WEB2.0 - Initial thoughts (Thing 1-B)

• Consider the ways in which Web 2.0 tools might change (or have already changed) your professional practice.

Web2.0 tools have certainly opened up an entire new professional learning network for me. Because I teach what is still considered a "low incidence" population, finding others to collaborate with is not always easy - but online, they are just a click or two away!

Web2.0 tools also help me share information with parents of my students - not just words on a webpage explaining what we did, but I can share slideshows of photos and videoclips SHOWING their child engaged and having fun - they no longer have to take my word for it ;-)

• How might you be able to use these new tools to to engage today's "digital learners?"

I'm going to address this specifically to my class. My students all have moderate to severe autism in addition to moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. Web2.0 has opened up WORLDS of new options for my students. I'd like to have a videoconference/chat with other classes. To have my students be "penpals" and write to other students wouldn't mean much to them - there is so much time lapse between writing a letter, getting one back, etc. - and you can't *see* your penpal. But to videochat with another kid - it's visual (kids with autism learn visually), it's instantaneous, and it involves the computer - what more could my kiddos ask for? (they all LOVE the computer).

Next year I plan to use the Wii-remote "smartboard" setup to work on activities as a class. There are so many excellent web-based activities out there for students with autism - in the past, we would do it on the computer one at a time, which is fine but what are my other students doing during that time? Recently, I've been hook the computer up to the projector and let one student do the activity and the others watch on the screen, but I think with the "smartboard" having them come up to the "big screen", use the IR pen, the others can actually see what they're doing. I'm really excited about that :-)

Additionally, I can use Web2.0 to help with homework! My students don't write, I can't just send home worksheets or something for homework - I need them to practice the things that we have been doing in class. However, unless you've been trained in ABA, which their parents usually haven't been, it's very difficult to explain and understand *how* to do those activities. Written instructions can be a page long and very detailed and not make much sense :-) So ... I use my vado (similar to a flip camera) to record myself working with a student, post that to our class wiki (this year I just posted them to teachertube - but next year I will have a wiki - that's one of my goals this summer, to get the wiki up and running), and the parents can watch, copy me, and do that activity with their child for homework. It's much easier sometimes to imitate someone else doing something than to read long, detailed instructions and do it yourself. (for my students who don't have internet access at home, I try to burn the video to a DVD and send home)

• Why would you want to?

To make my life easier? LOL Seriously, my students (students with autism in general) are visual learners - Web2.0 tools (in particular blog, wiki, and flickr) allow me to put some of those visual instructional materials online so that the students and their parents can access them at home. This helps the student generalize what they're learning from home to school, which is an important goal.