2005 Conference Proceedings

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SUPPORTING STUDY SKILLS WITH ELECTRONIC TOOLS

Presenter(s)
Kelly Fonner
Organization: self-employed
Day Phone: 262-893-8053
Fax: 262-249-9269
Email: kfonner@earthlink.net

Scott Marfilius
Day Phone: 414-379-7779
Fax: 414-351-5127
Email: marfilius@wi.rr.com

Electronic support of study skills is of growing interest in the education of students with special needs. We'll take you through some of these products by demonstrating the electronic version of some typical "off-computer" study strategies. Products to be covered include Draft Builder, Inspiration, Kurzweil 3000, Read and Write Gold, WYNN and Microsoft Word.

During this session we will explore the uses of features of products to support studying and the development of study skills in students who struggle with gathering, sorting, organizing and recalling. Studying includes creating knowledge which consists of Facts, Ideas and Skills.

We will discuss the idea of the Knowledge Arts as defined in: Knowledge Alive, Educational Leadership, vol 62 No. 1, Sept 2004. Examples will derive from the study areas of creating knowledge, communicating knowledge, organizing knowledge, and acting on knowledge. From the work of Joan Sedita (Study Skills, Kurzweil Education Systems, 2003), we will confront the difficulties that students with learning disabilities may present which interfere with the study process. These may include: Word recognition/decoding skills Fluency, Language processing/ linguistic ability, Vocabulary, Life experience /background knowledge, Attention, Memory, Meta-comprehension & application of strategies, Expressive language weakness, Visualizing & creating mental images.

Electronic Studying refers to using technology to enhance and utilize study skills. Consideration for tools includes: Portability, the Computer as a cognitive partner and Accessibility. Electronic examples will include information in the content areas of the school curriculum. These examples include the techniques of:
• SQR3
• KWL
• Brainstorming (various types)
• Outlining
• Vocabulary Webbing
• Study Flash cards
• And more

The following products will be demonstrated throughout the session:
• Draft Builder from Don Johnston
• Inspiration from Inspiration
• Kurzweil 3000 from Kurzweil Educational Systems
• Read and Write Gold from TextHelp!
• Word from MicroSoft
• WYNN from Freedom Scientific

Examples will be organized by when students need study skills.
• Before Reading
• During Reading
• After Reading
• Preparing for Tests
• Preparing Reports

Some of the features that we will be demonstrating in Study Tools include:
• talking dictionary
• thesaurus
• synonyms, homonyms
• notes that are written, voice
• book markers
• extract, drag and drop between documents
• highlighting


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