Week three TE's... OOPS?

So apparently when I tried to copy paste the tech explorations for week three they didn't post...  Here are a few reviews over the technology resources from week three:

Tech exploration #7a: Assistive technologies: www.gpat.org  

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Assistive technologies are devices, tools and software designed to help those with handicaps or special needs disabilities.  These devices, sometimes referred to as learning aids, strive to give users with disabilities a better chance to be successful in their educational programs.  There are many levels of assistive technologies, but the most common are those that help students with visual and hearing impairments.  These technologies are needed by students with hearing/visual impairments to gain access to resources that require those senses.  These resources mainly are physical devices which are used by the individual student to interact with their world, although some software exists to satisfy needs of some students.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	All schools are required to provide adequate assistive technologies to impaired students.  In a school setting, the need and use of these devices will be decided upon by the needs of the students.  All of these would be used to make day-to-day interactions in the classroom easier for students with impairments or disabilities.  Example: Assisted listening devices (hearing aids) and talk to text programs can be used to assist hearing impaired students participate in a classroom without a sign language interpreter.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	If the need is there, these resources should be used by any educator to make the learning experience for their students as “normal” as possible.  Extensive numbers of resources are available depending on the need of the student.

Tech Exploration #7b: Zoho http://www.zoho.com  

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Zoho is a web based company specializing in tools for businesses.  Their tools focus on organization, productivity and collaboration.  Products include applications like; Books, a financial management tool; Contact manager, which organizes and tracks contact lists; and Survey, a tool for creating surveys and gathering data.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	The majority of these programs and resources are designed to be used by a business.  Some of them, like contact manager could be utilized by teachers to keep track of student information.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I would not recommend this resource.  For one, it is subscription based.  For another, it’s mainly geared towards businesses and corporations with management and organization tools to keep track of large loads of information.  Using programs like excel, or other FREE online tools to achieve the same results is what I would recommend for other teachers.

Tech exploration #8: online tools for teachers  http://www.4teachers.org/tools/

A: Quizstar http://quizstar.4teachers.org/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Quizstar is an online quiz building resource.  This resource allows a teacher to create quizzes for a class, administer the quiz online, and review the results for their students.  Quizes are saved and can be copied, edited, or shared for future use by the teacher who created it or by other teachers they “share” it with.  The quizzes themselves can be multiple choice or short answer.  Short answer questions must be graded by the instructor, multiple choice are graded automatically.  Quiz results can be displayed and analyzed in multiple ways by the teacher.  Reports can be exported into excel. To use the resource teachers AND STUDENTS must have registered accounts, although this is free.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	Obviously you would make quizzes with this resource…   A teacher can use this resource to create, administer, and track the progress of quizzes for multiple classes.   The quizzes are taken online however, and students must have access to the internet.  Something to note as well, while taking this quiz other windows can be opened on the computer and students can effectively cheat by looking up quiz question answers.  You can discourage this by making the quiz timed…
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	This is a very cool resource.  The ability to add multimedia to the quiz questions adds a great aspect.  I would definitely recommend this resource… however I would use it as a study tool or review tool for students, not as their actual tests/quizzes (however this is personal preference).

B: rubistar http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Rubistar is an online tool for teachers to create grading rubrics.  Rubristar gives the teacher the ability to save, edit, and create rubrics online.  Rubrics created in rubristar can be re-accessed at any time and from any computer to be edited or reprinted.   This resource offers a multitude of pre-constructed templates for rubrics based on a variety of assignments.   Teachers can use the templates provided or create their own rubric from scratch.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	To create rubrics…   Rubrics give teachers a clearer grading scale for assignments.  Rubrics also help students understand what they need to do to succeed in completing an assignment.  Rubristar gives teachers a tool to quickly produce rubrics for their assignments.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I would definitely recommend this resource.  The templates are great and give teachers with little experience creating rubrics a good starting point.  Once a teacher becomes experienced creating rubrics a simple chart created in word or excel can be used to generate their own rubrics…  However, this is a free resource and a great starting point!

C: Project based learning, checklists http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/index.shtml

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Project based learning checklists are similar to rubrics in that they are a list of requirements students must complete when doing an assignment.  Checklists outline exactly what students need to do to complete and score well on their projects.  PBLchecklists is a resource for teachers which assists in the generating of project checklists.  This resource offers pre-made templates with the ability to customize them for unique projects.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	This resource can be used to create checklists as guides for students’ requirements for projects and assignments.  This gives students a clear understanding of what is required in an assignment
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I would recommend this resource.  It is free, it has pre-made templates (great for beginning teachers) and checklists are just a good idea for teachers to make available for students!

D: classroom architect http://classroom.4teachers.org/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Classroom architect is a web based tool which gives teachers the ability to create a floorplan of their classroom.  This gives the teacher the ability to rearrange their classroom’s furniture virtually to test different arrangements prior to organizing it in real life.  This also gives the teacher the ability to map out an existing floorplan to use in instruction.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	One way to use this that comes to mind is in the construction of a seating chart for students.  You can draw out the floor plan, save it, and edit it to include student’s names for different classes.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	This is a fun little resource that I think all teachers would enjoy playing with.  There is not really any educational value for the students with this application, but for organizationally minded teachers this resource could help them test multiple classroom arrangements without all the heavy lifting.

Dimio’s tools: http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	“software by dimio” is a webpage with several .exe applications for the home computer.  The first listed on the site is Dspeech, a text to speech program which will read text out loud. Other programs available include a desktop shutdown .exe, a disk synchronization program (to synchronize data across multiple drives), a task manager among other programs…
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	The only tool I see on this webpage that could be used in the classroom would be Dspeech… although upon closer inspection there are better tools available to achieve this same result (Windows and Apple computers come pre-installed with such programs!).
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I personally do not trust a website that looks like it was made in the mid 90s with links to downloadable .exe programs…  I just don’t trust it.  These programs may be legitimate and do what they say they are supposed to do… I wouldn’t recommend these however (I honestly wouldn’t even include them on this blog if I wasn’t required to). The only tool I think would be useful in the classroom would be the text to speech program, and as I already stated there are TTS resources available (also for free) from other websites which I would be more apt to trust.

                As a note, doing a quick google search on “dimio tools” comes up with several links to these resources on other freeware and shareware sites.  However, some reviews are negative and speak against the user interface with these tools.  There also seems to be a lack of direct support from the tool’s creator (which is typical for freeware like this).

Tech Exploration 9: Fullmeasure powertalk: http://fullmeasure.co.uk/powertalk/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	This resource is designed to work with Microsoft power point and is a “slide narrator.”  Essentially you will open a power point slide show and this program will “read” the text from the slide show to you.  This is one of many “text to speak” programs available, but is unique in its interaction with power point.   This tool can also be used to create unique presentations in which the computer narrates the slides for you.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	This resource is primarily used as an accessibility program, allowing visually impaired people the opportunity to listen to power point slides.  I can also see this being used by people who may have speech impediments to create presentations which are narrated by the computer instead of themselves, making them feel more comfortable in the presentation.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	This is a unique, and FREE resource.  I would recommend it to someone who is looking for a text to speak program compatible with power point.

Tech exploration 10: Webquest http://www.webquest.org

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	WebQuests are “inquiry-oriented”  lesson formats which focus on web based resources.  Teachers create a multi-faceted project which students must complete using web based resources.  These lessons uniquely focus on analysis, creativity, and other higher order thinking levels rather than purely on information acquisition.  Teachers provide the links to resources students must use for the project, so students are not focused on the research and acquisition of information, but instead the processing and analysis of the information.  WebQuests consist of a task, the process, the resources, an evaluation, and conclusion.  Often WebQuests are designed as group work, but there are individual solo projects also.  Webquest.org is a resource for teachers to use pre-made webquest project outlines, or submit their own webquest projects for use by other teachers.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	WebQuests can be used to introduce or conclude a unit, or as a final project.  Webquests can be used as group or solo projects to reinforce lessons, or be the lesson themselves.  WebQuests are good for creating differentiated instruction, providing multiple final product choices and multiple resources (multiple types of media).
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	WebQuests are a great way to differentiate a lesson plan.  The wide variety of WebQuests already available through resources like webquest.org is phenomenal, but webquests can be created by the teacher as well.  WebQuests also do not have to be on their own dedicated webpages, but instead can be a simple word document with the necessary parts and links included.  For this reason, webquests are a resource and tool I would definitely recommend.

Tech exploration 10b: ReadtheWords http://readthewords.com

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	This is a text to speak service which creates an auidio file from any file type of digital text.  The service allows you to create audio files which can then be used in videos and presentations.   Readthewords also has a toolbar plugin for your internet browser which will read text on webpages which you highlight.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	A teacher could use this resource in many ways, some suggested by the website itself is to use readthewords as a tool for teaching English as a second language, so that people can hear the language spoken out loud and be able to read the text simultaneously.  You can use readthewords as a tool to assist seeing impaired students, assist students with poor reading skills, or to help students evaluate their own writing by having it read back to them.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	This sounds like an interesting resource, but due to the limited functionality of the free service I don’t believe I would recommend it.  At almost $100.00 for a year’s subscription I don’t think I would recommend it for most teachers.  In unique cases where this program may increase the accessibility for sight impaired students, I would recommend it.