web conferencing programs

This week I chose to focus on web conferencing programs that allow users to communicate live even at great distances.  This is something I really want to try to incorporate into one of my classes this year and have brought up with others at my school as a potential tool (though I would have to get administrative permission).  These programs appeal to me because teachers can set up virtual classroom discussions while incorporating multimedia elements.  In addition, you can set up meetings with other teachers and staff or allow others to participate in meetings with permission.  (I actually signed up for a trial of one program and created a virtual meeting room which I invited family and friends to.  It was very neat getting to talk to relatives out of state and getting to catch up with them.)  

It also has a lot of potential for the classroom environment.  It could be used both in class or as an extension outside of school.  It could potentially allow students to experience and explore topics in-depth.  One great feature of the program I looked at was that the program allowed students to see the presenter and presentation, while being able to take notes and ask questions through a live chat feature.  Here is a screenshot of the meeting room I set up, showing how the browser window is organized into several clear and easy to use sections. 

Another great feature of these programs is that students can potentially connect with experts in the fields they are studying.  As long as it is prearranged by the teacher they could communicate with anyone in the world.  Also students could benefit by learning more about different cultures and interacting with individuals of all different backgrounds and nationalities.  Finally, these programs could benefit teachers by allowing them to communicate with other educators and professionals in the field to collaborate and share ideas.  It can also allow staff to hold meetings, collaborate on documents, and create projects for students that span the curriculum. 

Here is the link to the trial software I used as well as some others if you want to check them out

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/adobeconnect/index.cfm?event=trial

http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings/ (FREE!)

http://www.anymeeting.com/ (free but limited to 6 people at a time)

http://tomuse.com/top-10-free-web-conference-services/ (this site provides a list of the top 10 free web conferencing software)

Text-To-Speech Software

After this week’s readings regarding assistive technology to benefit special education students I decided I wanted to dig a bit further and find some resources to use with my own students.  This year I am working with a number of students who struggle with reading and writing specifically so I started looking into some of the speech-to-text and text-to-speech software programs available to see if any of them would be feasible to use with my students.  Currently I am primarily working in science classrooms and I have 5, 7^th grade science classes a day plus one reading and one English class. In those 5 science classes alone I have 15 students with IEPs that require text be read to them (either in its entirety or selected portions) and 12 students with scribe.  This can make for some very interesting classes because I can’t be everywhere at once and there isn’t always time to get to everyone.  I thought it would be great if I could convince the school and/or teachers to employ some of these technologies to help better assist these students.  So with this in mind I set out to find some (reasonably priced) software my kids could use. 

What I discovered amazed me there are actually a few free software downloads available.  Of the ones I tried out the NaturalReader seems to be the best and has downloads available for both Mac and PC, also it only took me about 5 minutes to install it and start using!  Here is the website if you want to check it out http://www.naturalreaders.com/index.htm.  One of the best features of this software I discovered it that you can easily slow down or speed up the text.  In addition it has what they call a “floating bar” which won’t block the rest of the screen but allows the reader to move between programs.  All the user has to do is click on a program highlight the text they want read aloud and click the play button on the toolbar.  It was amazing I played with it for a while!  The voice isn’t perfect but it could allow some of my students to be more independent while still getting the help they need. Which is a big deal at the middle school level when reputation is everything and some students don’t want to look like they are getting extra attention from the teacher.  

I can’t wait to see if it would be possible to use this with some of my students and I will definitely post an update here sometime next week letting you all know how it went.