Description: This is
a VOA Special English Education Report.
See text below
Text:
We received a question from a listener about how
American schools use educational technology. There
is not a simple answer.
It depends on the subject and level of students, of
course. But it also depends on the interest and
training of the teachers, and the goals and budgets
of the schools.
Schools are almost all connected to the Internet.
But some have more technology, and use it more, than
others. For example, some schools use computers for
activities like video conferencing, to bring the
world into the classroom.
And some classrooms are equipped with things like a
Smart Board, a kind of interactive whiteboard.
Interactive whiteboards are large displays for
presentations.
They connect to a computer and can operate by touch.
They can be used for documents or writing or to
project video.
Some teachers are trying creative new ways to teach
with devices like iPods and mobile phones.
But educators say the most important thing, as
always, is the content.
Yet technology can have special importance in some
cases.
Cosmobot is a therapy robot. It stands about half a
meter tall and has a blue body and a friendly face
with big eyes.
One child who works with it is six-year-old Kevin
Fitzgerald. Kevin has developmental dyspraxia; he
has difficulty moving his mouth and tongue.
He works with Carole Semango-Sprouse as he uses a
set of buttons attached to a computer. He can make
the silent robot move forward, backward or around in
circles.
Kevin's mother thinks the robot has had a calming
influence, helping her son get along better with his
friends.
Cosmobot was developed by AnthroTronix. Corinna
Lathan started the company ten years ago to work
with children with cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome,
autism and other developmental disabilities.
Children become friends with the robot, she says.
That can have a big effect on their behavior,
helping them work harder and longer in therapy
sessions.
Corinna Lathan is currently working with a British
company to develop other socially assistive robots.
She says they are still considered research tools in
the United States. They are not used as much as in
places like Britain and Japan. But she hopes to
change that.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report.
You can comment on our reports at our Web site,
voaspecialenglish.com.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
