Blog Post #7

Twitter

Using Twitter in an educational and professional setting has definitely been a different experience. I've used Twitter for a class before, but we only had to tweet about our weekly readings instead of interacting with others and finding more resources. For this class, I have learned more about how hard it can be to create your PLN, especially in a specific field like education. For some, it may easier to find different hashtags and accounts that are relevant to you, but it has been a little more difficult for me. I haven't experience any issues, it's just hard to come up with content, especially when we are forced to have a certain number of tweets. 

Web Design

I have not necessarily acquired any new skills from the Web Design assignment, I already knew how to build a website from a template, like Weebly. I don't like that there is not much creative freedom and that you must choose from a template to help guide you. While that is helpful for the beginning, it is harder to had a more stand-out website when there are only a select few to choose from. For next time, I think I would play more with image overlaying and different sizes of fonts so that it would vary the appearance of my website. I will definitely be using a website for my future career because I want to go into Communications and Media for a theater company. By displaying my portfolio on a website, it would be very helpful for potential employers to see what kind of work I can do.

Here's a link to my website: https://joshs5thgradeclass.weebly.com/

There's a screenshot of my website below!

Assistive and Adaptive Technology

When researching for assistive and adaptive technologies, I found that Text to Speech and Speech to Text technologies are especially helpful for learners with special needs. When a student has blindness, dyslexia, autism, or ADHD, the Text to Speech technology translates written text to audio speech, so that the student can hear it. On the opposite hand, if a student has trouble with motor skills, they can simply speak into the Speech to Text technology and see the words translated into print. I believe both of these would be an extreme assistance in the classroom.