User:Sterliss/sandbox

Augmentative and Alternative Communication

The part we are editing should be added under the Autism tab. Should we add a sub section under Autism called Studies, or Research?

Do we agree on this as an intro sentence?

Rhonda McEwen is an assistant professor from the University of Toronto faculty. She is currently conducting research through a study with non-verbal Autistic children and their uses of iPods and iPads.

I don't believe we should add the tab, to be honest Bibid (talk) 00:31, 27 March 2012 (UTC)Bibid

-->Rhonda McEwen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She is currently the principal investigator of research concerning the educational use of haptic technology and children with communication disorders - specifically those diagnosed with Autism. Her work, titled “Touch Technologies in the Classroom” has led her to identify that ___________________.

relevant source: http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/beverley/sub_pages/Study.html if we could somehow include it? what thinks the rest of us?

Great intro sentence Bibid. It informs the reader of Professor McEwen's work and also her contributions to this project Timmaldonado (talk) 2:20, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Thank you Bibid. Now our intro sentence sounds much more appropriate for Wikipedia users. Sterliss (talk) 02:22, 27 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss Your source should be included since it is relevant. I also believe this would be a relevant source: http://individual.utoronto.ca/rmcewen/research.html from her own website

To continue with what you wrote... Her work, titled “Touch Technologies in the Classroom” is the first of its kind to study the impacts that iPad usage has on the communication skills of children with Autism. The conclusions show a significant improvement.

Just a reminder Bibid for you to put an Edit summary when you're making any changes! [[User:Sterliss|Sterliss[[ (talk) 19:19, 27 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss

Is an edit summary required for every post we make? and if so what do we put in our edit summary? Timmaldonado (talk) 19:52, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

I agree with you Bibid and Sterliss. We have our introduction. I found some relevant data to the topic that I am going to post now. Regarding her education we can write the following, "Rhonda received an MBA degree in Information Technology from City University London, England, and also holds an MSc degree in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado, and a PhD from UofT in Information." Also we can put this sentence somewhere in the paragraph: According to Rhonda, communication is any means by which a person can their thoughts to someone else and it might take many years before it can be proven that tablet devices assist autistic children in communication Fizz123 (talk) 20:07, 27 March 2012 (UTC)Fizz123

Thank you Fizz123 for your input! Also, just like Bibid, don't forget to write your edit summary when you add somethign hereSterliss (talk) 00:50, 28 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss Additional information on her education is a good idea so others see our edit as more credible. I think the sentence you wrote about her education should be added right after the first sentence. First thing, we should adress the professor by last name so McEwen instead of Rhonda. Another thing I'm not sure if we need to mention her definition of communication but the second part of that sentence about tablet devices is good! So this is what we have so far.

Rhonda McEwen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. McEwen received an MBA degree in Information Technology from City University London, England, and also holds an M.Sc. degree in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. from UofT in Information." She is currently the principal investigator of research concerning the educational use of haptic technology and children with communication disorders - specifically those diagnosed with Autism. Her work, titled “Touch Technologies in the Classroom” is the first of its kind to study the impacts that iPad usage has on the communication skills of children with Autism. According to her, communication is any means by which a person can _______ (word missing here) their thoughts to someone else and it might take many years before it can be proven that tablet devices assist autistic children in communication. Addition: Conclusions, however, from her study show a significantly positive effect???

I think we should post atleast our intro paragraph by tonight. Do you all agree? Sterliss (talk) 01:15, 28 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss

I think you both did spectacularly! Alright, to summarize: I will add a bit after what was last written, and replaced "usage". Here it all is! :)Bibid (talk) 02:59, 29 March 2012 (UTC)Bibid

->Rhonda McEwen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. McEwen received an MBA degree in Information Technology from City University London, England, and also holds an M.Sc. degree in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. from UofT in Information. She is currently the principal investigator of research concerning the educational use of haptic technology and children with communication disorders - specifically those diagnosed with Autism. Her work, titled “Touch Technologies in the Classroom” is the first of its kind to study the impacts of tablet computers on the development of the children's communication skills.. iPad devices particularly feature in the research, with application programs such as 'Proloquo2Go' used to gauge the children's involvement and any consequent progress. Characteristics such as the ease of accessibility of the touchscreen device, the interactive nature of the programs and the ___(sound-recognition/pattern repeating/I don't know, up to you guys to fill in the third! :)____ are all aspects that amount to conclusive evaluation. To date, these technologies are indicating facilitated communication for nonverbal children, as positive feedback is being reported from staff, families, and the children themselves. (SOURCE??) However, it is important to consider that as this is still a relatively new investigation in addition to being a longitudinal study, it may take many years before definite results can prove that tablet devices absolutely assist all children diagnosed with autism with communication.

Shouldn't we also add a little bit of her work history? she was a manager at IBM and she has also recieved quite a few research grants including SSHRC, which is the Social Sciences and Humanities research council and MITACS, which is one of the largest national research organizations in canada. timmaldonadoTimmaldonado (talk) 1:32, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

NOTE: here's the sentence about communication (According to her, communication is any means by which a person can __CONVEY?_____ their thoughts to someone else. (SOURCE MISSING?))... I just don't think it's neccesary, because the people using this page already have a basic idea of what communication is, which is pretty much common sense and therefore redundant at this point? But it's your call :)

plus.. does it seem a bit short to you guys? for 25 marks? lol.

I think that defining communication would be important, because not everyone fully understands the concept of communication and also it can be used in many different ways. Convey seems like a suitable word to use, but some other words to consider would be express, dictate or share. timmaldonadoTimmaldonado (talk) 1:40, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

I have found more information that is relevant to this topic, but does all our input have to come strictly from scholarly sources? I will post my findings shortly Timmaldonado (talk) 1:56, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

I believe that we should also inform our readers about Professor McEwen's inspiring presentation at the Rogers Tablife TO conference, which is a conference that is sponsered by Rogers Media and explores how current touch technologies are changing the way we work, live and play. Her presentation was a case study on Tablets being used in the classrom specifically for students with Autism.. The actual presentation can be seen here: http://vimeo.com/17560061 and if we are allowed, we should also post her twitter page so that those interested in her work can actually follow her progress personally and see her updates. Timmaldonado (talk) 2:17, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

I have also found a PDF file that contains Professor McEwen's Academic publications, awards and other current research projects. It can be found under references. We should include some of Professor McEwen's awards and publications so that our readers can have an understanding of her reputation and credentials. User:Timmaldonado|Timmaldonado]] (talk) 18:50, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

References

Just testing out the references code. Sterliss (talk) 01:19, 28 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss

The reference codes seem to be working perfectly Timmaldonado (talk) 1:30, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

I'm happy the reference code works! Thanks Timmaldonado for everything you have included. Sterliss (talk) 00:48, 29 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss

I completely agree with adding the part about the Rogers Tablife TO conference. It could be the start of a second paragraph. I watched it and it relates perfectly with her work that we mentionned. I think readers will benefit from this link. As for the Twitter page, I'm not sure whether we should or should not add this. It's a good idea but the only thing is it deviates away from the general topic of AAC and focuses more attention on Professor McEwen. Sterliss (talk) 00:48, 29 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss

Therefore this is what we potentially have so far...

-->Rhonda McEwen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. McEwen received an MBA degree in Information Technology from City University London, England, and also holds an M.Sc. degree in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. from UofT in Information.

She is currently the principal investigator of research concerning the educational use of haptic technology and children with communication disorders - specifically those diagnosed with Autism. Her work, titled “Touch Technologies in the Classroom” is the first of its kind to study the impacts of tablet computers on the development of the children's communication skills.. iPad devices particularly are featured in the research, with application programs such as 'Proloquo2Go' used to gauge the children's involvement and any consequent progress. Characteristics such as the ease of accessibility of the touchscreen device, the interactive nature of the programs and the sound recognition (I think this is the best one Sterliss (talk) 00:48, 29 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss) are all aspects that amount to conclusive evaluation. To date, these technologies are indicating facilitated communication for nonverbal children, as positive feedback is being reported from staff, families, and the children themselves. (SOURCE??) However, it is important to consider that as this is still a relatively new investigation in addition to being a longitudinal study, it may take many years before definite results can prove that tablet devices absolutely assist all children diagnosed with autism with communication.

On December 3rd, 2010 McEwen gave an inspiring presentation at the Rogers Tablife TO conference, which is a conference that is sponsered by Rogers Media and explores how current touch technologies are changing the way we work, live and play. Her presentation was a case study on Tablets being used in the classrom specifically for students with Autism..

QUESTION: Should we add a picture of Prof McEwen working with the children? Sterliss (talk) 01:48, 29 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss

Nice work guys. Yes Sterliss I agree it would show us Prof McEwen's vision of helping autistic kids. Also I think it is essential to include the definition of communication. Because here she specifically talks about the aspect of communication where it allows people to exchange thoughts. She is emphasizing on that. And I am going to put the study paragraph now. Fizz123 (talk) 22:07, 29 March 2012 (UTC)Fizz123

Good point. Since Fizz123 and Timmaldonado believe it would be important to include the definition of communication we will add it. Sterliss (talk) 02:18, 28 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss

File:Rhonda McEwen.jpg

Rhonda McEwen(left) with autistic children from Toronto's Beverly School using tactile technology

Ok did not work, not sure how to add pictures guys Sterliss (talk) 03:11, 28 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss

Ok so I think it would be good if we add this in the beginning? What do you guys think?

Braeden Bar a 14 year old kid studying in Chimo Elementary School in Smiths Falls, Ontario was diagnosed with autism. When his teacher, Mr. Balfour introduced a touch screen computer in the classroom he observed how Braeden’s communication skills slowly started developing owing to the tactile technology. Mr. Balfour was just one of the many people who noticed this correlation between usage of haptic technology and communication development among autistic children. The University of Toronto’s Professor McEwen also states that initial results from a study at Toronto’s Beverly School suggest that usage of iPod Touch enhances communication skills of autistic kids. She pointed out that one or two of them mastered it in no time. However some were slow to respond; took months to obtain the same effects. “Persistence is important. You have got to keep it,” Dr. McEwen says.. Fizz123 (talk) 21:44, 28 March 2012 (UTC)Fizz123

Hi guys I uploaded the picture it should be view-able now. Fizz123 (talk) 21:55, 28 March 2012 (UTC)Fizz123

Bibid (talk) 04:04, 29 March 2012 (UTC)Bibid so basically:

Rhonda McEwen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. McEwen received an MBA degree in Information Technology from City University London, England, holds an M.Sc. degree in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado, and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in Information. On December 3rd, 2010 McEwen presented at the Rogers Tablife TO conference in Canada. This is an event sponsored by Rogers Media with the purpose of exploring how current touch technologies are changing the way we work, live and play. Her lecture pertained to a case study on the effects of multisensory devices on nonverbal students.. She is currently the principal investigator of research concerning the educational use of haptic technology and children with communication disorders - specifically those diagnosed with Autism. Her work, titled “Touch Technologies in the Classroom” is the first of its kind to study the impacts of tablet computers on the development of the children's communication skills.. iPad devices particularly are featured in the research, with application programs such as 'Proloquo2Go' used to gauge the children's involvement and any consequent progress. Characteristics such as the ease of accessibility of the touchscreen device, the interactive nature of the programs and the speech recognition are all aspects that amount to conclusive evaluation. To date, these technologies are indicating facilitated communication for nonverbal children, as positive feedback is being reported from staff, families, and the children themselves. In fact, the University of Toronto reports that this "two-year study...found that within six weeks the devices boosted kids’ attention spans, raised their ability to identify pictured objects by 45 to 60 per cent, and improved communication skills in these mostly nonverbal children by 20 per cent.". However, it is important to consider that this is a still a relatively new investigation as well as a longitudinal study; it may take many years before definite results can prove that tablet devices absolutely assist in developing complete communication skills of all children diagnosed with autism..

Thank you Fizz123 for fixing the picture! Sterliss (talk) 04:48, 29 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss

Thank you Bibid, I believe this is ready for upload! Sterliss (talk) 04:56, 29 March 2012 (UTC)Sterliss