Universal Design for Learning

Hello everyone,

First off, I couldn't figure out how to link my book to my blog, so...
When you are in book builder, go to Public Library Books and type in "Learning Vowels in American Sign Language" and my book should come up!

Based on my understandings of UDL, I would say my book qualifies as a Universal Design for Learning.  I chose to do a book on sign language because I find the topic to be fascinating.  I love learning new words and how to make sentences, and I wanted to share this passion with others.  I figured doing the whole alphabet may be a bit long, so I chose to just do the vowels.  For those of you who enjoy it, I encourage you to learn the rest of the alphabet! When creating my book I was trying to think of ways to keep students engaged as well as making it universal.  The book on "Designing for Student Engagement and Comprehension" was a big help.  First, I created a title page with a picture of the entire alphabet, for those who are interested in learning more after reading the book.  I then explained how when signing, your palm should actually face towards the person you are talking to. The pictures are backward in order to show you how to make the handshape.  I purposely put a couple words in red lettering to help readers remember the important parts.  When making the actual pages of the book I did several things.  I first put a picture of each vowel handshake on it's own page. This is great for visual learners in general, but is also necessary in order to learn how to sign each vowel.  Under each picture I told what vowel was being shown in the picture.  I used different color fonts to keep the readers attention, but made sure they were visible on the page. I also made sure I didn't have any hanging words which can draw the readers attention away. On each page, I also used a helper with audio for people that learn best in hearing what they see. I also tried adding questions to each page to keep the reader involved.  You can tell by the questions that I made this book for younger students; however, it may be helpful to anyone who is trying to learn sign. By using audio, pictures, and sentences, I think my book qualifies for Universal Design for Learning.

I hope you all enjoyed my book, and best of luck with signing!

Uses of Social Networking for Educational Experiences

I would say that anything that allows people to socially interact with others through the media such as cell phones and computers is considered social media.  I think there are several ways to effectively use social media in the classroom and more importantly I think they should be used in the classroom.  We are such a technological society and in the case, why not use technology sources in the classroom. I really like Pinterest as being used in the classroom, maybe more so for teachers, however.  I have already found several ideas on Pinterest specifically used for speech path.  It's a great way to find ideas and then have them for later use.  I do agree that at times social networking can be a distraction for students.  At my high school we had a one-to-one laptop program where every student 7-12 grade was issued a Macbook.  They school eventually had to block Facebook because students were on that instead of taking notes and paying attention in class.  The one thing I didn't agree with was the school blocking Facebook at home because I used it to chat with friends about homework assignments.  I think at some times a line needs to be drawn, but it's important that it is not taken overboard.
Overall, I think social networking sites can be very beneficial when used in the right way.

Social Network	Used to enhance instruction and learning
Pinterest	Great way to find ideas specific to your area of study.  Can use ideas to organize your classroom, there are also several classroom activities
Youtube	Great way to show videos about the topics being discussed in class.  Reinforces the info for all students and can really benefit visual and spatial learners
Blogger	Good way for students to learn from the other students in class; Allows them to get a broader perspective on the topic being discussed; Allows them to see things outside the box
Diigo	Great for doing research; Love that students can bookmark sites for future use; also love the highlighting and sticky noting so it makes specific phrases easy to find
LiveMocha	Great way to help students learn a second language which can be very beneficial in multicultural classes, can be very beneficial in the long run

American Sign Language Article

http://www.handspeak.com/byte/index.php?byte=a&ID=2

I found an article on American Sign Language at www.handspeak.com.  This article basically has all kinds of information on ASL.  There are pictures to help you learn the American and British alphabets.  There is also a lot of background information on sign language like how it got started and who the founders were. There is even a sign language dictionary.

This article is very relevant to my major because I am a speech-pathology major.  The chances of me helping kids that use sign language can be very high.  Though I am helping them to try to speak with their mouth, some may use sign along with speaking.  At that point, it is important that I can communicate with these children in order to help them to the best of my abilities.

This article fascinates me.  I took an Intro to ASL course at my previous college and my professor made me love it.  She was so passionate about it and I had a blast learning to sign.  Since then I have been extremely interested in learning ASL fluently and have been trying to fit the sign classes into my schedule.  I haven't had the chance to take a sign course yet at UNL so this will definitely be a go-to website to brush up on my skills and hopefully further my knowledge.

I hope you guys find this site interesting as well!

Kacie

The Good and Bad of Websites

How to know if Web Info is Good or Bad

Good	Bad
It uses .org and .gov websites	When anyone can post info
Credits books	If you post a question on ask where anyone can answer
Set up in a more professional manner	You can’t find the same info anywhere else
Has access to additional sites and sources	No bibiliography
Sites sources in the website (in the text)
You can back up info from other accredited sites
Info from Professors, Grad Students, and PhD students
Contact information available

I think the reasons above are what makes websites good.  Though some of these are based off of personal opinions, I know that some of them are good because I found examples through sites off of Merlot.  I specifically found many sites by professors, grad students, and doctorate students, and their contact information was also given. These sites will be very beneficial when broadening my knowledge. I found lots of information about disorders and how to better my sign language.  I liked that there were also visuals and questions asked that will help me in the long run. It's important to know the source of the info because I would not want to learn the wrong information when doing research and I would not want to learn the wrong sign for a word and then use it in conversation only to find that it was not  the world I wanted to use. I cannot think of a time when the sources would be not important especially being in a field where I am helping people other than myself. 

Technology Tools

After messing around with these different sites I think they could be very beneficial in the classroom. First of all, by using these sites we are broadening the technological aspects of the students in our classrooms.  I honestly, had no idea about any of the things we learned about today in class.  I had previously used Google Docs, but that was as close as I had ever gotten to any of this stuff.
Not only are we introducing them to new technology tools, we are letting them mess around with them to learn how to use them, so that they can then use them for future projects as well.  I think Wiki would be very helpful on group projects or surveys for the classroom.  This would make it easier for multiple students to get on the same project and not only add information for projects, but also get in touch with their creative side to make it look nice as well.  It would also be an awesome way to do class surveys, or surveys for other groups as well. I know in my hometown they take a survey for after prom, so if they students could get on there and voice their opinion, it would be easy for the creator to sign into Wiki and read all the comments all in one place and be able to see who said what in order to get more specific ideas instead of just percentages.
Diigo would be helpful in the classroom because students may be roaming around on the internet and find information that may be helpful for a paper that isn't due for a month.  I know i've done that and then gone back and tried to find that information and couldn't find it.  It would be very helpful for bookmarking and highlighting specific information.
Reader would be helpful because students can then collaborate relative information in one area.  They can have specific blogs sent to them automatically which would be great for personal interests but could be used for educational experiences also. This would be another great way to save information for papers.

I really like these new technology sites!