Post #7

Adaptive technologies are technologies that better assist individuals with disabilities using computing devices. Alternate output and input technology can help these individuals use computing devices more effectively by using magnified monitor screens, brail printers, voice recognition for typing, and joysticks instead of a mouse just to name a few.
Students with learning disabilities can use computer based organizers or spell checkers for students with dyslexia. It is important to note that adaptive based technologies must be assigned based on the students needs.
This can be a challenge when implementing adaptive technology  in the classroom because there is a plethora of adaptive technology that can be used but there are specific technologies that will be most effective for a particular student and their particular needs.
An interesting Adaptive technology that was mentioned in chapter 4 is word prediction software. When learning about adaptive technologies, word prediction software never came to mind as an example of technology used for students with special needs, because it is a common feature on cellphones that myself and millions of others use everyday.
When typing, the word prediction software guesses what word will come next in the sentence you are creating to minimize keystrokes and help with spelling.
A really cool feature mentioned in chapter 4 is custom dictionaries."Using custom dictionaries helps to predict vocabulary specific to a particular writing activity or subject. For example, i a student is writing a paper on dinosaurs, a custom dictionary can be set up that includes words such as riassac, Early Cretaceous, Plateosaurus, Coelophysis, and Scutellosaurus"(Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 2015, p.69). 

Some new skills that I acquired from designing my own webpage is embedding a Google calendar. Before this assignment I have never used Google calendar before and I learned about some neat features such as separating new calendars from my personal calendar, changing the color of the calendar and adding borders. What I liked about this assignment was that is was a challenge. This assignment truly took me out of my element, especially when designing a website from scratch. In the future I could enhance my design my taking my own photos and uploading them to the website to make the website more personable. What I learned during this assignment that I could use in the future is creating a web design in general. I believe that I could make web pages in the future to connect with students on a Higher Education level.

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