Podcasting
NPR also offers podcasts that, just like TEDTalks, are both informative and entertaining. NPR offers a wide variety of Podcasts that represent a great opportunity for educators to really enhance their students' learning. Teachers can easily use NPR Podcasts to flip their classroom instruction by assigning students podcasts to listen to and discuss the next day. The great advantage of Podcasts is their portability. A Podcast can be listened to anywhere and be played back using a PC or a smartphone.
After reviewing the different podcasts, I began to wonder how they could be utilized to enhance both student and teacher development? Since I am currently preparing to present Sphero at the Cobb County STEM Academy, I figured it would be good opportunity to flip my instruction for the day and talk about the Sphero. A Sphero is small robotic ball about the size of baseball that can be programmed using a variety of apps. The education value of this cool little robot cannot be understated. My podcast would allow teachers to subscribe and receive auditory instructions introducing them to abilities of this awesome little educational tool.
Visual Tools
Differentiation
Differentiation is the key to addressing the diverse needs of students in classroom along with creating global citizens and preparing students for the curriculum. Using visual tools in the classroom to address the needs of diverse learners is a great example of how differentiation can help serve the needs of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). According to Alyson Harris, "visual supports are tools that are used to increase the understanding of language, environmental expectations, and to provide structure and support for individuals with ASD" (Harris). Web 2.o tools that incorporate visual support help students with ASD express their thoughts and reduce anxiety (Harris, nd).
Along with visual tools students also need to feel connected and become more globally aware. Tools such as Google Tour Builder help students to utilize Web 2.0 tools to increase their understanding of the world and their place in it. This tool gives diverse learners the ability to use a visual supports to experience the larger world. Using this tool students can travel the world and report about the different cultures and customs without having to leave their classroom. Google Builder incorporated with Skype gives students the ability to study other places and interact with them. Skype allows students to contact other classrooms and people. They can ask questions, talk and begin understanding one another in real-time. As the students learn and understand one another, they become more globally aware and that allows them to become better digital age global citizen.
Harris, A. (n.d.). Visual supports for students with autism. Special education Journal.
Retrieved from http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/Journals/specialedjournal/Harris
Hobgood, Ed.D., B., & Ormsby, L. (n.d.). Inclusion in the 21st-century classroom: Differentiating with technology. LearnNC.
Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner/6776
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0: How-to for educators (2nd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.