[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Catherine,

Thank you for your post. You raised an interesting point when you discussed the framework in the context of the ‘array of tools available’. There really are so many digital tools that can be used to enhance accessibility in the classroom. However, this can often be overwhelming and ineffective for both the teacher and child. The SETT Framework allows us to think of the child in question and plan based around their needs. In essence, we are starting with the child and thinking about whether the assistive tools at our disposal will help them specifically.  Starting with the child rather than the tool really is the key.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Rina,

Thank you for your post here and for sharing your thoughts on Scratch. It’s important that children have the opportunity to first learn and explore at a basic level like you have mentioned – Scratch Jr. can be a really nice introductory tool on iPad for younger children. There are also a range of manuals available for going through a step-by-step process of how the interface works and what each of the controls/sprites can use and are something I would have always leaned into in the introductory weeks.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Padraig,

Thanks for your post here. I think you have hit on an important point regarding children being aware of their own abilities, and how the learning is matched to these. Even very young children are perceptive and can pick up on subtle changes in routine, etc. Children generally know when they are having difficulty with something, when other people are picking something up quicker than them, etc. I think this is something that should be encouraged and being able to verbalise and articulate this can allow us to picot and change the speed of our instruction to match the needs of the children. Your suggestions around using Diffit to achieve this are very good.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Grace,

Thanks for your post. I think it highlights the diversity of climate related problems throughout our small country, and how this translate to a much wider global scale. Air quality is certainly an issue in our biggest cities, and is something that is mirrored in large cities across the world. Raising awareness around the pollution of cars is important – it’s interesting to see the congestion charges in London and how these are tiered depending on your proximity to the city centre – however, I suppose improvements to public transport need to be made before it is feasible to introduce something similar here.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Aisling,

I think you have made some really interesting points about being able to tap into the interests of children – this is something we constantly here as being the main starting point when planning for teaching and learning. However, sourcing information and content on niche subjects can be quite challenging – AI makes all of this so much easier. Even in terms of sourcing material that will be challenging enough for those with higher academic abilities is much more plausible now, and won’t cause a huge increase in our workload. While AI can help when planning and preparing lessons, it can’t help us in relating to the children and forging those trusting relationships that are key to ensuring learning does happen, meaning our jobs are certainly safe!

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Claudia,

Thank you fir sharing your thoughts through this post. Your use of the terms ‘interactive’, ‘personalised’ and ‘fun’ are particularly striking for me. It is clear that these three words should categorise the majority of learning experiences in our classrooms. However, it can be quite challenging for us as teachers to continually come up with lessons that lend themselves to this. Having AI tools gives us the opportunity to pick and choose experiences that will lend themselves to these terms. Indeed, our own knowledge of teaching and pedagogy should allow us to tailor and adapt some of the ideas provided to us.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Frainc,

Thanks for your post and sharing such interesting insights and thoughts around Diffit and Gamma. It’s interesting to see how you have seen the potential of AI to enhance creativity and allow pupils to actively involve themselves in the learning process. Too often, we can see AI as a passive generator of information that simply provides us with a myriad of ideas and suggestions. However, being able to marry this with the creation of presentations and other media demonstrates the broader benefits of AI within education.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Máire,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the module’s content – it is great that you have found it helpful and useful. As you mentioned, assistive technologies can provide the avenue through which children with additional needs can access the curriculum. Building our knowledge of both what these tools are and how to use them will enbale us to make more informed decisions on how these may help the children we work with – discovering the use of Immersive Reader within Edge is a perfect example of this.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Lisa,

You have raised some very pertinent points in this course. While AI tools can help us with so much, we do need to thread carefully and use it judicially – our professional experience and expertise as teachers remains central to our work. Marrying our knowledge of pedagogy with the content and ideas generated from AI can be truly transformative and allow us much more time to connect with the children and identify the ways in which we can move their learning forward.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Shay,

Welcome to the course. You have hit on such an important point that we can sometimes forget and take for granted. It is through spending time and engaging with the children in our class that we can make the greatest difference. Using AI tools to remove some of the mundane and cumbersome tasks that reduce the amount of time we can be ‘present’ with the children is key and can actually promote the development of skills and promote more creative approaches to teaching rather than taking from them.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Michelle,

Thank you for your post. Unfortunately, I was unable to view the storyboard due to permissions but your description really outlines how you have managed to use and incorporate assistive technologies to make the task more accessible for children with different needs. The breadth of tools is wonderful to see – when starting out, it may be best to introduce them one at a time to ensure the child becomes comfortable using the tools and seeing their benefit, with this being a culmination of exposure to a variety of different assistive technologies.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Aisling,

Welcome to the course and thank you for your post here. I am delighted that sites like Magic School AI have assisted you in your work up to now. You make a key point around marrying the power of AI and the power that comes from a range of teaching experience. While AI can provide us with a dearth of information and suggestions, it cannot have the intuitive knowledge we have of individual children’s needs and interests and the pace at which the learning needs to happen. You have made an interesting point around the correlation between experience in the classroom and creating effective prompts.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi James,

Thank you for your post and for going ‘under the bonnet’ in your review of Immersive Reader. Whilst it may seem at first glance to be an effective readaloud, it is so much more and you have accurately described some of its key features. Parsing of the text into the relevant parts of speech is a very important feature and one which can really assist children in consolidating this learning. Everything around assistive technology centres on those small, strategic adaptations and enhancements, and this applies to both hardware and software which you have so accurately referenced in your reflection.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Annemarie,

Thank you for your post and for your engagement throughout the course. It’s clear that you are already well on the way with the introduction of Google tools in your school. I think we may have received the same digital portfolio CPD pre-Covid, and I can say it was what really gave us the push to move towards the use of online platforms for creating, storing and sharing samples of work. There are just so many tools out there to help us within the Google suite, many of which we are yet to discover. I wish you all the best and how you get on well with the ones you have listed.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Caroline and Sarah,

Thank you for your posts here. I agree with you around your reservations on student email addresses and feel that it is something that should be discussed with care. Luckily, your school admin can create ‘Groups’ – in my school I set up a group for students and one for staff. You can then control the access that each group has to the different Google tools. For students, access to gmail is turned off – therefore, their login details happen to be an email address but their account has no access to emails. Google are running an event for school Admins in September which I’m sure will go through so many other Admin tools – they’re currently advertising this event on their social media pages.

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