9. Role of School
 Guide students to
 Learn
 Teach
 Collaborate
 Mature
 Create environment
of
 Empowerment
 Efficacy
 Independence

10. Educational Technology
 The Livescribe Pulse Smartpen remembers
and links everything you hear to everything
you write
 Tap on your notes to replay the recording
 Find and get what you need, instantly, with a
tap
 Record and play back
 Save and search
 Send and share
 Apps

11. Livescribe Pulse Smartpen
Students have limitless access to teacher instruction plus the ability to utilize
multiple modalities, engage in tactile experiences, and self–monitor by
recording their own voice for fluency exams and oral reports.

12. Voice Recognition Technology
 Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition
software is used to gain independence,
freedom and confidence
 Create documents and emails hands free
 Command and control computer by voice
 Level the playing field for students with disabilities
 Express thoughts in writing with speed and ease
 The program tunes itself to what you say and how
you say it to deliver increasingly better recognition
results over time

13. Dragon NaturallySpeaking
 Provides accessibility for people with physical
disabilities that making typing difficult or impossible
 Helps users with language-based learning
disabilities better express themselves in writing
 Prevents repetitive stress injuries by enabling hands-
free PC use
 Keeps workers with certain injuries on the job
 Accommodates many users with speech
impairments or pronunciation issues
 Works with popular screen readers like JAWS to
help visually impaired users be productive on the PC
 Helps organizations meet disability management
needs because it’s Section 508 certified

14. Dragon NaturallySpeaking
• Improve writing fluency
• Increase productivity
• Improve student services
• Reduce paper consumption
• Multimodal messaging, dictation, and search
solutions
• Sync digital voice recording for transcription
http://www.nuance.com/for-individuals/by-

15. Text to Speech Technology
 Kurzweil 3000: comprehensive reading,
writing, and learning software solution
 Access to any curriculum
 Reading fluency
 Study skills tool
 Decoding support
 Writing and self editing
 Independent test taking
 High speed scanning and MP3 conversion
http://www.kurzweiledu.com/kurz3000.html#q1

16. Screen Reading Technology
 Adobe Reader
 PDF file viewer opens and interacts with all
PDF documents
 View, search, digitally sign, verify, print, and
collaborate on Adobe PDF files
 Study tools and note generation
http://get.adobe.com/reader/
 ReadPlease 2003
 Reads any text seen on screen
• all purpose text-to-speech software
http://readplease.com/

17. Organizing and Planning
Tools
 Inspiration Software
 Comprehend, create and communicate
 Visual learning and thinking
http://www.inspiration.com/
 Kidspiration Software (K-5)
 Develop reading, writing, and thinking skills
 Visual organization and note taking
 Build conceptual understanding in Math
http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration/Details

18. Interactive Tools for
Instruction
 Real-time survey response clickers or web
enabled mobile devices
 Student response solutions
 Instant visual mapping
 Content and technology integration
http://www.turningtechnologies.com/
 Smartboards
 Ease of access
http://eduscapes.com/sessions/smartboard/

19. Creative Solutions
 Online textbooks
 Economic and interactive text books
 Online collaboration
 Open source community based options
 Wiki, Moodle and blog sites
 Social Media in the classroom
 Prezi
 Creativity and self-expression
 Zooming presentations
http://prezi.com/

20. Everyday Technology
 MS Office Word
 Professional quality compositions, citation
assistance, charts and graphs
 MS Office EXCEL
 Organizing, processing and charting of data
 MS Office OneNote
 Organizing, syncing and sharing of notes
 MS Office PowerPoint
 Professional quality presentations
 MS Office Publisher
 Professional quality publications