Cameras
Digital Camera
Digital Cameras aren't usually considered as an Assistive Technology
Tool. Digital Cameras can prove to be very important for both teacher
and student use. Consider the possibilities:
- Documenting Student Activity
- Capturing information you want to save in digital format
- Documenting Community Based Instruction Outings and Field-trip
Activities
- Fact-finding for research projects
- Personalized student stationary, ID/Address cards, and other
templates
- Bringing pictures of people and things in the environment into
software programs
With a digital camera images taken can immediately be previewed
and then if needed, deleted. Additional memory cards or disks can
be used to have an endless number of images taken. There is no waiting
for pictures to be developed. Pictures can be viewed immediately
as a slideshow on the computer or TV.
More information related to digital images and purchasing and using
digital cameras can be found on our Digital
Camera page.
Video Camera
Digital video cameras and movie making programs allow elementary
school-aged students and their teachers to create masterpieces.
Movies are an incredible tool for Deaf learners. Students can communicate
in sign language to share their ideas and message. Movies can be
used as a tool to connect what is being signed with what will be
presented in English text.
Most computers come with programs to create small movies. Mac computers
come with iMovie and Windows computers often come with Microsoft
MovieMaker. Both programs are great beginner programs for making
short movies. The biggest problem people usually have when they
begin making movies to use in the classroom is hard-drive space.
Both images and movies take up a lot of room on the hard-drive.
What kind of movies could you make? See some examples by other
teachers and students in Deaf Education:
- Public Service Announcement
- Digital Dictionary
- Student Role-Playing
More information related to using videocameras in education can
be found on our Digital
Camera page.
Document Camera
Document Cameras are a very exciting and visual technology for
the classroom. Document cameras save time, resources, and keep students
focused and on-task. When a document camera is connected to a projector,
the entire group can see items under the camera. Document cameras
can display by 2D and 3D items. Most can zoom in on the item. Rather
than scanning in a current event from the newspaper, the paper can
be placed under the document camera for the entire group to immediately
see. A quick way for students to point out things they are explaining
during their Current Event speeches. Objects that are delicate,
such as a fossil, can be viewed by the entire group and then there
is less chance of the object being dropped and broken. Also, all
eyes are up front during the discussion and observation.
Additional tools in this technology family include Probes and Microscopes.
Visit the Probes and
Digital Microscope page for more information on those tools.
More information about document cameras:
http://www.videolabs.com
Flexible Cameras: FlexCamiCam, Student Cam, TeachCam
Document Cameras: CeilingCam, PTZCam, DocCam
Samsung Video Presenter - http://www.mcsinet.com
Web Camera
A tool that is new to the classroom is the Web Cam. Web Cameras
can be very valuable for Deaf learners. How they can be used depends
on a variety of factors, the most important being the speed of the
Internet connection. If the classroom has very fast Internet access
- a lot of bandwidth, then the use sign language may be possible.
Web Cams can be purchased for costs as low as $40-$50. There are
many web cams for Windows computers, not so many for Macs. Inexpensive
web cams are best for "point-to-point" conferencing. This
is when one person conferences with another.
Today, web cams are used for chatting, tutoring, and a variety
of meetings related to personal and professional projects. In the
K-12 environment, it is very important to consider safety and security.
There are services that can be used to protect students when they
are using this kind of technology. One site our Center is invesitgating
is iVisit. This site offers educators the ability to set up private,
locked meeting rooms for multiple users. Users can meet and have
text chat as well as see each other on web cams.
Our Center has been very happy with iVisit as a meeting place for
videoconferencing because:
- it is cross-platform
- no firewall issues, users go to a Web site to meet
- rooms can be private and locked with only password entry
Web Cameras are also important for people who are interested in
participating in Video Relay services. More information about Video
Relay can be found on our Internet
Communication page. |
