Category: News

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Single Device Classrooms

I am currently working in a school where I have access to one interactive white board in each room. I have had to learn to do more group lessons and provide my students with individualization within group activities. I often use BrainPOP, Jr. and Starfall with these classes, so individualization is getting easier.

In particular, Starfall is divided by grade levels, so I can change the section for each child when it is their turn at the board. I can also get into specific areas within a given grade level as the next student moves toward the board. For instance, a student who is learning to tap the board and make something happen (cause and effect) might be given the preschool and kindergarten math songs, while a student who is learning to add and subtract can be given first grade math games. This helps me to keep my students engaged and make sure that everyone participates as to the fullest extent possible.

BrainPOP, Jr. has a wide range of educational videos and lets me choose topics that may interest the majority of the students. When appropriate, I have the students complete the easy or hard quizzes at the end of the lesson. I supplement BrainPOP, Jr. videos with videos from other sites (such as Flocabulary) when I can find the topic or related topics multiple places. Some students pay more attention to Moby the robot, while other students are more likely to listen to Flocabulary’s beats.

As a substitute teacher, my job is to keep students engaged and behaviors down as much as possible. Yes, I want kids to learn something, but I also need to make sure that the room stays safe for the entire 45 or 50 minutes that I am with each class. Keeping everyone safe and engaged is even more of a struggle when I am with the same class for an entire day instead of just one period then on to the next class. I am finding that my 32 years as a full-time teacher has given me skills that help me in my current position as a substitute teacher.

I am also learning to be more flexible. I often to not know what my position for the day will be until after I arrive at school. I planned the entire month of April only to have my position change. I am spending many lunch periods and occasional evenings and weekends developing lessons for my students. Some things about teaching have not changed. I still occasionally miss my technology lab and the large selection leveled of iPads that I used to use with students who could not get to the lab, but I am getting better at working in classrooms with a single interactive board shared by the entire class.

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Documents Are Being Slowly Updated

I am updating my documents to fix as many spelling and grammar problems as I can locate. The originals were sometimes developed under quick schedules and do not represent my best writing. For instance, I found several papers where i.e. was used instead of e.g. I will be uploading my repaired documents in batches of several documents at once. This will take time because I am currently filling a vacancy and hardly feel retired.

I have recently noticed that some grammar and punctuation items, such as the use of commas, often have vague or conflicting rules depending on the grammar checker used. For instance, when I was a child, I was told to use a comma after “and” when I separate to complete clauses even when the clauses are directions without an explicitly stated subject noun. “Click on the number one, and go to the first page.” Some grammar checkers have given sentences like this an error and told me to remove the comma. Since this type of error is most often found in the professors’ directions to me, I am generally leaving the sentences the way the professors wrote them.

Another problem that I am having is missing documents. Some of my pdfs are lacking their original documents which is making editing quite difficult. I have decided not to fix those documents until I have time to go through my external hard drives and locate the originals. I have no idea why some originals are not on my computer, but for some reason they did not transfer when I bought a new computer.

I am not fixing most of the American Psychological Association (APA) style mistakes. My papers were written in a highly modified APA style to meet the university’s requirements. Professors often wanted me to change aspects of my papers instead of closely following APA guidelines. This took me more than a little time to adjust! My two master’s degrees are from United States university departments that required strict adherence to APA style. I had to learn to be flexible even when my brain disagreed.

I sincerely apologize to everyone who is using screen readers and other assistive technologies! I have not yet checked my papers for accessibility considerations. I could not figure out how to fix my headings so that they read appropriately in screen readers. For instance, some of my papers have a title page and three levels of headings. I could not find level three in my word processor’s headings sections. I also completely disliked how applying headings levels one and two changed my text font and size. The images in my papers are often are so detailed that I honestly have not yet tried to come up with meaningful alternate text. I have not yet found the time to add closed captions to my videos. I firmly believe that everyone deserves equal access and will work on this more sometime in the future. I am very sorry that my site and related materials are not fully accessible for all of my readers!

I am also slowly updating the pages and posts. I did switch to a more accessible layout that WordPress claims is better for mobile devises and assistive technology, but additional work (including fixing some aforementioned mistakes) needs to be done. This is a project in progress. I am not even going to estimate when everything will be completed, but I am working on this website and its related contents as time allows.

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I Am Remembered!

The school district’s technology office just invited me to a technology meeting. The invitation is pending my principal’s approval, but I feel honored to be asked to attend. If approved, this will be my first technology meeting since I formally retired at the beginning of September in 2021. I am so extremely happy to have been invited that I just cannot contain my enthusiasm. Many of the people my age have also retired, but I will get to see some of the technology coordinators I knew from other schools. I may even get a chance to share my experience with the new generation of school-based technology coordinators.

Of course, I will also learn some new things that I can teach my current and future students as a substitute teacher who continues to focus on technology integration.

I really miss my technology teacher/coordinator days, especially helping teachers and other school staff.

Edit:

My school’s principal said that I could attend the district’s instructional technology meeting/workshop. I figure that I will probably know about half of the people there and will have the opportunity to work with people who I have not seen in person since before Covid-19 lockdowns. The end of the 2019-2020 and all meetings during the 2020-2021 school year were remote. Some of my favorite people have probably moved on to other duties or retired, but fortunately not everyone. This will be a truly fantastic day filled with renewing acquaintances and learning new skills.

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Still Substitute Teaching

I had a fun spring earlier this year working with some middle school students. The staff in that school were absolutely fabulous! I was able to bring in some of my past technology teacher experience, while adapting my material to middle school students, some of whom have become excellent communicators since I taught them. It was wonderful to hear a boy speak full sentences who used to only say one or two words at a time. A few other students have become proficient with their communication devices. The number of students who can read full paragraphs has also increased. Some kids who used to read paragraphs can now read short stories. It is amazing to see how my old students have progressed. Success like this is why I have not yet completely retired.

All of this means that the updates I want to do to improve this site are happening very slowly. There are many things that I want to fix, but life keeps pulling me in too many directions. I have not forgotten my pledge to fix things and make this site more friendly for mobile devices and screen readers. It is just taking me much more time than I had anticipated.

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Ideas to Share News Specialized Computer Lab Ideas

Teaching Computer Mouse Skills to Students with Severe Autism, part 2

I forgot that I had already written about my mater’s thesis, but I decided to keep this post along with the original because some additional background information is here. Unfortunately, much of this information is the same as or similar to my earlier post. I apologize for this inconvenience.

Here is a PDF of one version of my Master’s thesis presentation, Teaching Computer Mouse Skills to Students with Severe Autism. You may have to navigate around the page a bit to find my paper. I just visited the webpage and found several other papers by different authors on my page. I think that Research Gate automatically loads research projects that it thinks may be of interest to its readers.

This presentation was revised too many times to count, and I have no idea if I posted the final version to Research Gate. Regardless of which version this is, I think that my earlier research may be helpful to some people. There was a time that many people in special education were told to only use adapted general education supplies and textbooks. I even remember a science teacher from another school once telling me that his school threw away the special textbooks designed for students with reading disabilities and replaced those books with the same books that the general education students were using. This teacher told me that his students’ test scores went down instead of up, but some politicians of the day firmly believed that students with significant disabilities were being held back because they were not using general education textbooks and supplies.

Around that same time, my principal was conducting a tour and mentioned in front of me that my computer lab students were using the same software that their counterparts in general education use. Fortunately for me, that particular class was indeed using mass marketed software instead of software designed for students with significant disabilities.

I also heard a local politician declare that special education was a failure because we put students in smaller classes, with specialized textbooks and materials, and they still cannot pass their tests. This was a complete oversimplification because many students with disabilities are able to take and pass standard exams. It is also, in my opinion, unrealistic for a person with an IQ of 40 to be able to pass a test designed for people with IQs of 100. The educational evaluations that I read no longer state an IQ score, but the same concept still exists. How is a nonverbal student who is just beginning to learn basic communication skills going to pass the test? Why were some politicians dictating that the solution was to remove the specialized materials and expose all students to the same instructional supplies? How many of those same politicians had degrees in special education, or even in education? I heard too many times from a few popular politicians of the time that special education is a failure because students were not being exposed to the same instructional materials as their non-disabled peers. All people who receive special education services were lumped together by these politicians, regardless of the nature or severity of their disabilities.

All of this made me think that I really needed to study whether or not my students with the most severe forms of autism really were helped by using software that was designed for students in general education. What I learned was that my students were able to learn to use the computer mouse more quickly when they had regular access to specialized software than when they used the same mass produced software that my students with less severe autism or less severe intellectual disabilities were able to use. My gut instinct told me that specialized software was an important aspect of my students’ education. Now, I had the data to justify my position.

I focused on students with severe autism because this was a fairly new group of students in my school at that time. In the past, students with similar learning needs and behaviors would have been “dual diagnosis” students, diagnosed as having both a severe intellectual disability and severe autism. Another common diagnosis when I began teaching was severe intellectual disability (more commonly referred to as a cognitive delay in my school thirty plus years ago) with autistic tendencies. It made no difference to me as a teacher what the official diagnosis was. If a student would rather chew on the computer mouse or bang it on the table, it was my job to teach the student to use the mouse appropriately. But for this project, I only studied my students who were classified as having severe autism.

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Teaching Computer Mouse Skills to Students with Severe Autism

I wrote the thesis for my second master’s degree back in 2007, but some people still read it fifteen years later. At that time, there was a huge push in special education to modify general education supplies instead of using textbooks and other supplies that were designed for students who needed specialized materials. I even knew a science teacher who had to dispose of his adapted textbooks; his school gave him regular books for his students. That teacher reported that just as he expected, and in opposition to what some politicians believed, the students fared worse in the science exam when they used regular textbooks. This got me thinking about my students with even more severe disabilities.

Around that same time, the definition of autism started changing so that more students with very severe disabilities were classified as having severe autism instead of having severe to profound intellectual disabilities (sometimes with autistic tendencies or what was then called dual diagnoses). My tipping point came when my principal was showing her supervisor my computer lab and bragged about how I was adapting regular software and supplies to fit the needs of my students and no longer using specialized supplies. Of course, the adapted equipment was only hidden for the duration of the walk-through, but in general we had far fewer adapted items in the computer lab than we had two years earlier.

After finishing this study, I no longer had to use adapted regular supplies with all of my students. My students who needed specialized equipment and software could once again use those items. I could point to my research to prove that specialized materials helped many of my students. This type of research is sometimes called teacher action research because the primary function of my research (besides being a requirement of my master’s program) was to help me improve as a teacher in my technology lab.

Here is the pdf of the slide show that accompanied my thesis, Teaching Computer Mouse Skills to Students with Severe Autism. You have to scroll down the page a bit to find the “View full-text” link. Unfortunately, this slideshow/pdf was created before I leaned how to format PowerPoint and pdfs for screen readers. I can no longer find the full paper, but this version may help some people who work with students who have significant developmental delays.

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16″ Computer Takes Adjusting

I am in the process of switching from a very old 15″ MacBook Pro to a new 16″ MacBook Pro. One issue that I am having is spacing. The new screen density often means that the primary center column of websites appears to be smaller. For instance, this website has a center space of approximately the same width as each of the sides. Some educational video sites have huge black boxes around the videos in full screen instead of making the videos fill this large display. I assumed that the actual video files are too small to look nice on the screen, but they are fine when projected onto a wall display (with the same black boxes, but the actual videos take up more inches). I thought about simply changing my display’s scale, but the display system preference says that scaling the display could impede performance. I am enjoying a blazing fast computer that is not over-heating after an hour’s use, so I will just have to get used to things looking a little different.

In other news, my substitute teaching is going well. I am enjoying the balance of being semi-retired while helping my old school and making extra income. I still need to find the time to fix many things here, but those fixes will happen. Substitute teachers do not work summer school, so I will have plenty of time on my hands in a few months.

Finally, my school has purchased new interactive white boards to replace obsolete and broken-beyond-repair devices. I use a combination of these and my old iPads from when I was the technology teacher. I had donated my iPads to the school for the next technology teacher, but five months later they were still in the packing box, so I was given permission to take them back. About half of my students like it when the substitute teacher brings in iPads, which was about the same number of students who liked using the computer lab and my iPads when I taught full time. Some things never change.

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Substitute Teaching Is Going Well

I have been a substitute teacher for several months and am getting used to my new position and responsibilities. I am going to see if my old iPads are still available. My shoulders and back are not too keen on me dragging the iPads around, but the benefits to my students would be worth the effort. If the iPads are still available and not being used, I will take them back. My original idea was to donate the iPads to my school for the next technology teacher, but I have not seen them in use whenever I am at my old site. I can bring the iPads in for my students whenever I substitute. This would also make my lessons different from the normal routine and interesting for the students. I want the kids to have fun while they learn!

I have discovered that most teachers do not leave lesson plans and materials for the substitute. It is my responsibility to figure out what to do for the day and to keep the students calm and safe. I have had days when everything goes incredibly smoothly and days when my ideas do not work out at all. Over time, and with additional substitute experience, the lessons will become easier for me to teach. I hated being a substitute teacher when I first started teaching, but I can honestly say that it is much easier now.

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Website Revisions Going Slowly!

I have been picking up more substitute teaching jobs than I had anticipated, so fixing this website has become extremely slow paced. My school has had difficulties finding enough substitute teachers to cover all of the absences, so several retired teachers, including me, agreed to pick up additional days. I will still fix everything, but at this point I refuse to estimate a timetable.

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Accessible Theme

I just switched to an accessible theme, Twenty Twenty, but in the process I lost many of my media and interactive elements on the pages. It will take time, but I am slowly starting to rebuild everything. My goal is to upgrade this website so that it is accessible to people who use screen readers and other accessibility software and to people using computers, tablets, and smartphones.

I also noticed that the new theme rerouted many of my links. I have already changed one page where someone else’s paper appeared instead of mine. I am going to have to go through each page to make sure that all links and embedded content are accurate. I apologize that changing themes created so many problems, but I promise to fix everything as quickly as my schedule permits.

Please, be patient with me as these improvements will take time to implement. Thank you.

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Site Accessibility Issues

Hello, I just went through comments that people made this summer and found three comments about accessibility and phone issues. I will begin changing to a new format later in the year (2021). I apologize for all problems that people are having. I began this WordPress site before smartphones were used by most people. I also had not yet been trained in how to make sites work with screen readers, open/closed captioning, and other accessibility features. The entire change, including adding closed captioning to my videos, will take a long time, but you will start to see the changes before the year’s end.

Another change that I am planning to make is with my papers. Instead of quoting the questions directly (copy and paste from my assignments), I will paraphrase as necessary or just omit the questions. This should make the papers flow more evenly. Speaking of my papers, I will switch to a standard heading system that screen readers and other text-to-speech software pick up. Sometimes, accessibility features get omitted when I convert to PDFs for publication, but I will try my best. Unfortunately, all of these changes will not happen quickly.

Along the way, I will double-check my pages for spelling and grammar mistakes. Sometimes, the mistakes are in quoted material, but I will fix anything of my own that I notice. This will also aid accessibility software to properly read my material.

Again, I apologize to everyone who is having difficulty accessing this site.

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Retirement, part two

I am officially a retired special education technology teacher. It feels incredibly strange, and I already miss everyone in my school, but retiring early was the correct decision for me to make. I was put back into the classroom after twenty-four years as a technology teacher, after the computer lab was closed because of social distancing and deep cleaning rules. It was a real struggle being back in the classroom after running the computer lab for so many years. So much has changed since I was a classroom teacher twenty-five years ago. I loved my students, but I never felt completely comfortable in my new role. I have no idea what the next phase of my career will be, but I am ready to explore new options.

I have been offered the opportunity to return to my school once or twice a week as a substitute teacher. I told my principal that I will start once a week and see how things go. I really disliked being a substitute when I was in my twenties, but after teaching full time for thirty-one and a half years, I may find that substituting is easier that it used to be.

Another possibility is part time work that uses more of my instructional technology skills. I have a master’s degree from New York Institute of Technology (my second master’s degree) and a doctorate from Blue Marble University in instructional technology. I may find a part time job that allows me to utilize these skills and knowledge.

Whatever the future brings, I am ready to greet it. I loved being a full time teacher, especially when I was a special education technology teacher, and now I am ready to pursue a part time opportunity. When one door closes, another opens. I wonder what I will find as I step through these new doors.

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Retirement, part one

I am retiring soon. I will miss many of the students and staff members, but it is the right decision for me. The computer lab was closed down due to social distancing rules, so I have been a classroom teacher this school year and summer. I loved being a classroom teacher thirty years ago, but now I feel like it is my past and not what I want for my future. I have not yet decided what I will be doing instead of teaching full time, but I am in no hurry. I am sure that when I am ready to return to work I will find something part time. I hope to be done with full time work, but I will see what the future brings when it happens.

Ms. Jeanne, the technology teacher, taught students with a wide range of abilities. Sometimes, it would take several years to get someone to gently touch the screen of an iPad to make something happen in a cause and effect or sensory app. No, iPads are not chewy/poundy toys. Other times, students learn to complete reading assignments and special projects on the computer with assistance and special scaffolding as needed. Regardless of the circumstances, I have many years worth of memories to make me smile.

Sure, most roses have prickles, but they are still beautiful. My students were a wide variety of roses. Most of them had prickles of one sort or another, but all of my former students brought joy into my life.

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Choice Time in My Computer Lab

Choice time in technology class is not free reign on the internet. My class is an English Language Arts/Technology class, so all activities have to be related to ELA skills. I provide students with a variety of software and website options from which they can choose their activities. Students can only choose from my preselected options. This is enough motivation to keep many of my literacy group students in their work for the entire thirty minutes. I even have a few students who choose to return to their reading program after their required time is complete, but the majority of the students need an immediate reward for completing their work.

I have six leveled choice time accounts and assign each student to one account. The first level works on basic matching and sorting through beginning letter recognition. The sixth level works on fourth and fifth-grade literacy skills. Each account has a minimum of six activities so that students can choose what they want to do. I rarely use the top-level because the stories are too long and choice time is only the final five to fifteen minutes of class (depending on how long it takes each student to work a full half-hour on the computer). The work timer pauses whenever the student takes a break, so different students in the same class may earn different amounts of choice time. This has proven to be an effective reward system for most of my academic students.

My group learning how to use the computer does not have choice time, because it is meaningless until students are independent and have academic work to complete. In fact, this group’s most advanced level is also my academic group’s first choice time level. What is work for one student is play for another. I also use that level as a bridge to my more academic software. Once students have mastered “Purple,” they are ready to join the academic group and begin the literacy application that my more advanced students work on the majority of computer class.

Each account is given a color instead of a number or a letter. This reduces any negative feelings or potential bullying when different levels are more clearly stated. Colors work well except for just a few students who want to work on their favorite color’s account instead of their assigned account. With my students, every plan that the teachers implement seems to have a  few students who have difficulty following the procedure.

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Blue Marble University Review

I am delighted that I made the choice to attend Blue Marble University. The education that I engaged in will aid me in carrying out my current and future responsibilities.

I  just finished a personal review of my time as a doctorate student by going back through my private student portal and saving the information that was posted to all of my classes. Sure, as with any technology subject, some of my current skills will probably be obsolete in five years (instructional technology changes rapidly), but I am confident in my ability to learn to use new techniques, software, and hardware to help my current school and all future endeavors.

Blue Marble University was a great fit for me. Is Blue Marble University for everyone? No, some people need fully accredited universities that are physically located in the United States for licenses and other professional requirements. But people who are interested in expanding their skills or who have a general interest in innovative alternative education will benefit from investigating their offerings. Blue Marble University helped me improve how I teach my students.

Click on this sentence for a more detailed discussion of my Doctor of Science in Instructional Technology at Blue Marble Discussion.

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Review: D.Sc. Instructional Design and Technology

I am very pleased with my education at Blue Marble University. The lessons that I learned help me in my current career and may assist me to begin a second career when I retire from teaching. I am delighted that my D.Sc. in Instructional Design and Technology has been evaluated as equivalent to a United States Ed.D. degree by a foreign transcript evaluation company!

This was a successful program for me. I previously earned master’s degrees from two different accredited United States universities and am working under two teaching certifications (special education and instructional technology). I chose a different path for my doctorate. I know people with Ph.D. degrees from prestigious accredited brick-and-mortar United States universities who could not find work in their fields. Nothing is certain in life regardless of our choices, but I am happy that I took a chance on Blue Marble University. I wanted a better balance between practical, theory, and research classes than I felt that I could get at typical American universities.

Thank you, Blue Marble University! I already use much of what I learned with the students and staff in my current job, and anything that helps me to be a better teacher and technology coordinator is a good thing.

I chose Blue Marble University after researching various options. I chose Blue Marble University’s Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in Instructional Design and Technology program after having been accepted into three well-respected (including one quite prestigious) post-graduate (master’s degree required) programs in fully accredited United States universities. I had to drop out of each of these programs because of now-resolved personal issues that needed my time and full attention. Instead of returning to one of my previous universities, I weighed all of my options and chose Blue Marble University, knowing full well that it is not a United States accredited university. I did not dislike the other programs; I just felt that Blue Marble University could also help me to achieve my personal goals. I particularly enjoyed the larger number of project-based courses. The less expensive tuition was a very nice bonus! As I told one of my bosses, I liked Blue Marble University’s balance between educational theory, advanced practical skills, and personal research.

If knowledge and practical skills are what you are after, you can learn them at Blue Marble University. My original idea was to go to a U.S. university then become a college professor, but I know too many out-of-work professors. I decided to take a different path. I love teaching children, and once I decided not to become a professor, I was free to choose an alternative educational path. Blue Marble University will not be for everyone; some jobs and further study opportunities require degrees from fully accredited United States universities. I am very pleased with Blue Marble University and the education that I received. My focus was on learning new skills to help me help my students and my school as a whole.

I am extremely happy with my doctorate program at Blue Marble University. One transcript evaluation clearly states: “JEANNE ELIZABETH STORK holds the U.S. equivalent of a DOCTOR OF EDUCATION IN INSTRUCTIONAL SYSTEM DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY awarded by Regionally Accredited Universities in the United States.” There are foreign degree and transcript evaluators that will give you positive results when evaluating degrees and transcripts from Blue Marble University, but you might have to try several different companies (or you might have success the first time). Some employers and schools only accept evaluations from their own narrow lists of pre-approved foreign transcript evaluation companies, which may or may not give you a positive degree evaluation. Maybe soon more evaluators will see the benefits of alternative educational studies; that would be nice.

I am pleased with my decision and encourage anyone who is considering innovative alternative education to look into Blue Marble University’s Doctor of Science in Instructional Design and Technology. I am also aware that this doctorate may not meet the needs of everyone who is looking for a doctorate program, depending on the requirements of current and future employers. Many employers will accept the foreign transcript evaluators who provided me with positive evaluations but not everyone. My work does not offer a pay increase for having a doctorate degree, so it was not as important for me to attend an accredited university that would be accepted by my current employer. As I previously mentioned, there are no guarantees in life even for graduates of accredited United States brick-and-mortar universities, but I feel prepared for whatever the future may bring.

Blue Marble University was the correct choice for me.

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Research Methodology Part A

Here is Jeanne Stork’s paper for the Research Methodology Part A course. I discussed referencing formats and the scientific process. The reference section of this paper includes links many helpful resources about the American Psychological Association (APA) formatting style. I basically use the APA formatting style, with some changes that were requested by Blue Marble University staff. The link to the paper on Scribd that used to be on this page was removed because that is no longer the preferred version of my paper.

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Website Administrator

I  have been the calendar editor for an environmental organization for the past year, but my responsibilities have grown! As of July 8, 2018, I am now in charge of making additional modifications as they become necessary. I am not the “owner” of the website, so there are some changes that I cannot make because my administrator credentials do not cover everything, but I have access to most of the pages and content. I am eager to help New York City Friends of Clearwater whenever the board members or officers want my help. I do not develop content, rather I take content that the other members have developed, edit it into a web-friendly format, and post it online to their website. I also edit pages when requested to do so by the officers. This is an exciting new step for me and gives me a chance to learn a different form of web development.I do not have the time to be a fully active volunteer, but I have been told that this small volunteer effort is very helpful to the organization and its members.

http://nycfriendsofclearwater.org New York City Friends of Clearwater is a small environmental organization that is affiliated with the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. It is not affiliated or aligned with any political party or group. Although I have been a member, a board member, and held all of the officer positions at various times in the past;  I do not have the time to be a fully active volunteer. I have been told that this small volunteer effort is very helpful to the organization and its members.  I will be putting up more current information and making additional enhancements throughout the next year.

I have also offered to take over my school’s website as part of my technology liaison (technology coordinator) duties, but I have not heard back from the school’s principal.  Our current web developer is extremely capable but very busy so I have offered to help. Quite frankly, I sincerely hope that I am able to take on this task. I have used Microsoft’s now retired FrontPage,  the obsolete Netscape Navigator, an earlier version of Adobe’s Dreamweaver, and what used to be Verizon’s web-building interface. WordPress is my only current web development tool. It is past time that I learn more about additional web design software and online site that are in use in 2018 and beyond. This will add to my abilities to serve my school in my technology liaison position and improve my knowledge for the future.

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Blue Marble University Highlights My Video

I am pleased to announce that Blue Marble University included my video review of some virtual reality goggles in their Educational Technology degree webpage. Click on Educational Technology then scroll down to the bottom of the page. A special thank you goes out to my professors who think so highly of my work! The video may be replaced in the future, as the instructional technology field changes and expands very rapidly, but it is nice to know that my video is currently being featured.

The entire virtual reality project, including the video review, is on my Virtual Reality Exploration page.

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Virtual Worlds One

I have recently studied several tools that can be used to include virtual worlds in instruction. Google VR, Alice, and the former Heritage Key’s King Tut’s Tomb are all included in this paper.

View this document on Scribd

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Crystal Fjord University: Demonstration Website

click on this picture to go to the Crystal Fjord University website. The picture shows a portion of the landing page, including a river cutting through mountains fjord style.

I developed a demonstration website for a demonstration university of my own creation. It shows how WordPress can be effectively used by colleges for everything from admitting students to providing instruction. I also have a Discussion menu item for anyone who wants to learn more about the process that I used in making this site. Click on the above picture to look at my Crystal Fjord University demonstration website. Crystal Fjord University is not a real university; I created the concept for a course that I was taking.
If you need it, the direct link is https://crystalfjord.university.

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Blog Platforms for College Distance Learning

Blogging in college courses is one method of involving students in their education. This report includes information about educational blogging and includes information that I gathered on the WordPress.com, WordPress.org, Edublogs, and CampusPress blogging platforms. Specific details include some of the methods for incorporating quizzes and discussions into blog posts and sites within these platforms. Here is my paper for the Blog Platforms for College Distance Learning course.

The link to the paper on Scribd that used to be on this page was removed because that is no longer the preferred version of my paper.

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My Personal News: MAC, PC, … or BOTH?

I have been thinking about purchasing a Windows-based computer for over a year, ever since one of my professors could not open my mp4 videos embedded in a course creation project. I run a Macintosh lab but many of the teachers in my school have both MACs and PCs. The problem is that between teaching computer classes, data collecting, report writing, technical responsibilities, (well, you get the picture); I do not have the time to work on any additional projects at work — including making sure that content I create on my MacBook Pro runs just as well in a Windows environment.

I finally bought a laptop that runs Windows because I want to make sure that anything that I post can be opened on both Windows and Macintosh computers. I did not buy the current 2018 Intel i7 processor, nor did I purchase the maximum available RAM or fastest processor, but I did follow the sales for a few weeks and grabbed one that was $400 off. We have a holiday in a few weeks so prices may drop even more, but some of last year’s models are already selling out, and I did not want to risk missing out on a good deal. Now, I have to teach myself Windows 10 because the PCs at work are still running Windows 7 or 8. There are definitely cheaper ways to test content on Windows, including creating a Windows partition on my 4 1/2-year-old MAC, that already has an almost full hard drive, but these solutions would not work for me.

As a bonus, when teachers do upgrade to Windows 10, I’ll be ready to help them.

This weekend’s task, set up the new laptop and make sure that everything is running well before the return/exchange period ends.

A Year Later: As it turns out, my Mac had nothing to do with the site improperly posting my videos … that site finally admitted to problems and was taken down. For most people, PC or Mac is a matter of personal preference. For me, knowing both types of computers helps me with my work.

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Screen Readers and Capital Letter Abbreviations

One type of abbreviation that screenreaders struggle with is initialisms such as USA or CEO. My work requires that all websites be accessible to people who speak one of ten languages common in my city and to people with disabilities who use screenreaders and other assistive technology devices. One difficulty that can occur is how to handle abbreviations. It is often inconvenient to write out everything, but web developers do not want people to hear USA as the word “usa.” This would cause the reader to have to momentarily stop and think about the words (or even to adjust the screen reader’s settings) instead of focusing solely on the content or message of the passage. Using dots or spaces may help … sometimes, but that can interfere with other assistive technologies. I have neither read of nor heard about a perfect solution; I just wanted to point out one issue that has been discussed recently in the assistive technology and website design fields.