584 Assignment 3: Boardmaker

   When I first logged onto Boardmaker, I was initally overwhelmed by the options: when you click on the "Start Activities" button and the templates appear, you have 226 Interactive, 129 Performance, and 406 Print options to choose from. 

How does one narrow it down when simply exploring this program?

I decided to approach my exploration as I would if I were a regular classroom teacher searching for programs to assist a student in my secondary English class. After all, it is my eventual hope that this ideal soon becomes a reality and it would be great if the programs/projects I create for this course later serve a function in my classroom.

   My first attempt at an activity was creating a Routine board that could be used by a student at the end of their class every day. By creating a routine with set items that need to be done before the bell goes, this could decrease things such as anxiety and disruption and increase efficiency in staying on task, getting homework done, and staying organized with class assignments. I'd never seen a program where the student could use the board on their iPad to electronically move the tasks over, have them read aloud- it was really neat! I could also see this being a very practical tool to be used with students who have trouble with transitioning to new tasks, because once they have completed the "to-do" items for that class, they know it is finished and they can move to the new task.

Sample adjectives for each letter

   The next activity I tried out was a Name Poem writing template that could be used for students in an English class. Poetry is something that can be the bane of many a writers' existence, and not just for students with special needs. For this sample, I created a name poem- a form of poetry that seems to be quite common because it gives students a simple template to follow yet allows them to be creative, especially with coming up with adjectives to describe themselves! 

Adjectives with symbols

 This particular template comes with a host of functions to assist learners who struggle with writing and generating ideas. It gives ideas for adjectives (or alternate adjectives to what the writer has initially chosen), will provide text-to-speech, and symbols above some words/phrases for some additional visual support. The thesaurus of alternate descriptive words really did help with the creative process, even for someone like myself where words usually come quite easily. 

My completed Jessica name poem!

 
I made a list of pros and cons as I was working on the website, and I think it helped me to come up with an ongoing reflection of Boardmaker. Here is my list:

PROs:

• hundreds of activities created by other users that are available for use (searchable on the site
•  multimodal (online interactive, print options, audio functions- such as text-to-speech 
• combines digital and clip art 
• templates available to simply input information and customize for each individual learner 
• thousands of symbols 
• can be used to create items that all students can benefit from (class calendars, newsletters, etc.)
• options for creating/enhancing curriculum 

CONS:

• slow in loading functions at times 
• took a good chunk of time and troubleshooting to learn how to navigate the site 
• could be confusing at times to properly create projects

Overall, my impression of this program was positive- and I'm looking forward to trying more options when I have some free time (whenever that day finally arrives)!