Today we started off working on and then presenting our Reading Task Analysis. When we started to work on this, it seems like a HUGE undertaking. It was very overwhelming to think about ALL of the things we do when we read. It took us quite a long time to put together our analysis and we were not quite sure if we included everything that we needed to, but after seeing each group's analysis I realized that the analysis coud take many forms. It was very interesting to see the different ways in which each group interpreted the reading process -- no two were the same.
Next, we discussed how to make the AT match. It is critically important to reflect upon the STUDENT when choosing the appropriate technology. Every student is different and requires individual consideration. You also need to take into account the TASK (what is the student required to do?), the ENVIRONMENT (skills of teacher/EPA? what technology is present, and working?), and the TECHNOLOGY (simpler is better).
We learned about a few websites/software that are available to support students with phonological and orthographic processing difficulties (ex. Choose It Maker 2, Earobics, Simon Sounds It Out, Word Maker, Bailey's Book House) and students with context and meaning processing difficulties (ex. ReadPlease Natural Reader, Clicker5, Start-to-Finish Books, Kurzweil). After learning about the different options, software, and technology available (we also searched the Internet for more options), I was overwhelmed by the choices. In some cases it would be difficult to narrow down where to start. The good thing about the wide variety of choices is that if something isn't working for the student, there are many other options available. Access to these technologies is on my blob via "Compensatory Software and Websites" links.
We ended class by getting into expert groups with the intent that we would learn a specific program (Kurzweil, My Study Bar, WYNN, TextHelp). My group is doing WYNN Wizard. We need to create an instructional blog to teach the class how to use this software. It is a little more difficult than some of the others as we cannot access the software for more than 40 minutes at a time via our trial download. We also cannot find youtube videos to insert into our blog. Again, a bit overwhelming but we'll manage :)
