Volume 6, Issue 22 for Week of 6/6/05

1428 Words Compiled by David Grapka (David@Trecenter.org)

Technology Resources for Education (T.R.E.) Center TRECenter.org

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Note: Some links are time-sensitive. Access to some may require registration or free subscriptions.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

· “It's easier to put on a pair of slippers than carpet the whole world.” Joe Weber, Program Specialist SELPA II, Sunnyvale CA.

· “As a strong advocate of universal design and universal design for learning, my reaction is that carpeting the world implies a "one size fits all solution" and therefore is not an appropriate application of universal design. UD implies options and choices that might include carpet, grass between the toes and the use of slippers (and AT) when the available options are not sufficient. Even CAST folks don't think it's UD vs. AT. And who is going to vacuum all that carpet, huh? Not me.” Chuck Hitchcock, CAST

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING WEBSITES OF THE WEEK:

· http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_textrans.html CAST sites some research that might be helpful under the topic of "Text Transformations." debi.turner@HUMBER.CA

· http://www.nextup.com/ NextUp converts text to audio, and Kurzweil 3000, v8, TextHelp's Read & Write Gold, http://www.microsoft.com/reader/developers/downloads/tts.asp_ and for the Mac, try http://www.lane.k12.or.us/insttech/vtc/Text2Speech.html K. Janowski JKaac@AOL.COM

· http://www.durandus.com/blog/?p=104 Education as Commodity Good discussion, as Jim Ellsworth replies, "real standards–the ones enforced by the world - are going to be one size fits all. They won’t care about students’ individual differences: if you don’t have the competencies, you won’t get the job." By Nate Lowell, Cognitive Dissonance, May 2, 2005 (from Stephan Downs’ OL Weekly)

· http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5222 "'Smartpaper' tech to transform learning" By Cara Branigan, Associate Editor, eSchool News, August 18, 2004. A new textbook publishing method that uses infrared technology to combine traditional books with digital content might ultimately decrease textbook costs, make them more interactive for users, and remove barriers for students who have difficulty accessing traditional texts.

· http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=5671 Online field trips boost reading scores From eSchool News staff and wire service reports May 19, 2005 See for yourself! Visit: http://www.thinkport.org/default.tp http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/

ACCESS SOLUTIONS:

· http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/eyequack.html For information about the eye and learning disabilities (including references to Helen Irlen) (from Liz Ohta)

· http://quintet.ie/clicktogo/has a switch access for power wheelchairs.

· Professorial Trend Spotter Predicts End of Written Word In his book "VIVO [Voice-In/Voice-Out: The Coming Age of Talking Computers," William Crossman argues that computers will interact verbally, eliminating the need for text and typing. By Francine Brevetti, Inside Bay Area, May 11, 2005 Jane Ricard jricard@FLLAC.ORG (from OL Weekly)

· http://www.infmind.com/ for the Eye-Q demo which seems to train your eyes to recognize words faster and to improve eye-hand coordination.

· http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?layout=document&documentid=8030&indexid=9175&indexparentid=7989 for a short review of screen readers in a recent (Lynne Silcock)

ADMINISTRATOR SOLUTIONS:

· http://www.leadered.com/04videos_pubs.html#america Click for the publication of America's Most Successful High Schools: Case Studies and Resources on Best Practices, which has case studies of 30 high schools, two videos, and a report on the findings.

· http://www.leadered.com/about_matrix.html The International Center's state-specific Curriculum Matrix data has helped thousands of educators meet the challenges of AYP by identifying the state standards/benchmarks that are high priority on the state tests as well as those which are most important to success after graduation. Versions of Curriculum Matrix resource kits are available for administrators, instructional leaders, teachers, special education, career-technical education, and arts education.

· http://www.schoolmatters.com. NCLB was enacted in 2001 - what percentage of kids in your state are proficient in reading and math now? Click here then select your state. Your state's page has education facts and information about how students performed on state tests of reading and math, as well as how students performed on national tests of reading and math.

CONSULTING SOLUTIONS:

· http://www.sasklearning.gov.sk.ca/branches/institutions/rpl/docs/Level_1_RPL_Guide.pdf for the Facilitator's Guide to Reflection and Portfolio Development (from Rosanna Tarsiero <gionnetto@gmail.com>

· http://www.vonage.com allows you to be on your phone to anyone anywhere across the US 24/7 for $25 per month. Also, for another $5 per month, overseas calls are local to people in the states.

DISTANCE EDUCATION:

http://www.ispi-frc.org/newsletter/features/featurearticle_brenda.htm This article is supported with good research, clearly written and accessible, one of the better statements of the core principles of instructional design. Via George Siemens. By Brenda Sugrue, The Criterion, Sprilg, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] (from OL Weekly)
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163100418 How to start Your Own Blog
http://www.distance-educator.com/dnews/Article13623.phtml Technology, Human Agency And Dewey's Constructivism: Opening Democratic Spaces In Virtual Classrooms. Source: Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. This article examines whether the ubiquitous presence of technology in schools negatively affects democratic learning by promoting instrumental rationality and, hence, reifying social reality.

FUNDING SOLUTIONS:

· http://education.ti.com/us/resources/grants/grants.html Use the resources here to identify and apply for grants and other funding opportunities from the federal government and private foundations. Texas Instruments (TI) has collected a list of major funding opportunities for education, as well as guidelines and tips for grant writing. The grant information is updated quarterly: http://education.ti.com/us/resources/grants/grants.html

JUST FOR FUN:

· http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/gamezone/p Online Puzzle resource for those who like to use word searches in trainings. List the words you want them to search for and shazam! You've got your puzzle. (Look under "Games" heading) from Loren Ekroth (LorenEk@aol.com)

· http://www.archive.org/web/web.php Check out the Way Back Machine (Susan Silverman)

NEW DEVELOPMENTS:

· Ready To Jump Five Years Ahead of the Rest of This Crap? An interesting set of links to resources that will get you thinking a bit. One link is to Simile, a system intended to enable semantic interoperability in unlike environments. What does that mean? The idea is partly explained through the story of '5', a piece of data in search of a lable. This is good stuff, challenging, and yes indeed, in some sense, the future. By Tom Hoffman, Ed Tech Insider, May 24, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] (from OL Weekly)

· http://www.distance-educator.com/dnews/Article13656.phtml Electronic Full-Text Journal Articles: Convenience Or Compromise? Source: T. H. E. Journal

· http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/ This article discusses a new free visual mapping tool that looks very much like Inspiration. Jeannette Van Houten <jvanhoutensped@YAHOO.COM>

PALM SOLUTIONS:

* http://www.k12handhelds.com/book “Integrating Handhelds Across the Curriculum” is a curriculum kit that includes two 22" x 34" posters, a 128-page resource guide book, a CD full of resources, and an SD card with installable content. The book includes cross-curricular lesson

plans, quick tip mini-posters about many handheld functions, quick reference guides for popular software, and classroom management tips. The CD and SD card contain the Handheld Toolkit, which includes educational programs, ebooks, quizzes, templates, handouts, photos, and other resources used in the lesson plans. This resource is available for a limited time with the SD card for a special educator price of $49.99. Contact Info: info@k12handhelds.com 800-679-2226

READING SOLUTIONS:

http://www.wrightslaw.com/nclb/rbi.htm If you are a parent, teacher, administrator, decision-maker, or school board member, you need to learn the legal requirements for research based reading instruction. The resources, publications, and research on the Research Based Instruction page will help.
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/ Microsoft Reader is for reading e-texts or electronic novels - this is different than the text to speech in Microsoft word. This Microsoft Accessibility site has a lot of info on how to use Microsoft products accessibility features:
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/usingnarrator.aspx The tutorial for the Narrator in MS Word' (Irene Stewart istewart@STCLAIRCOLLEGE.CA)

WRITING SOLUTIONS: from Hindie Becker Dershowitz hindiedershowitz@katyisd.org

· http://www.customtyping.com This is an excellent program that is internet based, can be individualized, has a great deal of variety and tools to use to track student success! I use this program for students of all ages and abilities. There are exercises that my students who have CP, and are very frustrated with traditional typing programs, will ask me to use!

· http://www.herzogkeyboarding.com/ I