Have you heard about the SMART Amp technology? If not, then you need to know that this technology was used by students with special needs from various corners of world, including Germany, South Africa, USA, Finland, and Sweden, to introduce themselves and their school. Isn’t it amazing! Basically, it served as a platform to collaborate online and teach local culture, traditions, and events. This has led to an extended online global collaboration, known as the SMARTee Project.
Now that you are aware of the technology’s existence in the world of special education, let’s explore some extraordinary ways to implement the same in your teaching schedule:
Making Cultures Meet:
This is simply an awesome way to make students share their work with others. For example, the Owens’ students taught the other classes about the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. There are many students in Owens’ class with learning disabilities and other special needs like autism. It was the use of the pictures and other visuals, not the usual written or spoken language which made them have a better understanding. Saying that this eliminates the communication differences which often create barriers in interaction will not be wrong. Also, it will actually facilitate communication with the non-English-speaking students, as it communicates through pictures. Basically, the goal of the SMARTee project is to make pupils understand their own differences and similarities, altogether.
Helping with Learning:
You will understand better with an example. Working as a curriculum coach for his district, Michael Soskil collaborated with special and general education teachers in order to proffer exceptional learning experiences for the students. In his online learning classes, he made both, special and general education students participate in a musical exchange project. It was to be done with a group of children in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. The results were astounding.
The students of Soskil’s began a video exchange project, showing their personal interest in the students in Kibera. Now the Kenyan students would record videos, making American students learn some Swahili, and American students in return taught the Kenyan students some math concepts using recorded videos. While Kenyan’s benefitted from the math coaching, the Soskil’s students learned about the water crisis of Kenya. This made them organize a campaign to help get clean drinking water, which was done in collaboration with students in Kansas and Greece. Isn’t that amazing!
Boosting Leadership Skills:
You might be surprised to known that at Park Avenue School in Orange, NJ, the grade 6 and 7 students (special needs) led a recycling project. And all thanks to Skype! In this case, numerous students working on the recycling project first learned about the different type of materials which can be recycled, and then also about how the recycling process works.
To start with, they learned about the organization’s Shoebox Recycling program. It involves the collection of used shoes for shipment to third-world countries. For this, students decided to contribute by collecting from the school and community. And in return, the Community Recycling pays the school a small amount per pound collected.
The best thing here is that students with severe or multiple disabilities, the ones who struggle with verbal communication or face-to-face socialization, can now use technology to connect with other kids around the world. They feel more engaged and are getting better in the learning process. This online environment has brought a new ray of hope!
This post is made by Apixel IT Support – and I.T Service Company with over 5 years of experience in asset management. Through its consultancy service in Singapore, it has helped a number of organizations to update their asset management and integrate it with sophisticated I.T Support.