Here is a link to download the audio directly: Episode #43: Listener Feedback, For Real – Part 2

Episode Overview-

Hey everyone,

Episode #43 is up for your listening pleasure! Episode #43 features some more feedback from listeners of the show. There was still too much feedback to fit it all into just this episode so you can expect to hear at least one more Listener Feedback episode in the future.

The episode also features a bumper from Lisa Givens who works as an educational specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools in Assistive Technology Services. I caught up with Lisa at NECC 09 and I’m just now getting to play her bumper. 

A.T.TIPS In This Episode-

A.T.TIP #64: Classroom Acoustic Coalition (via Facebook)

The focus of the Classroom Acoustic Coalition Facebook group is to bring about awareness about acoustics in the classroom.  In the episode Signal-to-Noise ratio is mentioned as something to consider when working with students. The following are some other helpful resources about S/N and classroom acoustics:

1. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Article on 5 Strategies to Promote Good Classroom Acoustics

2. Guidelines for Teachers to Help Minimize Auditory Perceptual Problems

A.T.TIP #65: Onetruemedia.com

This website allows you to quickly upload pictures and videos (.mpegs, .mpgs, .mp4, .mov, .avi, .wmv, .jpg’s and more) and then select from a number of free montage styles and music to create a nicely polished, professional looking, special effect ridden video.  Once finished, the website generates a URL for your video that can be shared.  The website is easy to use and would allow students to be able to create flashy presentations above and beyond just a simple slideshow.  Plus, there is nothing to install.  All of the controls and design occur right there on the website all for free. The only downside is that only some of the montages and music is free.  For access to the complete library you need to become a premium member and pay a fee.  Also, to export the video into another file format you need to be premium member.  The following are some of the videos I’ve made using this website:

1. Professional Development Montage

2. A.T.TIPScast Montage

A.T.TIP #66: Screentoaster.com

This website allows you to capture a video of whatever is happening on your screen.  You can export videos as .swf files (flash) and .mov files, which means you can save the videos right down to your computer.  You can choose to record the entire screen or record a rectangular area of the screen. Screentoaster.com is a great way to capture and share what a student has done on a computer and is also a great way to capture any lesson done on the computer.  Also, a student could capture work they’ve done on a home computer to share back with teacher.  It is also great for making short video tutorials providing directions for how to do something on the computer.  Students could watch these videos over and over again as a way to have instructions repeated as many times as necessary.

Additional Resources Mentioned-

1. Loudoun County Public Schools’ Assistive Technology Video Archive

Upcoming Presentations-

Alternative Professional Development – Powering Up With Technology Conference 09 – Upper Marlboro, Maryland – November 14th- (Time TBD)

Alternative Professional Development – Assistive Technology Industry Association Conference 2010 – Orlando, Florida – January 28 – 2:45pm – 3:45pm EST

UDL 2.0 presented with Beth Poss – Assistive Technology Industry Association Conference 2010 – Orlando, Florida – January 29 – 9:15pm-10:15pm EST

Contact Information-

If I don’t get to see you at NECC we can still connect virtually. Join the A.T.TIPPERS group on Facebook and/or Classroom 2.0 ! You can also follow me on twitter.com.

Leave a comment down below or drop me a line at attipscast@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the show! You can access the podcast and register as a fan of the show from here:

Thanks everyone and happy listening!

Here is a link to download the audio directly: Episode 42: Count Edula’s Game

Episode Overview:

Hey everyone,

Run! Run! Run for your lives! Episode #42 is up for your listening pleasure! Episode #42 features a visit to Count Edula’s mansion where he asks about some tools to he can use to help organize his  “hypothetical” zombie army.  Chris’s suggestions just so happen to be useful tools to help students as well. 

A.T.TIPS in this Episode:

A.T.TIP #60: Google Earth

Google Earth lets you to zoom anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. Google Earth is a free software program you can download and install on your computer.  When you launch the program you see a celestial view of the earth.  On the left hand side you see a search window.  Type in any location, hit the magnifying glass icon, and watch as you zoom to that location.  Also on the left side of the screen you’ll find a section called “layers” click on any of the boxes there to add additional features to what you see in your search.  So, for instance, if you select the “3D Buildings” layer when a 3 dimensional image of a building is available you will see that building in three dimensions.  Try it by searching for any major city, like Chicago, and you’ll see a three-dimensional representation of tons of different buildings or try doing a search for one of the lighthouses along the Outer Banks.  In more remote locations like those you can really see the difference between the 2 dimensional representations and the 3 dimensional representations.   There is a street view layer that is awesome where you can see, where available, a 360 degree digital image as if you were standing at a given location.  Students who have trouble visualizing how tall something is, or what something might look like, or how a structure might appear in real-life, can experience these places in a very tangential way.  Using Google Earth before or after a field trip or community-based instructional trip can bring a totally new dimension to the learning experience.  What’s nice about Google Earth is that it’s totally free.  Students can download it at home to explore on their own. Again, this is just scratching the surface of what it can do as there are all different types of layers, including shipwrecks, weather conditions and forecasts, and global awareness. 

A.T.TIP #61: Google Earth Video Tours

Google Earth 5 allows you to create a tour by creating a movie. One of the icons is a little video camera.  Just click on that video camera icon and then the little red record button that appears.  Teachers can use this with students to give a little video tour of where they are going or where they have been.  Students can also use this feature to demonstrate their knowledge.  A student records themselves traveling from place to place in Google Earth to demonstrate they know how to get to a location from a location, that they know where on the globe an event occurred or where a place is actually located.  You could even use it as an alternative way to tell a story.  Instead of writing that essay on what they did over Winter Break, students can virtually take the teacher and other students to that location by showing it on Google Earth.

A.T.TIP #62: Mystudiyo.com

Mystudiyo.com  is a website that allows you to create assessments using all sorts of different media.  There are different assessment types to choose from, but the one that I think is easiest and most relevant to students is the multiple choice type of assessment.  Once you choose your assessment type the website takes you through a series of questions to set-up your quiz.  It’s like a quiz wizard that walks you through creation, step-by-step.   You can choose from different looks of your quiz and you can add introductory media using text, an image, or video to give directions which is perfect for students who might have trouble reading instructions.  You can also have text, an image or video accompany each question, which means you could read each question aloud and save it as a video to have a much more accessible assessment.  At the end of the assessment a student can be presented with a scoreboard to see how well they did.  Once you’ve finished creating your quiz the website generates a unique URL for your quiz.  Take that URL and distribute it to students  for them to take the quiz on your computers or, if possible,  on their own home computers.  See how well you can do on the quiz created by Count Edula for his zombie horde.

A.T.TIP #63: Shorttext.com

Shorttext.com allows someone to either type or copy/paste text directly into it.  Then, once they are ready, they click on the “Create URL” button to make a URL for that text.  In the future, they just go back to that unique URL to access that text again.  It’s a handy way to save information.  For instance, students who tend to lose things, like thumbdrives or assignments, can post it to Shorttext.com.  Then, all they need is the URL to go get it.  Unlike a thumbdrive, the URLs can be shared with a teacher or in a safe location that doesn’t get transported to and from school.  There are some other tools on the net that might be better for organization of assignments and such, but shorttext.com has a very simple interface without lots of buttons or other functions.  This makes it less intimidating, which is why I like it and which is why it might be perfect for some students and teachers.  Check out a piece of intercepted correspondence from one of Count Edula’s zombie field generals. 

Points of Interest:

Mentioned in the podcast is an article by the New York Times about Wikipedia’s new policy about editing entries about living people.   

Also, if you haven’t seen this Common Craft How-to video, well, it might be worth your time to help you prepare for the impending apocalypse.

Upcoming Presentation Information:

 The Building Blocks of a Successful Assistive Technology Team presented with Sally Norton-Darr – ISTE Webinar – October 21st- 4pm – 5pm EST

Eight is Enough: Ways to Use What You Got – Clarksville, Maryland – November 9th – 7:30pm – 9:00pm EST

Alternative Professional Development – Powering Up With Technology Conference 09 – Upper Marlboro, Maryland – November 14th- (Time TBD)

Alternative Professional Development – Assistive Technology Industry Association Conference 2010 – Orlando, Florida – January 28 – 2:45pm – 3:45pm EST

UDL 2.0 presented with Beth Poss – Assistive Technology Industry Association Conference 2010 – Orlando, Florida – January 29 – 9:15pm-10:15pm EST

I hope to meet you at any or all of these presentations. But, if you can’t make it to those, and you’re interested in any of this (or other) content for workshops in your district please contact me at attipscast@gmail.com. We can work together to set something up either in person or virtually!

Join the A.T.TIPPERS group on Facebook and/or Classroom 2.0 ! You can also follow me on twitter.com as @attipscast.

Leave a comment down below or drop me a line at attipscast@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the show! You can access the podcast and register as a fan of the show from here:

Podcast Hosting at CyberEars.com

Thanks everyone and happy listening!

Here is a link to download the audio directly: Episode #41

Episode Overview-

Hey everyone,

Episode #41 is up for your listening pleasure! Episode #41 features some feedback from listeners of the show.  There was too much feedback to fit into one episode so you can expect to hear more in the future. 

The episode also features a bumper from Sally Norton-Darr and Judith Schoonover about the new version of CAST’s BookBuilder.  Judith and Sally will be doing workshops on this at the following professional conferences if you’re interested in attending:

ATIA 09 in Chicago, Illinois on October 28th – 31st 

Techknowledgy 09 in Richmond, Virginia – November 19 & 20

RATE in Fairfax, Virginia on November 7th

A.T.TIPS In This Episode-

A.T.TIP #59: freesound.org

The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Freesound focusses only on sound, not songs.

Additional Resources Mentioned-

Image of Brian’s Interactive PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching All Students Blog

Upcoming Presentations-

 The Building Blocks of a Successful Assistive Technology Team presented with Sally Norton-Darr - ISTE Webinar – October 21st- 4pm – 5pm EST

Eight is Enough: Ways to Use What You Got - Clarksville, Maryland -                                                                                  November 9th – 7:30pm – 9:00pm EST

Alternative Professional Development - Powering Up With Technology Conference 09 – Upper Marlboro, Maryland -  November 14th- (Time TBD)

Alternative Professional Development - Assistive Technology Industry Association Conference 2010 – Orlando, Florida – January 28 – 2:45pm – 3:45pm EST

UDL 2.0 presented with Beth Poss - Assistive Technology Industry Association Conference 2010 - Orlando, Florida – January 29 – 9:15pm-10:15pm EST

Contact Information-

If I don’t get to see you at NECC we can still connect virtually. Join the A.T.TIPPERS group on Facebook and/or Classroom 2.0 ! You can also follow me on twitter.com.

Leave a comment down below or drop me a line at attipscast@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the show! You can access the podcast and register as a fan of the show from here:

Thanks everyone and happy listening!

Invitation to Halloween Party

Hello all,

The next episode should be coming out shortly but, in the meantime, something strange happened.  I received this strange invitation today when I got home from work.  Check it out:

CEInvite

Here is a link to download the audio directly: Special Episode: Big Announcement #2 -The Book

Hey everyone,

Well this was the big secret project I’ve been working on that I had mentioned in previous episodes.  I introduce to you now “The Practical (and Fun) Guide to Assistive Technology in Public Schools: Building or Improving Your District’s AT Team” by Christopher Bugaj and Sally Norton-Darr.  The book is being published by the International Socitey for Technology in Education (better known by the acronym ISTE) and will be available for pre-order in February March of 2010. 

The Content:

As the title suggests the book provides strategies of building an assistive technology program in public schools.  Answers to common questions such as “How do we consider AT for every student?”, “How does assistive technology get documented in an IEP?”, “What are some effective ways of working with Instructional Technology?”, “Who should be on an AT Team?”, “When and how do you write an AT evaluation report?”, “What is the most effect service delivery model?”, “How do you adequately follow-up with teachers and students?”, “How do you collect data and demonstrate progress?”, and “How do you build a comprehensive assistive technology program?” are all found in the book.

The Style:

The book is written in such a way that it is easy to use and fun to read. We wanted to create a book that wouldn’t feel like a chore to read.  Therefore, the book is laced with engaging analogies and humorous stories which emphasize and clarify the points being made.  In the future we hope to have some excerpts for you to sample, both in text and audio formats.  Throughout the book we provide procedures that have not only been relatively easy to implement but also have proven exceptionally effective for us.  In fact, that was kind of our mantra for the book, “If it’s working for us, why wouldn’t it work for you?”

More to Come:

I’ll be sharing more information in the coming weeks and month about purchase information, pricing, and how you can help spread the word about the book if you’re interested in helping out.

Upcoming Presentation Information:

 The Building Blocks of a Successful Assistive Technology Team presented with Sally Norton-Darr - ISTE Webinar – October 21st- 4pm – 5pm EST

Eight is Enough: Ways to Use What You Got - Clarksville, Maryland -                                                                                  November 9th – 7:30pm – 9:00pm EST

Alternative Professional Development - Powering Up With Technology Conference 09 – Upper Marlboro, Maryland -  November 14th- (Time TBD)

Alternative Professional Development - Assistive Technology Industry Association Conference 2010 – Orlando, Florida – January 28 – 2:45pm – 3:45pm EST

UDL 2.0 presented with Beth Poss - Assistive Technology Industry Association Conference 2010 - Orlando, Florida – January 29 – 9:15pm-10:15pm EST

I hope to meet you at any or all of these presentations.  But, if you can’t make it to those, and you’re interested in any of this (or other) content for workshops in your district please contact me at attipscast@gmail.com.  We can work together to set something up either in person or virtually!

Join the A.T.TIPPERS group on Facebook and/or Classroom 2.0 ! You can also follow me on twitter.com as @attipscast.

Leave a comment down below or drop me a line at attipscast@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the show! You can access the podcast and register as a fan of the show from here:

Podcast Hosting at CyberEars.com

Thanks everyone and happy listening!

Here is a link to download the audio directly: Episode #40

Episode Overview-

Hey everyone,

Episode #40 is up for your listening pleasure! Episode #40 features an interview with Miss Mel, the host of the Night Light Stories podcast which features free original children’s stories!  The episode also features a bumper from Nancy Stewart, the lead special education teacher at Avoca School District 37 in Wilmette, Illinois.  You can check out her blog Mad Math Beyond Numberdome and her school blog.

A.T.TIPS In This Episode-

A.T.TIP #58: Night Light Stories Podcast

Contact Miss Mel via Twitter with @nightlight08 or via e-mail at nightlightstories@gmail.com

Join the Night Light Stories group on Facebook to receive updates when new stories become available.

Upcoming Events-

I’ll be the moderator for the 2009 Online Summer Institute on Assistive and Instructional Technology on the topic of “Use of Social Media Tools” for the Family Center on Technology and Disability.  Registration and participation is totally free.  I hope you can participate in the discussion!

Contact Information-

If I don’t get to see you at NECC we can still connect virtually. Join the A.T.TIPPERS group on Facebook and/or Classroom 2.0 ! You can also follow me on twitter.com.

Leave a comment down below or drop me a line at attipscast@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the show! You can access the podcast and register as a fan of the show from here:

Thanks everyone and happy listening!

Hey everyone,

No new audio with this post.  It is a blog only update to let you know that the Question Booklets for Volume 4 are now available.  If you’re new to the A.T.TIPCAST and you’re not sure what that is, you can find out more by checking out the special episode about professional development posted back in May.

The Resources:

Download these files to make your own staff development workshop out of the A.T.TIPSCAST!

All Files For Volumes 1 – 4:

1. This file contains everything in one download: Volumes1-4everythingincluded (PDF)

Volume 4 Separately (Episodes 27 – 35, Total Running Time 1:25:10)-

1. Question Booklet for Volume 4: volume4package (PDF)

2. CD Label for Volume 4: vol4cdlabels (PDF)

Join the A.T.TIPPERS group on Facebook and/or Classroom 2.0 ! You can also follow me on twitter.com as @attipscast.

Leave a comment down below or drop me a line at attipscast@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the show! You can access the podcast and register as a fan of the show from here:

Podcast Hosting at CyberEars.com

Thanks everyone and happy listening!

Here is a link to download the audio directly: Episode #39

Episode Overview-

Hey everyone,

Episode #39 is up for your listening pleasure! Episode #39 describes different ways to utilize the Photo Album feature of Microsoft PowerPoint to facilitate digital storytelling.  The episode features a discussion with the newly-improved, fan favorite, B-Bot! 

A.T. TIPS In This Episode-

A.T.TIP #57: Photo Album Feature of PowerPoint

In PowerPoint 07 Photo Album can be found in the “Insert” tab.  It is built right into this version.

Although there may be slight variations based on the version of PowerPoint you are using, the Photo Album feature of PowerPoint looks like this:

Step-by-step directions for Photo Album Feature of PowerPoint 07

Photo Album in other versions of PowerPoint can be downloaded from the following websites:

PowerPoint 2003

PowerPoint 2000 (requires a free download and install)

Upcoming Conference Presentations-

I’ll be presenting at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC)- June 28th – July 1st in Washington, D.C. (Poster Session: Chew the P.H.A.T-Policies and How-to’s in Assistive Technology with Sally Norton-Darr).

Contact Information-

If I don’t get to see you at NECC we can still connect virtually. Join the A.T.TIPPERS group on Facebook and/or Classroom 2.0 ! You can also follow me on twitter.com.

Leave a comment down below or drop me a line at attipscast@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the show! You can access the podcast and register as a fan of the show from here:

Thanks everyone and happy listening!

Here is a link to download the audio directly: Episode #38

Episode Overview-

Hey everyone,

Episode #38 is up for your listening pleasure! Episode #38 features Part 2 of the interview with Chris Cummins, a high school English teacher and adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia who is currently teaching a class on Literacy and Technology. The second part of the interview focuses more on specific tools that can be used to create graphic organizers while also touching upon some ideas about implementing graphic organizers across the curriculum.

A.T. TIPS In This Episode-

A.T.TIP #54: VUE (Free)

“The Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is an Open Source project based at Tufts University. The VUE project is focused on creating flexible tools for managing and integrating digital resources in support of teaching, learning and research. VUE provides a flexible visual environment for structuring, presenting, and sharing digital information.”

VUE Examples and Video Tutorials

A.T.TIP #55: FreeMind (Free)

“FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java.”

FreeMind Examples and Video Tutorials

A.T.TIP #56: Record Sound Feature of Inspiration (Not Free)

Students who can tell you a story (or explain an essay) orally but who have difficulty expressing those thoughts in a written format can use the “Record Sound” feature of Inspiration to complete writing assignments, like stories, essays, or essay questions on tests.  The strategy involves the students recording one thought per cell in a web or outline created in Inspiration.  Once they have recorded each sentence orally they can go back, listen to the sentence in the cell, and begin typing it in.  Every time they get stuck with spelling or forget what they were going to type they can re-listen to their own recording to type it in.  The following screenshots explain how to use the ”Record Sound” feature of Inspiration.

Let’s say you have a graphic organizer that looks like this:

After selecting a cell, the student can record his voice by going here:

Once the student has selected “Record Sound” the following window will appear.  Use the red record button to begin recording.  Use the “Save” button to save the recording.

Once the sound has been saved the selected cell will display a ”speaker” icon in the upper right hand corner.  Double-click on this speaker icon to hear the recorded message as many times as necessary while the student types the words.

Additionally, teachers could use this feature to leave hints or reminder to students when developing a graphic organizing template.

Upcoming Conference Presentations-

I’ll be presenting at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC)- June 28th – July 1st in Washington, D.C. (Poster Session: Chew the P.H.A.T-Policies and How-to’s in Assistive Technology with Sally Norton-Darr).

Contact Information-

If I don’t get to see you at NECC we can still connect virtually. Join the A.T.TIPPERS group on Facebook and/or Classroom 2.0 ! You can also follow me on twitter.com.

Leave a comment down below or drop me a line at attipscast@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the show! You can access the podcast and register as a fan of the show from here:

Thanks everyone and happy listening!

Here is a link to download the audio directly: Episode #37

Episode Overview-

Hey everyone,

Episode #37 is up for your listening pleasure! Episode #37 features Part 1 of a two part interview with Chris Cummins, a high school English teacher and adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia who is currently teaching a class on Literacy and Technology.  During this first part of the interview Chris and I talk about a few different styles of graphic organizers as well as discuss how to implement graphic organizers in a high school setting. 

A.T. TIPS In This Episode-

A.T.TIP #51: The Frayer Model of Graphic Organizer

Create a graphic organizing web online using the Frayer Model

A.T.TIP #52: Semantic Mapping (Super Word Web)

 Create a semantic map by downloading the template from Longwood University

Super Word Web excerpt from “Stretching Student’s Vocabulary” by Karen D’Angelo Bromley and Judy Lynch

A.T.TIP #53: Compare – Contrast Model of Graphic Organizer

Downloadable compare and contrast graphic organizers from Education Oasis

Compare and Contrast Matrix from Write Design Online

Upcoming Conference Presentations-

I’ll be presenting at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC)- June 28th – July 1st in Washington, D.C. (Poster Session: Chew the P.H.A.T-Policies and How-to’s in Assistive Technology with Sally Norton-Darr).

Contact Information-

If I don’t get to see you at NECC we can still connect virtually. Join the A.T.TIPPERS group on Facebook and/or Classroom 2.0 ! You can also follow me on twitter.com.

Leave a comment down below or drop me a line at attipscast@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the show! You can access the podcast and register as a fan of the show from here:

Thanks everyone and happy listening!