ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG | INVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Without a lot of fanfare Matchware has recently released MindView 5, one of the leading mind mapping tools in the marketplace. Matchware, taking the lead from its customers, spent a great deal of time improving on the feature set of MindView in this current release. MindView 4 users will feel right at home using the latest version, knowing that the core of the product didn't change all that much. While some of the changes are rather subtle, make no mistake about it, they add a great deal of value to the existing application. While I intend to do a more in-depth review of the recent release, I want to highlight a couple of features which make the latest release of MindView 5 a great tool for students and those with disabilities.

Matchware over the years has made inroads with their mind mapping products to schools and has always had a keen interest in meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities. It is not everyday that a company considers incorporating the principles of Universal Design and Matchware should be applauded for including text to speech support, audio notes and a high contrast design for viewing the mind map on the screen. MindView 5 gives students access to wide array of views that can quickly be changed. Students can easily go from a mind map to an outline or to a timeline with a click of the mouse making it easy to visualize the information in many different ways.

Matchware has included a new feature in MindView 5 that lets users search the WorldCat catalog and insert a citation right within the mind map. The WorldCat catalog has million of entries and is a great tool for searching for articles that can be used for doing a research paper. Once you have used the WorldCat catalog and entered a citation you can then export your mind map and have MindView 5 automatically format your bibliography into one of the many standard outputs; notably APA, Chicago, MLA, Harvard, and ISO690. Having access to the WorldCat catalog right within MindView 5 really plays to the strength of MindView and its exceptional ability when exporting formatted Microsoft Word documents. I for one have come to rely on MindView to create RFP's and structured documents when I am delivering my proposals. When exporting MindView 5 mind maps to Word, the structure of the output is really exceptional and giving the end user the ability to navigate the document with the clickable table of contents works really well. When I prepare my proposals with MindView I often get great comments and my readers are impressed by how succinct and to the point my proposals are.

So if you like, give MindView 5 a try by clicking here for a free 30 day Trial

I had a great day working with a group of teachers in assisting them to incorporate the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into their math lessons. Over the course of two days we went over the principles of UDL and had a chance to look at a variety of tools and strategies that could be employed into their lessons. We had a chance to use Google Forms, Delicious, Webspiration, and InspireData to give the teachers some new tools to actively engage students in their learning. It was exciting to feel the energy in the workshop as the teachers began to see how they could use the various tools to reach their students. During the workshop I was able to capture some of the ideas using Papershow which was a real hit with the teachers. At the end of the second day I captured some notes which I can share with you. Papershow is a wonderful tool for recording and capturing ideas. After today's session I saved the notes as a PDF file and placed them on our wiki which worked really well. Here is is a link to today's notes as captured with Papershow.

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During the workshop I was able to capture some of the ideas using Papershow which was a real hit with the teachers.

Sitting in a three day workshop on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) gave me some time to reflect on the state of software development and the power of the Internet. The focus of the three day workshop was on helping teachers to remove barriers to math instruction (Grades 5-8) in the classroom. Using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) model we were able to look carefully at textbooks and lessons and figure out ways that we could present math lessons so that we provide students with multiple mean of representing math concepts. As our workshop leaders from CAST were presenting the information they pointed us to various sites on the Internet that offered students the opportunity to work with virtual manipulatives. I was thinking that just a couple of years ago we would have been discussing the use of commercial software to meet our objectives but now we were focused on websites that offer a rich source of math manipulatives that students could work with to help them better understand and visualize math concepts. Tings have certainly changed in such a short period of time. Take a look at some of these websites to see whats there- you will be amazed!

I just completed the 3rd day of a conference on Universal Design for Learning and am really excited to be able to part of the State's initiative on helping New Jersey's Public Schools apply and put into practice Universal Design for Learning. Universal Design for Learning makes you look at the curriculum through another lens so that we can remove barriers to learning. Using the techniques and strategies consistent with Universal Design for Learning will benefit all learners in the classroom. Look for some exciting programs being offered through the Educational Training Technology Centers on Universal Design for Learning.

I just got back from attending day 1 of a three day training presented by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) on the theory and practice of Universal Design for Learning in today's classrooms. I have always been a big fan of CAST, and in fact I spent a week there about 15 years ago when they were running an assistive technology institute. While CAST initially was servicing the needs of individual students with disabilities through their Assistive Technology Clinic, it became more apparent to them that they could have more of an impact if they focused on making the curriculum more accessible instead of working with one student at a time.

Looking at the basic tenets of Universal Design for Learning it is clear to me that if they are applied- we would reach many more students and facilitate the learning that takes place in all classrooms. Taken as a whole the basic tenets are: Multiple Means of Representation. Multiple Means of Expression, and Multiple Means of Engagement. Utilizing these principles it is possible with supports and scaffolding to reach more students and to bridge the gap thereby making the curriculum more accessible to all students. Today we had a chance to learn the theory and tomorrow we will be discussing ways that technology can assist students in reaching their learning goals in the classroom. It is truly a wonderful learning experience and gives me a chance to reflect on what we know about brain and put into practice research based strategies that will make a difference for a wide range of students with all abilities in our classrooms.