Featured Teacher! This week I spent a couple minutes talking to Maria Demopoulos about some of the things she is using video iPods for, specifically for social stories/scripts for some of her students on the autism spectrum.  Let me know if you know of other amazing teachers doing great things for students from a Universal Design for Learning or accessibility point of view!

Download

Flip Video Educational Pricing: Many of you have probably heard me talk about Flip Video cameras in my workshops and trainings and I wanted to point out that there is special educational pricing on some of their video cameras for teachers through the Digital Wish program.    http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/product?id=4310

Mac Accessibility: I got a couple questions this week, one from Warsaw and one from Jim about software to access an Apple computer.  Immediately coming to mind is the built-in Voice Over utility that comes on Macs and also some of the iPods now. www.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover

• 50+ Reasons: …to consider using VoiceOver on your Mac. www.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover/reasons.html

Karen Kangas: …a handful of seats remain!
Sensory Processing, Integration and Seating with Karen Kangas: PATINS is once again bringing Karen Kangas back to Indiana for 2 intense workshop days at no cost to you!   There are still a few spots remaining for this workshop.  If you’ve heard Karen before or heard me speak ABOUT Karen, you know this isn’t one you want to miss!  November 17, 18.   Click Here to Register!

PATINS Project Island Main

PATINS Island Open House! Don’t forget to spend 10 minutes:

1. Creating Your Free Avatar:
   www.secondlife.com
2. Download and Install the Second Life Software.  Remember this can be installed to a $5 Thumbdrive and run from there.  No need to install to your computer’s hard drive if you’d rather not.
3. Make sure you can access the Second Life Grid by trying to log in once step 1 & 2 are completed above.
4. If you cannot log in, contact me.  I have some ideas that could help.

On OCTOBER 20, ALL DAY LONG, at least one PATINS Staff Member will be available on our Island to greet you, give you a tour, answer your questions, provide you with training demonstrations, etc.  Contact me with questions via email or leave comments on the blog!  Additionally, if you want to log in to SL earlier than October 20th to explore our island and would like one of us to meet you there, just let us know!

Additional Resources for learning about Second Life and getting started:

• PATINS Video Tutorials on Getting Started (5 minutes long)
• Second Life Getting Started Informational Sheet
• SL_Keyboard_Shortcuts

Remember you can register for any of the FREE trainings PATINS offers:
www.patinsproject.com/regional.html

Article on Sight-Words: www.donjohnston.com/enewsletter/teacherleadermcnulty.html

Happy 50th! Yes, this is the 50th post to the PATINS Rapid Fire blog since I started casually posting free AT/UDL quick tips and tricks on September 11, 2007!

I would still like to see more comments made on the blog from all of you who read it.  Hopefully, you are finding some of the tips here useful in your work with students… share your experiences via comments on the blog!

Two Important Deadlines are quickly approaching.  Don’t forget to register for the PATINS 2008 State Conference at the Crowne Plaze Hotel in Indianapolis on November 10,11.  Registration closes October 17! Registration info and session descriptions can be found here: www.patinsproject.com/Conference/ConferenceBooklet.pdf

New UDL Pilot Site Applications due October 6! See here or check with your PATINS Site Coordinator for more info on the Universal Design for Learning Pilot Program in Indiana: www.patinsproject.com/udl.html

ICAM Offers Local Educational Agencies Free Text-To-Speech Software!!!

The Indiana Center for Accessible Materials (ICAM) is pleased to announce that the Indiana Center for Exceptional Learners’ PATINS Project has entered into an agreement with Don Johnston, Inc. to provide Read:OutLoud Universal Access, a digital text reader software program, to local educational agencies in Indiana. This statewide, unlimited license, agreement is available through the ICAM at no cost to Indiana local educational agencies.  Read all the details about this exciting opportunity here: www.patinsproject.com/NIMAS/rol.pdf

NIMAS Help?

A series of new Video Training Tutorials are being produced in the next couple of weeks.  These very condensed videos will address 5-6 of the most pressing concerns schools seem to be having with regard to NIMAS.  Of course, these videos will all be free and are all very short and to-the-point!  One video has been posted already, another should be be done later today and then several more will be posted next week!  Keep an eye here for them:  www.patinsproject.com/videos.html

Remember that these videos along with many additional NIMAS tools and resources can always be found on the ICAM website as well: www.icam.k12.in.us

]]> http://nepatins.edublogs.org/2008/09/19/9192008-free-software-for-the-state-50th-blog-posting-new-nimas-video-tutorials-important-deadlines/feed/ 0 http://nepatins.edublogs.org/2007/10/12/101207-some-funding-alternatives/ http://nepatins.edublogs.org/2007/10/12/101207-some-funding-alternatives/#comments Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:50:21 +0000 danielgmcnulty http://nepatins.edublogs.org/2007/10/12/101207-some-funding-alternatives/ I know that there are several new subscribers/readers of the blog. If you are one of those new readers, don’t forget to look back through the old blog posts for information and resources. You can search for resources as well. Also, please post comments as you see fit!

Here are some potential funding opportunities that were passed on to me by Vicki this week, that I think are certainly worth passing on to you. Funding has also been a hot topic recently on the PATINS AT Overview Course Blog, which is definitely worth visiting as well!

Some Alternative Funding Opportunities:

Click on the image to the left to download a single image file of the resources listed below that you can print out and pass around to all your colleagues who aren’t subscribed to the blog yet!

Opportunity #1 Click Here: Through the 2008 NEA Books Across America Library Books Awards, the NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education will make grant awards to public schools serving economically disadvantaged students to purchase books for school libraries.

Opportunity #2 Click Here: Character Education Partnership Accepting Applications for National Schools of Character Awards

Opportunity #3 Click Here: Staples Foundation for Learning Offers Support for Education and Job Skills Programs

Opportunity #4 Click Here: Oracle Education Foundation Invites Students and Teachers to Take Part in ThinkQuest International 2008

Opportunity #5 Click Here: Digital Wish!

Opportunity #6 Click Here: Education Week Grants.

Opportunity #7 Click Here: Tech Learning Grants

Have a great weekend and Remember to Register for:

~ The PATINS State Conference in December ~

Register as a group of 5 or more to get the best price!

Info & Registration Form can be found here:http://www.patinsproject.com/htm/trainop.html

~ Next Week Friday, I will be at Closing The Gap in Minnesota. I’m hoping for the blog posting next week to highlight a few of my favorite Closing The Gap experiences. ~