Toronto teen uses app to give visually-impaired a new look at the world | Toronto Star

Mass Media technology creates opportunities and can fill social needs  when appropriate problem solving is applied to daily living conditions to the whole  range of society.

Anmol Tukrel, a 17-year-old grade 12 student at Holy Trinity School in Richmond Hill, has created an app that helps visually impaired people identify objects and text. Tukrel’s free iPhone app, iDentifi, allows users to take a photo of virtually any object, and then describes that item in great detail back to the user. People can also take photos of text and have it read back to them, in one of 27 languages. Tukrel hopes it makes every day tasks — like picking out the can of pop you want — easier for people who are visually impaired.

Source: Toronto teen uses app to give visually-impaired a new look at the world | Toronto Star

Media Literacy: Bars & Pie Charts, Oh My !

Last semester, as part of my teaching assignment with the Assisted Study Program, I was providing an English Business Technology course for students who were enrolled in a Construction program.  EBT4O is intended as an open level course. The students in the construction program ranged in level from essential to college bound. They received a total of four credits. Two credits for their construction work, building a house/cottage, one credit was for in class construction training, and the last for the EBT4O.

I modified the content and assignments to better reflect their range of ability and the subject matter.  In order to provide them with some practical application I used  Open Office to introduce bar graphs and pie charts. The content came fromEasy, No-Brainer 3-Step Roofing Estimator to relate it to their work in construction class.

One of the problems I faced was making sure that the bar graph and pie chart wa easy to apply.  The default setting on the Open Office graphing graphics is confusing for those unfamiliar with  such application. After checking with a math teacher I was able to determine the basic setting that most people would require.  I saved that setting in the lesson so that all the student would need to do is copy and past the sample graph and then insert the correct information.

In learning a range of computer and media literacy skills, I have found students acquire skills and knowledge more effectively when you use a template. If the content can be related to specific knowledge and skills that are subject related then it re-enforces those computer & media literacy skills.  Note that that this lesson  and instructions on pie charts can be adapted & applied to different subjects.

I have included download links  both the lesson and the instruction sheet. Open Office is free. It can be used at home and at school  ( students will need to have it loaded on their personal laptops or the school board needs to install it on their network).

graphing-instruction-pie-graph1    EBT4O_L4 Pie Charts

The Construction Class De-constructs Some Photographs

One challenge faced by many secondary school instructors is making a subject meaningful to students. This can be especially difficult in courses like English and Media Studies. How do you make the content relevant to students? This challenge is more easily met when the credit is part of a set of credits that are all inter-connected in a co-operative education model.

As part of a set of credits for a co-operative education Construction Technology course, I set up an English Business Technology ( EBT4 O ) credit. This involved taking existing Independent Study lessons and adapting them to the content of the students’ construction technology classes. By staying with content and vocabulary that the students were familiar, I could have them develop and demonstrate specific communication skills related to business technology and media literacy.

For example, the students were required to demonstrate their skill at preparing a five-slide presentation, using presentation software ( Word Perfect Presentations, Power Point, or Open Office Impress). The target audience, content, and purpose are clearly set out and fit the overall content of Construction Technology.

• Intended Target Audience of this presentation: students in the Co-op Construction Class

• Purpose & Content of this presentation: inform students about construction materials ( Steel, Wood, or Aluminum). Information and useful links were set up in advance.

Lesson 5_Key Question

The range of abilities of the students in this course is quite wide. Some students have learning issues / limited print-literacy skills, while others are achieving at college bound level.

The slide-show assignment allowed all the students to:

• acquire digital-print communication skills,

• use research skills,

• demonstrate their subject knowledge.

Goals I had set out to meet in re-designing the EBT4O lessons

Provide lessons that:

• could be done independently and fit into a flexible co-op schedule. ( In class time was adjusted as weather conditions dictated. This modified the number and type of projects that were available over the semester.)

• had content that either re-enforced knowledge and skills acquired in their other construction classes or expanded that knowledge

• expanded and enhanced their Business Technology communication skills

• let the students use those communication skills to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of Construction Technology

• increased students’ overall Media Literacy Knowledge & Skills

The major assignment involved photography.  The students would use communication skills to demonstrate their knowledge and analytical skills in regards to building construction and the codes and conventions of photographic composition.

Building on the students’ previous experience with slide-show software and report composition, it introduced Media Literacy knowledge and skills and connected them to Construction Technology.

1. There are codes and conventions to both Building Construction and to Photographic Composition.
2. Photography is used in the construction industry to keep track of work and the construction process.
3. A professional contractor will use photography to help sell their work and communicate to clients.

Other forms of media communication that students would be familiar and could relate to Building Construction are:

• Report Writing

• Informational Posters

• Magazine Articles

The results of this modification to the Construction Technology Co-operative credits:

• students’ overall success improved

• the pressure of completing the fourth credit diminished

Pinhole Image in A Box

Some new images and a few observations

1. The cost of materials to construct a pinhole can screen and box is very cheap.  From a teaching point of view, very cheap is very good, especially when it produces effective learning opportunities.
2. The construction process is neither difficult nor time-consuming. It does not have to be overly precise in order to produce visible results. Sorry, I’m a habituated to puns.
3. The simple home-made cardboard box has a make believe toy quality.  The first response that students often have is surprise that the thing actually works. It is a low-tech how factor. This makes the activity of using and making them FUN. Learning as play. My daughter took one of the boxes to her class ( a Special Needs  School) for show and tell. It was a big hit and everyone wanted to try it.
4. This activity can connect students to the past. They can better understand how and why people used earlier technology. It wasn’t silly and the results were not primitive.

For example this image makes good sense …………..

Covered photographer with 19th century box camera on tripod

……..once the student notices the difference when covering the pinhole box with a blanket.