Web+2.0+and+Executive+Function

= Web 2.0 and Executive Function =

Though web 2.0 can present a variety of accessibility issues, it can also provide learning disabled students with tools to help them stay organized and experience more success in school. Often times students with learning disabilities struggle with executive functioning resulting in problems such as disorganization, lost homework, or inability to follow along. Web 2.0 and other technology tools such as cell phones can offer many of these students a better way to handle all of their tasks. In fact an article on LDOnline states, “these tools have also helped to democratize learning for those with disabilities or learning differences.“

One might be quick to believe that a student who doesn't keep track of things on paper won't be able to manage any better with technology. However, teachers can play a big role in using web 2.0 and new technologies to help their students with learning disabilities. For example, teachers can begin to create classroom blogs or wikis where they store important due dates, assignments, templates, examples of expectations, videos, important lectures and screencasts. This central storage area alone can help students who may need to review the lesson or need to see an example of what is expected. If a student forgets paper expectations or assignments at school, they fall behind. If the expectations along with other rich content are available on the Internet, the student will be able to access valuable resource for their needs.

Not only can the teacher provide more resources to students, many learning disabled students can begin to use the web and new technologies to work on their organizational skills. We have an opportunity to help these students learn to use their phone, mp3 player, instant messaging account, email or online calendar to keep track of what they have to do and to record lecturers and instructions for later retrieval. If students practice and begin to master this skill now, they will be that much more prepared to function in the 21st century. The article //Web 2.0 and New Media Tools for Organization and Planning// notes that “students who struggle with executive functioning may have a hard time approaching longer-term projects, research papers, or other in-depth assignments. Or they may have difficulty keeping track of numerous pieces of information.” Some suggestions provided in this article include encouraging these students to use sites such as Diigo and Evernote for organizational purposes. We may not yet have answers to all of the barriers with web 2.0, but for some students web 2.0 itself can be an assistive technology today.

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