Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Accessible Instructional Material
I did not know much about AIM for Digital Equity before reading today's assignment. I learned that AIM stands for Accessible Instructional Material. I also learned that education is moving toward a classroom that has more and more digital textbooks. I never really considered that students would be reading their textbooks from a tablet or computer and I consider myself aware of what is happening with technology. I am not really against the idea but I wonder if doing this will have long term effects to students vision and health. As a person that is nearsighted I am very much aware of the difficulties students can have reading material. This is why I think its important that students with print related disabilities have access to digital material. Blind students should have access to material with braille but also digital material that will read the text for them. There are various online programs that will convert text to audio for the blind or for those that have difficulty reading. Online material should also be available so that students can enlarge text when that can be helpful. I will aim for digital equity by using school purchased material, free resources, and sometimes making my own material. I think often the teacher will have to find free resources or create their own digital content. When the reading material is only available in print I will scan it and make it available online for a online program to read it for them. There are many other ways to help students with print related disabilities and these are just some ideas to ensure digital equity in the classroom.
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You made a valid point and I think that this is something that seriously needs to be considered. Will this movement toward more technology ultimately harm our students health? I know that from personal experience, the longer I stare at a computer screen the more my eyes strain. However, I believe that all educators are responsible for student success and if it means that we need to provide larger screens or machines that read text out loud then we need to do just that.
ReplyDeleteI too was not very aware of “digital equity” before this article. It was interesting to read about all we can do to improve the students learning process. I have used digital textbooks before and I am a big fan of them because you can personalize everything you read. It is easy to highlight and create notes off of the textbook for you to later review and remember if studying for a test. But, as you mentioned, it is very straining to the eyes. I have worked in front of a computer for a few years now as well as been on one in my additional time for school/ personal use. I realize the impact it is making on my vision so I also wonder how this will influence student’s health. I wonder if tablets will soon be created that are not as harsh on the eyes somewhat similar to the kindle paper white. It is important that we support digital equity as it is beneficial to all students creating an equal learning environment.
ReplyDeleteI have never really considered eye-strain or other forms of discomfort caused by technology! I definitely feel strain after staring at a screen for a few hours. I will be sure to consider this in my classrooms when using technology.
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