May 2

This week’s class began with two excellent presentations.  We were given a solid description of the challenges students face and were shown a number of interesting apps.  I am always impressed by the presentations my fellow M.Ed. students are able to create.

I learned a number of interesting and valuable things during this class.  When having students work with iPad apps and other assistive technologies, it is important to have a preferred activity to do afterward in order to ease the transition away from the iPad.  One of the presenters referenced the distinction between the technology being a tool as opposed to being a toy.  Learning should involve fun, but fun has to involve learning.

I also found it interesting to hear about how students on the Autism spectrum sometimes relate better to virtual reality than actual reality.  This makes sense because my wife has a cousin with Autism and he really enjoys little videos on DVD or his iPad and is much more interactive with them then he is with other people.  It is too bad that this type of interaction does not always transfer to real life.