Communication and Collaboration Project - Floor Plan

I have created a floor plan for a Speech Therapy office. This is how I picture my office and how I would set it up according to my priorities as well as how I think a patient or student might learn most efficiently. I have put a desk in the top left corner of the room for the Speech Therapist to do individual work. In the middle of the room, I have put a circular table with three chairs. If I were working here and had a group of students rather than just one, this method could be useful in letting them collaborate with each other. This may be carried out through things like practicing certain exercises together or working on projects as a group. This will place them in a quiet setting where coordinating is easier, as well as a place where they can integrate technology into their work. In the bottom right corner of the room is a desk with a computer and printer. At this desk, a therapist can work with his or her student on the computer. This may involve using helpful computer games, word documents, sound recordings, or listening to correct examples of various words and sounds. In the top right corner of the room is a bookshelf with books on it; these could be books students can read aloud to help them better understand and practice. In front of it is a desk with four chairs. If the therapist were working with a group, they could sit here as well and read aloud together, bettering their collaboration skills and managing their resources. In the bottom left corner, there is a long chair that the student or patient can lay or sit on so that they may comfortably work on verbal exercises with the therapist—much like a Psychiatrist might have in his or her office. Overall, I have created the room setting so that the students can easily engage with not only each other if there were a group, but also with the therapist. Setting is a very key aspect of learning, and it is important to understand how to make a room so that students can work to the best of their abilities and can positively interact with one another. 

20% Proj. 6 Blog Reflections: Number 2

           In my 20% Project, I want to address various learning issues, methods, and skills that are benefitted from the use of technology in the Speech Therapy field. Specifically, I am focusing on the use of the iPad and iPod devices. These devices have numerous apps on them that have proven to be extremely helpful to both the Speech Therapist and the student or patient. In my research so far, I have found countless games and methods on the iPad. These apps not only give the student the chance to interact more efficiently with the therapist, but they also let him or her become more comfortable with improvement. With the use of the iPad in this setting, there will be improved communication, motivation to do well and practice, and a better method of collaborating, maybe giving the student more patience in working. These apps help both people involved. Essentially anybody can benefit from having the knowledge about these apps, but especially teachers or other educators. As we have learned, technology is a resource that engages students and encourages them to learn. With the use of these apps, students can have another tool for learning, but main focus will be on exercises provided by the Speech Therapist. Apps such as “Speak It,” “Dyslexic Like Me”, and “Prizmo” are reading and writing apps that can help any type of student, not just those struggling with speech-related issues. They help teach the fundamentals of reading, writing, and spelling to any young learner, so they may help children in elementary and middle school, as well.

"Is School Enough?" Video Reflection

20% Proj. 6 Blog Reflections: Number 1

           I feel as though my topic is a little broad, but I can work with it and narrow it down to more specific categories within the topic. It is a very interesting topic to me because I did not know apps could be used for speech therapy, but there seems to be an app for everything! I can modify my topic of technology such as the iPad in Speech Therapy by focusing on certain apps, such as the ones my group posted to our Pinterest Board earlier in the semester. I can divide my topic into smaller sections. I can even include personal experiences and stories from online about success in the Speech Therapy field with various apps from the iPad and iPod. I can address questions such as which apps to use, which apps have the best success rate, and what do people of different ages recommend? I think people will be surprised by the usefulness of this technology in this specific field of work. Different issues, such as lisps for example, can be helped with different apps or methods. Not only does the iPad provide beneficial apps, but it may also provide a source of information and research for the Speech Therapist. There are apps that help the students and patients, but there are also apps that help the therapists themselves. This way, both can receive advantages from the iPad technology. Though this topic is a rather broad one, I can go into depth about the certain apps and how exactly they function to help the speech issues.

Horizon Report Reflection

I do agree with the trends listed in the report. Trends such as the first one mentioned (Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning, and collaborative models) are ones that I see myself through first hand experience. With a private school education my whole life, I have seen various technologies in the classroom setting, including emphasis on online learning techniques. I had a class solely for learning how to work and navigate computers and perform correct research. In this class, we went on multiple websites that helped us with what we were currently learning, whether it was spelling, math, or religion, there were websites that would give us quizzes or chapter summaries to help us better understand. We also used websites such as Quizlet, where you can make flashcards and study them; you can also study sets that other people have made. Another trend mentioned learning through social media, which I have seen as well. It stated that social media helps people better interact, and it engages students in current events and media.

These new technology trends have and will influence my personal learning in several ways. Techniques such as BYOD have impacted me already. In middle school, we would go to detention if we had our phones out. In high school, as iPhones were becoming more popular, some teachers allowed us to take them out to look facts up. In my religion class senior year, we used them to take weekly quizzes; this involved us going to a certain link, entering our name, and submitting answers via this website. This is like the idea of the clicker used here at UGA. This is seen especially in schools with limited funding where the cost of technology is increasingly dramatically. Personally, out of all technologies I have found the i-devices so helpful. On an iPad I can take notes in class and easily look something up. Moreover, it has apps that will help me as a speech therapist.

One of the challenges mentioned is pressure placed on teachers to incorporate emerging technologies and new media in their classrooms and curriculum. I believe this is a significant challenge that teachers have to face and overcome. Diminishing teacher authority is something I have thought about. In the future, when I want to use technology to teach effectively I will, but if I feel as though it is taking away my authority I will stop. In speech therapy, there is a large emphasis on the use of technology, but this can easily be replaced by manual methods. Another challenge is that technology may not be fit to each student’s needs. This issue may be resolved if there is not such a huge pressure to have the correct certain technology and more pressure to do things the old fashioned way. Overall, technology has taken control of our lives. It has impacted us positively and negatively. We must try to find equilibrium between doing tasks with technology and without it.

This is a picture of a speech therapist using technology to help her patient. 

This is a picture I took in class of the books we needed to get for the class. I took this with my iPhone of a projector with an image from a computer. This just shows the integration of technology in the classroom setting.