Asynchronous 4/28 Blog

Menti: I learn best hands-on, step-by-step, and with practice. Love this question & am blogging about it as these words immediately came to mind as I was completing Canvas & PowerSchool trainings; using a system while learning about it, going along with a demonstration, & taking my own notes to reference later helps me learn best.

NotebookLM- Initial reaction to NotebookLM was that uploads must be in PDF form? I uploaded existing PDFs & information was incorrect (elementary instead of middle despite the information being for 7th graders), but 2/3 were correct with extensive information that would be helpful for discussion. I prefer Magic School, but NotebookLM could be a useful tool for creating unit study guides.


Ask a question and NotebookLM directs you to websites with more information is helpful & Google-esque. I asked, "What is the average architect's salary in Ohio?" & it directed me to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (a familiar site to my students).



How could Notebook LM help make your content more accessible to your students?  NotebookLM seems accessible in that the layout is easy to follow and the tasks are interactive. The dialogues/prompts are helpful and relatively straightforward leading to further engagement with the topic being explored. The leading questions are great as they prompt exploration without needing to formulate the question. 



Looking at the suggestions in the book for how to make your content accessible, how do you think your current lesson slides measure up?

My slides seem accessible, but I can & should make them more engaging for 7th graders by including more audio options. Podcasts are available for each unit, but not individual assignments. My links are meaningful, and students know what they are going to explore once they click. I am mindful of color contrast; students have also shared that they prefer black/dark backgrounds all the time, so they downloaded a Chrome extension dark reader to change their screens, which has helped them.

When I make slides, I oftentimes reference Microsoft Support articles for any questions about PPTs; there is a checklist to ensure presentations are accessible. I avoid adding unnecessary graphics/images/decorations in slides or putting too much information on 1 slide. 

How do you think you could change them to make them more accessible to all?

A few things I may implement next year are keeping units color-coded with a small title tag on slides to keep organized and give color meaning. I do need to double-check my Outline view in PPT to ensure that each section heading is unique and descriptive on each slide. From what I understand, Canvas has a built-in accessibility checker, so next year's content/lessons/assignments will be checked before publishing 😀.


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