Azu Ike

I have been using MindView for years and is one of my favorite mind mapping applications. I use it to brainstorm ideas, plan workshops and for writing structured  proposals and documents. For some time now Matchware has been working on an assistive technology edition that has lots of great features. These include: text-to speech, high contrast, integration with TextHelp Read & Write 9 Gold and Dragon Naturally Speaking. If you are interesting in learning more about Mindview AT they are holding a FREE webinar on May 12, 2016 at 11:30 am - 12:00 pm EDT which you can register for by clicking on this LINK . MIndView is an exceptionally designed mind mapping application that has lots of great features to meet the needs of students who need the built-in supports. 

One of the most natural ways to interact with our devices is with our voice. With the advent of smartphones many of us are beginning to rely on voice as our means for interacting with our devices. Whether you are using Cortana , SIRI , or Google Now , you know how rewarding it is to be able to text a message or set up a reminder with your voice. Using your voice to interact with your handheld device feels so natural and empowering. Within this context I ordered an Amazon Echo Dot which I received a couple of weeks ago and am really excited with its potential in being able to understand your voice and in its ability to connect other devices for environmental control.  Setting up the Amazon Echo Dot was straight forward -I plugged it in connected it my WiFi network and within seconds I was asking Alexa questions. If you have used speech to interact with your devices you will be struck by just how fast Alexa responds once you ask it a question....

As much as I enjoy using my digital devices, there are times when I am going into meetings that I want to be able travel light and have that experience of putting pen to paper. However at the same time I know I am going to want to share that note or idea and bring it back into my digital work flow. I have been using various digital pen technologies for the past decade and when I saw that Wacom had released the Bamboo Spark I had to give it a test drive. Wacom was good enough to provide me with the Bamboo Spark Smart folio with gadget pocket to review. The  Bamboo Spark Smart folio  has a nice grey finish that should hold up well to wear and tear. The premise of the  Bamboo Spark Smart folio  is quite simple-write with the provided pen on the paper-then press the button to send all of your ideas and notes-which are automatically synced with the Bamboo Spark app on your IOS or Android device. The  Bamboo Spark Smart folio  ...

For sometime now I've been looking for a lightweight but stylish bag to carry my Surface 3 and iPad Air when I'm traveling. When I came across the Waterfield Field Muzetto bag I had to take a look at it and see how it could meet my needs. For those of you that may be unfamiliar with the Waterfield bag company they're located in San Francisco and all their bags are made here in United States. Before I ordered my bag I went to the Waterfield website , took a look at their products and found the website easy to navigate and filled with some great looking products. When I finally ordered the Field  Muzetto  bag the process was easy and Waterfield Field  Muzetto streamlined. The  Waterfield   company gives you that special attention and within seconds of ordering the bag I received several emails updating me on the status of the bag. Because each of these bags is handmade I was given a date as to when it would be completed and shipped out....

As more schools jump on the Chromebook wagon it is is exciting to see companies like Dell step up to the plate and deliver high quality devices for schools. For many of us who have been using Chromebooks for some time now- I always found the first generation devices were rather under-powered and lagged in performance. But this is changing rapidly with new Chromebooks that are sporting Intel processors. With Dell's release of the Dell Chromebook 13 the tides are changing and now educators and students can have access to devices that house much faster silicone. The Dell Chromebook that was provided for me for this review, the Dell Chromebook 13 sported an Intel i3 processor with 4 GB or RAM and 16 GB Solid State Drive with a 13.3 inch FHD Display and is priced at $529 on the Dell website. The Dell Chromebook 13 is made of carbon fiber finish with magnesium alloy that is easy to grip and gives the computer good protection from dings and bangs.  The Dell Chromebook 13 comes standard...

One of the really important skills that students need to develop is their ability to take notes in class. While many students have access to digital devices many still rely on traditional pen and paper for note taking.   While the research would support ( The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking , Psychological Science ,    Pam A. Mueller &    Daniel M. Oppenheimer   first published on April 23, 2014)  the use of pen and paper- wouldn’t it be great to be able to marry both the ink with digital technology to take advantage of the best of both worlds. In this post I'll share with you a couple of different strategies that students might find helpful to marry ink with their digital world. One of my favorite note taking tools is Evernote which I have been using for some time now. Evernote is a great way to capture ideas, notes, images, audio and store it on the web for easy access. Not to...

Ever since I've been involved in the field of assistive technology there's always been the hope that speech recognition could assist students with the writing process. While speech recognition has been effective for some of the students we work with, it hasn't always worked out for the majority of the students that we work with. In the last six months there's been some new developments that make speech recognition a reality for many students. For many of us that are using smart phones we find ourselves using speech recognition more and more on daily basis for text messaging and for writing emails. Now students can take advantage of speech recognition on mobile devices such as iPhone's, iPad, Android phones, Windows tablets as well with as within Google Docs. With the advent of machine learning the speech recognition engines keep getting better and better and do not require initial training. This has made it a very easy entry for students to trial speech recognition....