Post #7: Assisting Technologies and Webpage Design

When working with students from a variety of different backgrounds and levels of abilities, assisting technologies may be needed to help them learn at the same level as other students. Speech-to-Text technologies can be helpful for students who have trouble writing or spelling. Spell-check and word predicting dictionaries also be helpful for students who have trouble with spelling. Audio books can be helpful for those who have trouble reading. I have friends who used audio books growing up to follow along with texts, so that they could improve their reading. In the classroom, I could imagine that students would feel like they are outcasts because they have to use special technology. I could also picture students who didn't need the technology wanting to use it.

Personally, I enjoy creating websites. I recently made a website for an interview and I have made websites in the past for class. However, I have never used Weebly. I have always used Wix. I will admit that Weebly is much easier to navigate than Wix. Weebly is user friendly and easier for me to understand it's apps. Weebly also runs smoother than Wix. I didn't really have much trouble. The only thing I really struggled with was putting two textboxes or photos directly next to each other. I eventually figured it out, but it did prove to be a little difficult. In the future, I can use other resources like Google to help me navigate and understand Weebly more. As a teacher, I plan to have a class website and this assignment allowed me to explore what I like and don't like for my future classes.

Visit my Weebly: http://hew15b.weebly.com/

While using Diigo, I've learned how to adequately annotate information. This can be very helpful when working with students because I can provide an article or reading for them and  highlight the most important parts. When working with a team of teachers, I can send them interesting or helpful articles/websites that I find, which could help us create more effective lesson plans. When working in my own professional efforts, Diigo will be helpful when writing papers. I can easily compile all of the resources that I use into one place, which will be helpful in the long run.