Blog Journal 7

So far this semester I have thoroughly enjoyed using Twitter. Participating in chats with other professionals and learning something new everyday has been one of the aspects of this class that I look forward to every Tuesday and Thursday. After using Twitter this semester, I have learned that educators do have twitters and they engage in professional development for themselves through this application. I have also learned that virtually every organization has a Twitter account and tries to engage with their audience through this website daily to engage with their followers. The benefits of using Twitter are staying connected with people in your field and community that interest you or share the same passions as you do. Twitter is also a great resource to build a personal learning network as a young professional still in my undergraduate years at FSU. So far I have not run into issues with using Twitter because I was experienced with this application before. I have enjoyed engaging with more knowledgeable people and will continue this account after this course is over.

I enjoyed using Weebly to create my own website this past week! Making my own teacher page for students and parents to stay up-to-date with material for my class was fun and allowed me to express creativity. I chose to create a psychology teacher page for high school students that were preparing for the AP Exam and learning the basics of psychology. I liked how there were so many options on Weebly to add in different elements to the website such as images, calendars, text and titles. I did not like how limited the design of the website itself was since I chose a template from the options. If I create another website using Weebly I would most likely create my own rather than use a template because I felt somewhat limited in my creative design. I learned the creating a teacher webpage is a time consuming task and students should appreciate when teachers actually keep their websites up-to-date. In my future career I hope to create a cohesive teacher page for my students to utilize that would be helpful for their success in my classroom. Ms. Otto's Psychology Class

Assistive and adaptive technologies are used to support learners by increasing a student's ability to access learning materials and becoming participants instead of bystanders. These kind of technologies help people with disabilities perform tasks easier than without. For example, if a student has difficulty being able to see a standard monitor, the could use voice recognition devices instead of typing or text-to-speech software that allows them to still utilize the computer. I have not known anyone to use these kind of technologies but I am thankful that they are being used for students with disabilities because everyone should be able to reap the benefits of technology. Some challenges of using adaptive technologies in the classroom could include insufficient equipment or connectivity. Sometimes technology does not work like it should and this could be an issue if a student is depending upon a certain piece of technology to work 100% of the time. Also, if my school district does not own the type of assistive and adaptive technology that could assist a student in need, they would not be benefitting from their education.