Today we spent the first part of the morning reviewing how to use Proloquo2go on the iPods. At first I fumbled along and felt rather frustrated trying to remember all of the steps that were required. However, as I persisted through the activity with my partner, the process became easier and quite enjoyable in fact. Towards the end of class I became so adept at creating additions that I did not even have to think about the process or search for buttons. I found my thumbs were going places without even thinking about it!
Jennifer and I worked on the "Home" category for our group project. We had a lot of discussions on each aspect of the task. What would "Sally" need to do at home? What phrases would she most likely want to say? How much is enough? How much is too much? In the end we decided to keep it simple and have three or four choices within each subtext. This way, as "Sally" learns how to use this piece of dynamic equipment, she is not overwhelmed with options.
And speaking of options, you could spend a little too much time playing with the program. What colours, sounds (voice), symbols, etc. should we use? You could get lost in making choices and reviewing options!
As I was working through the task I was wondering how one works with a student in a meaningful context using a dynamic assistive device. Obviously, one needs to be trained in its use, but I'm thinking more in the vein of best practice and the pragmatics of designing tasks to help a student develop with the use of technology. What I would really like to do is be a fly on the wall and watch a student being given opportunities to use the technology to help them achieve a specific goal. Perhaps next year I will be able to partner up with a teacher and visit their classroom to see this in action?
While I was searching for uses of the iPod I came across some nifty sites which are as follows:
http://learninginhand.com/ipod-lesson-plans/
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