AT Center comes to YOU this weekend!

This weekend - The Assistive Technology Center comes to you!!

The Abilities Expo is coming to the New York Metro area - May 21st - May 23rd and we will be there to show you the latest technology in the Assistive Technology Pavilion.

Have you wanted to try something to see if it is right for you? Then come check out our Hands-on Demos. The knowledgeable staff of the AT center will be on hand to guide you through the features of an array of Assistive Technology devices.

What if you don't know what you want? Don't worry - come by and speak to a staff member. In addition to the devices on display, we can help you search the Internet for possible technology solutions.

Do you want to know what we will be showing? Visit the AT Pavilion page for the Abilities Expo here.

Do you want to sign up for a demo? Click here.


We hope to see you there.

Have you commented? The National Educational Technology Plan

Did you know that there is a draft of the National Educational Technology Plan available for comment?

Follow this link to read about the proposed plan.

National Educational Technology Plan 2010

Why is this important to us? In order to ensure that the assistive technology supports we use with students are recognized in the plan - we need to make our voices heard.

Check out the Executive Summary of the plan for a "snapshot" view of the proposed plan.

Or, read through the entire plan to learn all the details.

How about looking at a portion of the plan that has been adapted using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles? Check this link to experience the flexibility of material adapted to meet the needs of all learners.

Educate yourself on the plan and leave a comment.

Web 2.0 Wednesday! StoryJumper

Do you want to motivate your students to create their own stories? Try StoryJumper

This site lets anyone create a story using on line tools to help with the writing and illustrating.

Want to use it with an entire classroom? Sign up for the Classroom Edition. By doing this, a teacher can manage and review all the students work while maintaining the student's privacy. All stories can be viewed either at school or at home.

Another fun feature of the site - if the students want to order a hard copy book of their story they can do that too! While that's not free (it starts at $24.95) - it does allow students to truly be published authors.

Check it out and start creating today.

Is this the future of textbooks? The Moby Tablet

Is this the future of textbooks?


Marvell, a company that manufacturers processor chips, recently announced a $99 tablet that will be aimed directly at the school market.

This new device, called the Moby tablet, was recently introduced. Here is what is known at this point about the features of the Moby:

* will enable students to utilize digital textbooks and media
* access the Internet
* play HD quality video
* equipped with a 10.1" screen

“Marvell can help propel education into the 21st century with an all-in-one device that gives students access to the best live content, information, and resources the world has to offer—from books and online resources, [to] text, video, news, music, data expression, or any medium.”

- Marvell Co Founder Weili Dai @ Future of Publishing Conference

The company expects the devices to be ready by the end of the year. In addition, Marvell is working collaboratively with Washington DC Public Schools to provide a Moby tablet to each student.

Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

What do you think about this device? Sound off by leaving a comment below.

Up Close - Amazon Kindle text to speech

Have you been wondering what the text to speech feature on the Amazon Kindle sounds like?

Check out our video.

Have you met TED?

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. The website, www.ted.com, features video clips of “riveting talks by remarkable people.” It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then, the focus has broadened.
The TEDTalks video site is packed with amazing things. None of the videos is more than about 20 minutes long; speakers are from all over the globe and the topics cover design, creativity, technology, art, inspiration…
Today, I was fascinated by a video featuring David Merrill, a grad student at MIT, who spends about eight minutes demonstrating Siftables -- cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These smart blocks can do math, play music, and talk to their friends, too. The educational applications are limitless.
I quickly moved to a clip featuring Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian, who makes leaders from our nation’s past seem human and real.
Be warned, the danger of TED is that one could easily end up spending way too much time getting to know this wonderful new friend.

Web 2.0 Wednesday! Delicious Social Bookmarking

If you are like me, you have bookmarks saved on multiple computers (home, office, school, etc.). How frustrating is it when the bookmark you need is not on the computer you are sitting at!!!

Solve that problem by using Delicious


Simply sign up at the website, and start storing your bookmarks online. Access your favorite pages from anywhere.

Want to try something really cool? Search the Delicious site for bookmarks created by all the users. Just type in a search term and watch all the saved pages come back to you.

Do you already use Delicious for your bookmarking? Tell us about it by leaving a comment below.