SMART Board: A Glorified Projector?

Many classrooms are now equipped with SMART Boards. Used to its fullest potential, the SMART Board can be used as both an instructional tool and an adaptive technology tool. Lessons can be created that are adapted to fit the learning and accessibility needs of many learners. However, there are many accessibility issues that remain unresolved. The SMART Board is primarily manipulated by touch, but for students with physical disabilities the interactive feature that is the highlight of the white board may not be accessible. A solution may be making the SMART Board compatible with a laser pointer mounted to a student's glasses. Many AAC devices use a laser pointer and it seems relatively easy to incorporate this technology to make the SMART Board more accessible. 
I spoke to a first year teacher who has a SMART Board in her classroom. I asked her if she had any formal training and what her experience has been thus far. She replied, "It's basically a glorified projector." She expressed difficulty in using it for anything more than displaying texts and PowerPoints. She has not been provided with any training by the school. Educators provided with this amazing tool should be provided with professional development training on how to use it to its full potential. Teachers with very busy schedules may not have time outside of school to access the many tutorials provided online. Trainings should be part of the normal hours of the school day or part of summer orientations. 

Web Tools

Little Bird Tales is wonderful for the classroom I am currently student teaching in. Currently, none of my students can read a book. They have autism and intellectual disabilities. They all love to use the computer as a reward to completing their work. Their favorite characters are Dora the Explorer, Elmo, and Blues Clues. I think it would be wonderful if my head teacher recorded different books with the students’ favorite characters in her own voice. The website is easy to navigate, and I think my students would love it. For typically developing students, a teacher could ask the students to create and record their own stories as a literacy project. I would definitely use this tool in my future classroom with typical learners or students with disabilities.

Diigo is an amazing tool that I decided to sign up for. Many of our readings and assignments in graduate school are online, and I alternate between using my laptop and iPad. Diigo uses the cloud, so any pages I bookmark, highlight, or take notes on will be available on my laptop and iPad. I usually print online readings so that I can highlight and annotate them, but with Diigo I can do all of this on my devices. It will definitely save me time and money. I think this is a great tool for older students who do a lot of online reading or research.

Prezi is my favorite tool as a soon to be teacher. I’ve sat through and created so many of your ordinary boring PowerPoint presentations. Prezi certainly captures an audience’s attention from the start of the presentation. Our eyes are naturally drawn to movement, color, and unique designs. With Prezi, just watching the presentation progress is entertaining and interesting. I will definitely use it to spice up my own presentations.

I also really enjoyed exploring Stixy. It would be a great tool for managing your own research and also collaborating with others. My only concern is that the page would get too crowded too easily.

I have not seen or used any of these tools in a classroom, but if I were to teach older students who have more advanced technology skills and large projects, I would use VoiceThread, Prezi, Stixy, or Titanpad. I would use Little Bird Tales for younger students. 

BookShare

BookShare is an incredible resource for students with print disabilities. Their mission statement begins, "People with print disabilities deserve to enjoy reading as much as all other readers." What about readers with disabilities other than print whose reading abilities are affected? They deserve to enjoy reading as well. BookShare lists 20 major donors on their website. I know that they have the ability to make their technology accessible to an even larger range of students. Their technology could be a huge asset to students with autism. Many of the students I am currently student teaching with cannot read, however, they enjoy being read to. Their receptive language is often significantly better than their verbal abilities. These students could really benefit from access to BookShare. 
As for those with print disabilities, are there potential accessibility issues in using BookShare? From what I can tell, BookShare is incredibly accessible. Mobile versions are available for both Apple and Android. It is compatible with Kurzweil and other scan and read technologies. It can also be converted to a braille format. Although I have not been able to explore the fine details without access to BookShare, the developers seem to have addressed potential accessibility issues.