[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Aileen,

Welcome to the course! Thank you for your post. Very often, the use of digital technologies can be a game changer for children with literacy difficulties. It offers them an alternative route to accessing content. When used correctly, it can greatly enhance their attainment of learning intentions, and allow them to maintain ace with their peers. ‘Voice typing’ is a feature that is available in Google Docs and will convert oral speech to text with reasonable accuracy. ‘Talk and Comment’ is a Chrome extension that allows children to orally record themselves and embed the recording into a Doc, Slideshow, Sheet, etc.

Jamboard is a brilliant tool – it can be really useful for children with additional needs in an SET setting or whole-class setting. I have used it whole-class for language activities, and you can see children grow in confidence when other responses are added. For example, as Gaeilge they may see that all sentences are structured the same and they just have to use an online dictionary to search for one word to change the description of an animal, for example.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Diarmuid,

Thank you for your post and for outlining the primary 21st century skills outlined in the attached article. Reflective practice is central to our work as teachers – we must be able to use reflection both during our practice and afterwards. This allows us to improve our instruction to better meet the needs of our learners. While this is a crucial skill for educators, it is also important to develop it with our pupils, as it is a skill required in almost all workplaces. It is something that I would see as a challenge for many students who would rarely edit or reflect upon their work. The use of Forms could be very effective – another tool that may be useful is a rubric. Children could potentially grade their own work / a peer’s work against a rubric and then attempt to improve it to move to the next level of the success criteria.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Annmarie,

Thank you for your post and for sharing your Sway with us. It is certainly fair to say that digital technologies have become interwoven into the fabric of teaching, learning and assessment. For many teachers, it is now a staple methodology that they couldn’t do without. There are so many benefits that the use of technology in education can bring – real-time feedback is one you have mentioned and I fully concur with this. Being able to immediately identify gaps in learning from a glance allows you to put interventions and supports in place ‘in the moment’. Traditional methods such as the collection of copybooks/correction of tests may see a couple of days pass before difficulties are noted.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Aisling,

I would be in full agreement in terms of the Microsoft tools being fantastic for pupils with SEN. If your school has a Microsoft license, there is so much you can do for these pupils. Indeed, you can use many of these tools, such as Dictate and Immersive Reader. with the entire class (which will remove any stigma around being the only ones to respond orally, etc.). Lens is such an amazing tool and one which I have started to use casually so much in recent months – translating road signs abroad, looking up car models from an image, and searching for many items online are just some of the ways I have been using it.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Grace,

Thank you for your post and for comprehensively discussing some of the supports which are out there for children with literacy and numeracy difficulties. I love the idea of creating a Wakelet, from which the student can pick and choose their material (with access to their assistive tools). Kahoot is a great tool for creating that level of engagement and has a competitive element that can motivate some students. Competitors like Quizizz can also be used on occasion to ensure variety in the approach. The virtual maths manipulatives that can be found on Toy Theatre may also be of use to some children on your caseload.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Grace,

Thanks for your post. I can confirm that your post has been logged for this module. If the post time appears differently to when it was submitted, it may have went to the ‘pending’ folder, which requires admin approval before appearing on the forum.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Alan,

Thank you for your post. Teams really does make it easy to collaborate and share files/calendars, etc. between staff members. There is scope for curricular groups and school leaders to have their own teams where school policies and schemes of work are worked out in a collective space. As you have alluded to, Teams can also be a hub for students to submit and review their work and assignments. When integrated with One Note, it could be a place to go to for study and revision – files and demonstrations worked through during school could be added to the notebook for revision purposes. These could then be reused each year with the same class level, with relevant revisions made to suit the needs of the new class.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Maeve,

Welcome to the course and thank you for your post here. I really like the unit you have attached from the Applied Digital Skills programme. While there is an element of fun within this task, there is a huge amount of learning about using and formatting Google Sheets. There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to navigate a spreadsheet, but much of the content of this unit equips children with the skills they will require to do this. As you have said, there is such a wealth of resources out there within the Google suite – taking a couple of tools over the coming year and getting to grips with them should provide you with a solid foundation that can be added to over the coming years.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Elaine,

Thank you for your post – it is so brilliant to hear that your school has a dedicated AT coordinator. In the Digital Technologies and SEN course, many people are bemoaning the fact that they are often left in limbo once a pupil has been granted assistive technology use. Having a person in a school with responsibility for this area allows teachers to have a sounding board when seeking advice, and also allows one member of staff to develop an in-depth level of expertise in the area. It is clear that you were already using technology and developing computer skills with your caseload up to this point – it is fantastic to see that the course content has provided you with new knowledge that you will be able to bring to the classroom, and extend the learning experiences of your pupils further.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Aisling,

Welcome to the course. It is certain fair to say that the increased use in digital technologies has led to an increased use of assistive technologies for some students. As you have said, our pupils are going to be living and working within a digital world. As such, they should have experience using tools that may allow them to overcome some challenges (e.g. literacy difficulties) to achieve their full potential. I fully agree that the sheer volume of AT’s out there can be extremely daunting for teachers (and children). I think we should try one tool at a time for a prolonged period, before evaluating its effectiveness and choosing to continue using it or to move onto something new.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Rioghnach,

Thanks for your post. In my opinion, Seesaw ism a superior tool to use in the junior end of the school, for its ease of access and sign-in and the ability to create shorter, snappier activities. However, from 3rd Class up Google Classroom offers you the opportunity to do so much more. I have always found that children will rise to the challenge put in front of them, and that sometimes it is okay to be very optimistic with your lesson ideas. The use of a LMS like Google Classroom means that children can be extended at their own level, and that appropriate challenge is provided for all. Given your setting, Google is a very suitable platform to use at all ages and can really improve home-school links. Video recordings and audio files can be attached to assist parents in helping their children with reading/homework, etc.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Grace,

Thank you for your post and for sharing your SETT plan with us. It is a great idea (especially when starting out) to begin with some basic AI applications, before moving onto more complex and powerful interventions. This provides you and the pupil with the time and space to experiment and become comfortable with the use of AT, and also allows you both to identify elements of AT that are helping the student, and elements that have no impact. Your use of low tech, medium tech and high tech interventions in your SETT plan shows an awareness of the importance of utilising a range of different interventions and tools to assist the child.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Melissa,

Thanks for sharing your notebook with us. You are very right to point out the versatility of OneNote – this is one of its most impressive features. Your maths notebook has incorporated many different modes of consuming information – you have included audio recording links, video, text and written examples. All of these are underpinned by a UDL approach that offers some way for all pupils to access the content. You have also listed many effective ways that it can be used within the classroom – the colour coding suggestion can be very effective for children that do have organisational difficulties, and could mirror the colours used on various textbooks/copies for the same subject, etc.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Maria,

Thank your for your contribution her. Unfortunately, the permissions on the attached document are set to private and access is denied for us. However, you have given a clear overview of the content of the plan in your post. I am drawn to how you have focussed on how challenges with certain activities can cause frustration and erode confidence. This is something we need to avoid at all costs – maintaining positive dispositions and feelings towards particular activities will have a huge bearing on success into the future. The AT’s you have listed are all generally well suited to pupils with specific learning difficulties in literacy, such as dyslexia.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Melissa,

Thanks for your post and for sharing your recording with us. The design is excellent and it clearly is an engaging introduction to the number 5 for younger children. As you have said, Teams is an excellent collaboration tool and can be used by a variety of different teams within a school for sharing resources and planning. School leadership can really prioritise this, and include the use of OneNote to create a series of resources on different themes and topics for each class level. This would make it really easy for new teachers to the school (in terms of working on school plans), and also allow for easier transitions when teachers move between class levels.

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