Chang's EDT 626 Reflective Blog

In the past two weeks, we explored the challenges learners with disabilities face, and discussed ways to accommodate those learners with the integration of assistive technology. Upon hearing this topic, the first thing came into my mind was the recent pass of Stephen Hawking. Suffered from that kind of serious disease, lost most of his normal physical functionalities, Hawking still created tons of stunning work that made him a giant. And that had a great contribution from his assistive technology- the wheelchair, the input device, the muscle movement sensor... The first week of this unit I was very intrigued to solve the the puzzle where multiple challenges a teacher faces in the classroom. There were students with vision impairment, hearing impairment, mobility impairment, language barriers and learning difficulties. That's what educators need to put into consideration when having students with special needs. I enjoyed exploring and brainstorming solutions for each learner...

In the past few weeks, we discussed the technology integration in classroom assessments. For me, the most important thing to apply technology in the classroom is how it supports learning effectiveness in the way that it increases student engagement, diversify hands-on activities, broadens the options for educational resources, time and space is no longer limited, and collects prompt data to assist teachers make guidance for their learners. Least time is spent to achieve the best learning outcome. I have always been a fan to explore technology tools and utilize them in designing instructions because it is unconventional, and a great way to engage students (also engage myself) and make the most use of different resources available for the content knowledge. If I want to show students what Chinese people do on Chinese holidays, instead of just lecture, I could also utilize technology to demonstrate online videos and other resource to make it real. Thanks to technology, they are also ...