Key words: Instructional Strategies/Language/K-12
Date: Sat, 18 May 1996 22:26:21 EDT
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
From: Cathy Brandt Subject: Re: request for help
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF In-Reply-To: Message of Fri, 10 May 1996 21:22:10 +1000 from
On Fri, 10 May 1996 21:22:10 +1000 David Gregory Randall said:
>Hi all subscribers to Edudeaf. I am seeking assistance with possible
resources and research on use of email/internet with deaf students.
I have been using the Internet and email in my classroom of students who are
deaf for the past four years. If you have specific questions I'd be happy
to answer them.
>I am currently formulating a minor research proposal in this area and in
coming into this area relatively inexperienced, finding building a
literature search somewhat difficult. I am hoping someone out there in the
field may have come across articles/references found to be particularly
useful and is able to let me know.
I know others have tried to do searches and there is a small amount of
published material on this. Harvard Educator's Letter: Guide to the Internet
does contain information about what one of my classes a few years back did.
I also started the list Deafkids which is on the Net. It doesn't have much
activity. I'm waiting for some kind soul from this list to help me and
see if we can't develop a project which would teach the art of discussion in
classrooms and then use Deafkids as a place to practice what is learned in
the classroom. The discussions could range from teen stars to current issues
around the world.
I've come to the conclusion based on the activity of Deafkids that kids of
this age who subscribe to the list aren't aware of how to use a listserv for
the sake of DISCUSSION. I wish I had the time to develop and implement such
a project.
Any of you folks out there want to tackle this?
Mardi Loeterman has done research for a book she is writing about the uses of
technology in deaf education. You might check with her. She's on this list.
To be quite honest - I'm rather ignorant of info that is in print on children
who are deaf using the Internet at school.
Cathy
Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 10:33:37 EDT
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
From: Cathy Brandt Subject: Re: request for help/thanks
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF In-Reply-To: Message of Sun, 19 May 1996 21:16:05 +1000 from
Hi David and all,
I am posting this note to David to the entire list because I believe it has
bearing on all of us and would be of interest to many.
Judith Harkins and Cindy King have also done a considerable amount of work in
this area. I must have been brain dead when I posted to not put them first.
They both have done some wonderful studies. Telecommunications for All is a
project which is currently underway. Project ALIVE is another fantastic
program which Dr. King and others on this list are conducting.
Now the extent to which either of these use the Internet would be best
interested by those involved. There is work out there occuring in the area
of technology and deaf education. And it's great that someone is out there
digging around as Mardi did and as others are doing.
We need to know effective means of integration of technology so that we are
not wasting dollars, time and children's learning on flare and pizzazz.
Other people are also doing some things with the WWW. You should check out
resources there as well. I'm not on my system with all of my bookmarks. So,
I can't give you specific URL's to check.
But, folks here have posted many. Lisa Sommers, my EXCELLENT, wonderful,
terrific, resourceful cyber student teacher probably has a list of URL's
relative to deaf education.
She will be sharing lots of info and good news with the list soon. She has
worked very hard this semester to put together some outstanding information
and resources. I will give her the honor of sharing her work with you. It
will be forthcoming shortly.
It should be encouraging in the sense that no one needs to reinvent the wheel.
There's a topic out there that needs study and research. Not enough has been
done on the effectiveness of the Internet in classrooms of children who are
deaf and hard of hearing. Go to it!! Go find out who is using it, how, what
students are accomplishing, how it affects their learning and the potential
impact it can have on their education and life.
Won't be much on which to keep an eye. Not a lot happens on Deafkids. I'm
not sure why. My guess is that we as teachers who have allowed our kids to
subscribe have not done a good job of teaching them HOW to use this new medium.
We expect it to just take off and fly like EDUDEAF. But, what is forgotten is
that we as adults already know how to discuss subjects, offer opinions,
comment on others' ideas, question others' statements, elaborate on given
material etc. I say too many children who are deaf do NOT use these skills
enough in face to face communication to be able to do it effectively through
this medium.
This is needed as a part of our language arts programs. Hmmmmmmm, are we doing
an adequate job of teaching this or creating an environment which fosters the
development of this interactive use of language?
Good question for another subject heading.
Cathy
Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 12:30:23 -0600
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
From: jmsimes@STTHOMAS.EDU
Subject: Internet and the Art of Discussion
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF I started out with good intentions this year to get the kids I work with
on line, but it's been hard to maintain anything. My school has one modem
and line to connect with the outside world. It's located in the media
center in a fairly busy place on a computer that is used for a lot of
other things too. Basically it's set up for one person to use with space
for maybe one or two others to share. I've been trying to get it moved to
another place, but have been told that's the only place it can be because
of the way it has to be connected to other things.
Guess my point is that there may be a lot of reasons DeafKids hasn't taken
off in addition to not being skilled in the art of discussion. When I look
at all the needs my students have, I find it hard to give teaching them
how to use Internet or participate in discussion on Deafkids much priority
at this point in time given the conditions at my school. I just have a
certain amount of energy and really have to pick and choose which
"battles" are worth pursuing at the time.
> This is needed as a part of our language arts programs. Hmmmmmmm, are we
doing
an adequate job of teaching this or creating an environment which fosters the
development of this interactive use of language?
Exactly.... that's what teachers in Minneapolis asked ourselves when we
revamped our language curriculum more than ten years ago. What good is
language if you don't know how to interact? Interaction skill is now 1 of
the 5 key components we systematically track in all students, and it has
really payed off big time!
Just my $.02.......now back to lurking until I get the final draft of my
dissertation written.........
Jolinda
Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 15:37:50 -0400
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
From: ljsemesky Subject: Re: Internet and the Art of Discussion
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF Cruising the net involves alot of typing which is a skill most younger kids
do not have, and older kids may not have unless they use tty alot. In the
hearing world, few kids, until they reach highschool, have enough typing
skills to really be able to converse well using email. So, even if you have
a deaf population familiar w/ tty, then they only have each other to
converse with assuming they're connected. In reality, not that many
schools are participating in the net. Even where they are connected, there
is such ignorance on the part of most teachers that there is no one there to
support the children's efforts. I believe that if kids could sign and/or
talk on the net without having to type, you would see alot more
participation...assuming they were connected.
In addition, kids like instant gratification...With email, there are often
relatively long waits for responses, so the rewards are not so great from a
child's perspective. Online chat groups, where everyone is heard
simultaneously, is a lot better medium, because you then have multiple
threads running with more than two people keeping up a conversation and
stimulating it with new ideas. I believe that you will find such a
coordinated session to generate alot more excitement and response in your
kids. You should investigate getting together with two to three other
schools interested in web correspondence and see about setting up chat
sessions designated for a specific time. It's a little more costly, but
there are chat rooms on the web that you can rent out for nominal fees.
My 2 cents...worth what you paid for it!
Linda Semesky 8-)
Date: Tue, 21 May 1996 01:20:05 EDT
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
From: Cathy Brandt Subject: Re: Internet and the Art of Discussion
Comments: To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF In-Reply-To: Message of Sun, 19 May 1996 12:30:23 -0600 from >work with the kids in general may be more like it.........). As far as I
Time is definitely #2 to Access when it comes to obstacles teachers face
with using technology.
>know, I'm the only teacher in my building that has much knowledge of
Internet. I've worked at promoting it around the school, but there have
been no takers to my offers of free training. I've also talked it up at
Training, Courage to take training, understanding the need to take the training
are all major barriers we face as we attempt to share what we have found as
beneficial with others.
>the Metro area networking group I am a representative for my school too
and no one is really interested. Main reason? Lack of time and access to
computers.
Same across the nation.
>Guess my point is that there may be a lot of reasons DeafKids hasn't taken
off in addition to not being skilled in the art of discussion. When I look
I understand and accept all of your points, Jolinda. But, I was speaking more
directly of the kids who ARE ALREADY SUBSCRIBED to Deafkids. They obviously
have some sort of access. Some adult has probably helped them locate and
subscribe. But, when topics have been posted in the past (only a few have
been) the kids don't discuss as we do here. When they talked about CI's all
they could do was say they hated them or that they had them. No one TALKED
ABOUT CI's. They simply stated an opinion or fact. Very little was done to
support that, inquire about the other's positions or attempt to understand
the other's point of view.
My question really was aimed at "do these kids have discussion skills."
Perhaps they do have and I as moderator have not done a good job of bringing
that out or modeling for them what a listserv is or how it is to be used.
Perhaps they have those skills and just aren't using them on Deafkids.
The question is more about those kids who are already there not those that
aren't there. There are several sub-topics or mini-threads within this thread.
>at all the needs my students have, I find it hard to give teaching them
how to use Internet or participate in discussion on Deafkids much priority
at this point in time given the conditions at my school. I just have a
I certainly understand and respect this. You are the best person to know which
tools are most effective for teaching your students the skills they need. The
Internet is not the "end all be all" that will solve all of our problems. If
we think it will we are BIG TIME mistaken.
I guess my question is given THIS ONE TOOL (and we all have many) is there a
way to effectively INTEGRATE it into our curriculum (for some this won't be
possible due to the Access issue) to encourage, increase and improve the
language skills of our students.
In other words - For those who DO have access is there a way that we as
teachers can use the Internet and listservs to create, stimulate and foster
the art of discussion? If it IS a tool in our box is it an effective one to
use in conjunction with other tools to give children new and meaningful
opportunities to interact with a wider variety of communication partners?
I have no concrete answers. I am asking questions of those of you/us who
have been teaching language for umpteen years. Can we look at old things in
new ways?
>Exactly.... that's what teachers in Minneapolis asked ourselves when we
revamped our language curriculum more than ten years ago. What good is
language if you don't know how to interact? Interaction skill is now 1 of
the 5 key components we systematically track in all students, and it has
really payed off big time!
You all hit the nail on the head in my opinion. I think this is the critical
key to what we are all doing. And my question now ten years later is,
Can we use the Internet (a new tool) to help promote, implement and build that
same skill that is still IMHO a critical component to language development and
deaf education?
>Just my $.02.......now back to lurking until I get the final draft of my
dissertation written.........
I'd put a whole lot more value than $.02 on your comments, Jolinda. :)
Cathy
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 23:29:06 PST
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
From: cwilliams@BBS.SD68.NANAIMO.BC.CA
Subject: Re: Internet and the Art of Discussion
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF I have to agree with Jolinda that lack of computers is a reason DeafKids is not
more popular. We must also remember that 78% (last figure I read) of our
students are mainstreamed. I wonder what percentage are served by an itinerant
teacher? I am not able to be with my students all day. I tried to get one of
my girls on DeafKids but she had LIMITED access to a computer with a modem and
by the time I showed up our time together would have been over before we were
linked up.
At home, only 6 of my 43 deaf or hard of hearing students have computers with
internet access (and none of those are Deaf). We have a long way to go before
the world is truly "at our fingertips".
But we'll get there :)
Cindy Date: Tue, 21 May 1996 19:58:09 +1000
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
From: Novak Subject: Re: Internet and the Art of Discussion
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF Jolinda,
I too am in a similar position to you. We have only one modem and one
outlet for the Internet. It too has been put in the library - main reason
being that we regard it more as a research tool to supplement the library
resources - at least it will be once we get up and running more fully.
One of the best ways I have found to enthuse others is to work with one
teacher at a time. Once one teacher "gets into it" others will become
inspired. Having another expert on staff also lessens the load on that one
person to teach all others. I am hoping that people I work with will teach
others.
Having reasons to use Internet is really important. It's the same with all
things in life, if you don't have a reason to do something then you will
never do it. I guess what I am driving at is that it is us who need to
demonstrate a value in using the Internet to both students and staff.
Potentially the Internet has much to offer our students - defineitely a way of
linking them to the wider world. The difficulty I find is how to translate a
predominantly text based medium into something attractive to Deaf students
who find reading English a major obstacle. Trying to inspire them into
wading through all the words, teaching them to skim for keywords and
teaching them how to use the Internet are issues I am really grappling with
at the moment.
Bev Novak
Uploaded by: Melissa Close/Kent State University/Deaf Education Major
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jmsimes@stthomas.edu
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One is - Why are teachers not using technology more in the classroom?
(Access, Time, Training)
Two is - How can we continue to build discussion skills in children?
Three is - How can we utilize the current technology of a listserv to enhance,
motivate and strengthen the discussion skills of children?
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cwilliams@bbs.sd68.nanaimo.bc.ca
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novak@netoptions.com.au
Melbourne, Australia.