Monday, October 11, 2010

SMARTTable Activities from the SMARTClassroom YouTube Channel


SMARTTable at Wolfe School

Below are links to a variety of videos from the SMARTClassroom YouTube Channel that demonstrate new SMARTTable lessons. 

If you are interested in getting more in-depth SMARTTable training, you can register for certification events via the SMART Learning Center.  

3:11
SMART Table Introduction
356 views - 1 week ago
1:59
SMART Table Activity - Short Vowels
157 views - 2 weeks ago
2:19
SMART Table Activity - Farm
71 views - 2 weeks ago

Posted by Lynn Marentette at 8:50 AM 0 comments
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Saturday, October 02, 2010

UPDATE: TRUESCORES blog post: Trends in Alternative Assessments (with links and resources about/for the "2-percent" group)

I recently discovered an interesting post, Trends in Alternative Assessments, written by Natasha J. Williams, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Psychometric and Research Services at Pearson. The post was published in the TRUESCORES blog, and raises some very good points regarding the assessment of students who are assessed using the "2 % test", a term used in educational circles that describes alternative assessments that are given to students who have cognitive disabilities. One of the goals behind this is to measure AYP (adequate yearly progress.) for this group of students.

At the high school level in my state, North Carolina, the "2-percent test" refers to the OCS Extend 2 exam. Many of the students within this category are classified as Intellectually Disabled, Mild,  and function cognitively  below the 3rd percentile for their age -  at or below two standard deviations from the mean.  The OCS Extend 2 exams were recently eliminated in North Carolina.  Current 9th grade students in the OCS program will be required to take Algebra I, Biology, and English 9 exams at the end of the 10th grade.  A cohort of students will take these exams at the end of the current school year. 

How will these changes impact they way we conceptualize and measure transition outcomes for these students?  In the US, in many high school,  students who receive special education services have a much higher drop-out rate when compared with their peers.   We haven't solved this problem!   Those within the "2 percent" range need a high degree of support to develop the skills needed join the workforce and participate more independently within the community.

Here are some quotes from the  blog.  I encourage you to read the original post!

"There are differences in opinion about how students should be performing on the 2% test. If students perform poorly is that to be expected because they shouldn’t be able to perform well on grade level material or does that indicate that the test has not been modified enough for these students to be able to show what they know? If students perform well on the assessment does that mean that the modifications have been done well or that the wrong students are taking the test? We would like to think that the intent of the legislation was for states to develop a test that assesses grade-level content in such a way that students could be successful. Even so, we have heard the argument that if students taking the 2% test are not doing well they are still performing better than they would have if they had taken the general test."


"Growth models for both the 1% and 2% assessments are also being developed. Again, the type of growth expected from the students taking these assessments is questionable, especially for the 1%. The question is how to capture the types of growth these students do show. Models are being implemented now, and we are curious to see what the evaluation of these models will show. Are we able to capture growth for these students?"


One of my concerns is that no-one is exactly sure how to appropriately measure AYP for students with cognitive disabilities:

The No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Act: A Progress Report (2007)
Scott Swail, Educational Policy Institute, Betsy Brand, American Youth Policy Forum  (National Council on Disabilities).
This 2007 progress reports includes a discussion about  issues related to the assessment of students with disabilities who fall within the lowest 1% and 2% of the population.

"Most interviewees voiced these two concerns: first, education policy needs to recognize that some students will need more time to meet grade-level proficiency standards, and second, we are too bound by the traditional structure of education and the requirement to complete high school in four years."  Recommendations begin on page 97.

Additional reading:
NCLB and Special Populations, Selected Readings (Pearson)
NASSP President Testifies Before Congress (2007)


RELATED READING AND RESOURCES
Although some of the resources below focus on K-8 students, they may be appropriate for assisting high school students with cognitive disabilities:


Universal Design for Learning Guidelines
Video Series:  Universal Design for Learning
On-line Planning for All Learners Template
National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials
CAST: Center for Applied Special Technology
Curriculum Access for Students with Low-Incidence Disabilities pdf (Richard Jackson, National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum
Developing Effective Fractions Instruction for K-8 Students pdf
IES Practice Guide, What Works Clearinghouse
National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities
Special Education Resources, Grades 7-12
What Works Transition Research Synthesis
Evidence-Based Secondary Transition Practices
Resources for Implementing Evidence-Based Interventions Across Transition-Related Indicators
Transition Assessment Toolkit
Predictors of Post-School Success







Posted by Lynn Marentette at 8:21 PM 2 comments
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Chid-Computer Interaction: A Featured Community at the Upcoming CHI 2011 Conference



During CHI 2010, I signed up for the  "Designing for the iChild" course.  In one afternoon, I learned more than I had expected, especially the technique called "Layered Elaboration", a collaborative design strategy that involves inter-generational teams of children and adults.  One of the leaders of this course was Allison Druin, Associate Professor and director of theHuman-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland.  Dr. Druin's focus is in the area of child-computer interaction and how children can be meaningfully involved as partners in the design process.  

The quote below, found on the HCIL Children as Design Partners website, explains why this is so important:

"We have a chance to change technology, but more importantly we have a chance to change the life of a child. Every time a new technology enables a child to do something they never dreamed of, there are new possibilities for the future."  -Allison Druin

In my work as a school psychologist, I use technology with students quite often, especially when I'm at Wolfe, a program for students who have more complex disabilities, including severe autism.  I have been fortunate to have a new SMARTBoard at my fingertips, and access to the school's SMARTtable.  I learn from my students every day.

I believe that we are only at the "tip of the iceberg" with this sort of technology- and related applications such as the iPad and similar devices.   In my experience, well designed technologies and applications can open up a meaningful window to the world for children, teens, and others with disabilities.

Most of the information below was taking from the CHI 2011 conference website:

About the Child-Computer Interaction (CCI) community:
"At CHI, the CCI community will want to attract papers and contributions that represent real advances in the understanding of, or development and refinement of methods for, child computer interaction. It will also seek to unearth groundbreaking innovations addressing the needs, capabilities and preferences of children that have the potential to become reference works for developments in this field."

"By its very nature, The CCI community will have to be divergent in its thinking at CHI; it must also be about two of the mainstream CHI communities – engineering and design, but will potentially also be concerned with many of the communities of technologies (Smart devices, surfaces, mobile), of experiences (Play, Learning, Communication) and of methods (participatory design, evaluation)." ....
"Child Computer Interaction is a new community for CHI. It is a place for contributions where a method or a design is proposed that is especially suited to children and that could not sensibly be easily adapted for adults.  
We are keen to have contributions to all the usual CHI tracks but are also offering four special tracks for our own extra special community. These are:

• Child Partnership Projects (CPP): A design competition for teams that include children.
• Participatory Papers: Scholarly publications that are disseminated for children readers. (i.e. written in a different way)
• Lessons from the Trenches: Targeting industrial cases and experiences. A lively venue where experiences can be exchanged, and researchers can be exposed to the realities of industrial practice in this domain.
• Theatre pieces: High quality video contributions, available in a library after the conference, of methods that can be re used and learned from."

Child-Computer Interaction Chairs:
Janet C. Read
University of Central Lancashire
Panos Markopoulos
Eindhoven University of Techology
Allison Druin
University of Maryland
childcomputerinteraction@chi2010

RELATED
Walsh, G., Druin, A., Guha, ML, Foss, B., Golub, E., Hatley, L (2009)  [PDF] Layered Elaboration: A New Technique for Co-Design with Children.  ACM CHI 2009 

Last year, I attended CHI 2010 and participated in a workshop about the next generation of HCI and education.  It was a wonderful opportunity to share ideas with people from all over the world who are interested in emerging technologies, kids, and education.  I plan to attend CHI 2011 in Vancouver, Canada next May 7-11, and even though the conference is months away, I can barely wait.  The good news it that the Child-Computer Interaction community will have an important presence at the 2011 ACM CHI conference.  I wanted to share a little bit about this development on this blog. 
Note: This was also posted on the Interactie Multimedia Technology blog.

Posted by Lynn Marentette at 12:23 AM 0 comments
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