Types of Assistive Technology Products. Assistive technology products are designed to provide additional accessibility to individuals who have physical or cognitive difficulties, impairments, and disabilities. When selecting assistive technology products, it is crucial to find products that are compatible with the computer operating system and programs on the particular computer being used.
Below are descriptions of the various types of assistive technology products that are currently available on the market today. You may also want to use a tool to identify the right type of assistive technology that might be useful. Alternative input devices allow individuals to control their computers through means other than a standard keyboard or pointing device.
Alternative keyboards—featuring larger- or smaller-than-standard keys or keyboards, alternative key configurations, and keyboards for use with one hand. Braille embossers transfer computer generated text into embossed Braille output. Dpi.wi.gov/sped/pdf/at-wati-resource-guide.pdf. Lesson 11: The Computer as the Teacher’s Tool. In the previous lesson, we saw how the computer can act as a tutor, particularly along a behaviorist and cognitive approach to learning. But we also saw how certain computer software programs have been developed to foster higher thinking skills and creativity. In this lesson, we shall again look at the computer, but this time from another perspective, the computer as the teacher’s handy-tool. It can in fact support the constructivist and social constructivist paradigms of constructivist learning. Constructivist was introduced by Piaget (1981) and Bruner (1990).
While knowledge is constructed by the individual learner in constructivism, knowledge can also be socially constructed. The psychologist Vygotsky stressed that learning is affected by social influences. The Computer’s Capabilities Based on the two learning theories, the teacher can employ the computer as a/an: · As an information tool · A communication tool · A constructive tool · As co-constructive tool · A situating tool Situating Tool. Which computational tool should we teach? | Think like a physicist… Computation is fast becoming the third pillar of modern science and engineering. Our students will need to learn to use computational modeling to become versatile problem solvers and expert modelers. I’ve discussed this a bit and some (including me) are starting to think about ways to include computational modeling in physics courses. Later today, our group is starting a series of discussions about frameworks, learning goals and possible environment for computational instruction in our physics major sequence.
While frameworks and learning goals are somewhat independent of environment, selecting a particular computational environment sets up a number of logistical challenges. Instructional resources for students and faculty are environment dependent. Exercises developed for these courses might be limited by the chosen environment. Our students have told us they want us to teach them an easy to use, well-documented, flexible, powerful, professional environment. Mathematica An aside Python.