So recently we had our Boardmaker Online workshop. That was a lot of fun! Boardmaker is a program where there are lots of pictures all gathered together. It comes with lots of templates so that you can make schedules, communication boards or anything else that a student with exceptionalities might need to help them communicate or be able to learn more effectively.
It was great to be able to learn how to use this program. I had previous experience with it before coming into the course but I only knew the very basics of how to use Boardmaker. In the workshop I was able to learn much more. At first the Boardmaker program was a little bit challenging and frustrating to learn some of the more advanced techniques. Don’t give up. Just remember it’s just a computer program and there is always an undo button! Another advantage to the Boardmaker Online maker program is you can see examples of other people ideas and it can help to inspire you for your projects!
Then in our next course on Augmentative and Alternative Communication we really got to put into practice what we had learnt in our workshop. Our assignments focussed on creating communication aides or visuals for students that we created. These were great assignments as we got to be really creative and have the perfect student at the same time! Our communication aides were of course ideally suited to them as we created them. It was so much fun to once again be able to put all of our knowledge that we have been learning to practical use and see how this could work in a real situation once we are on practicums and out in the work force. The Boardmaker program has so many different applications from individual students to being able to be used in the classroom as a whole. You can use it to create schedules for the whole classroom or just for each student. It can create calendars, planners, checklists, token boards, or flash cards. It has amazing possibilities for what can be done with this program to help students.
It’s hard to believe that our classroom time is winding down and soon we will be on practicum. It can really be felt with what we are doing in the classwork now. It is so much more practical and hands on every day. We are learning more and more how to apply all the tools and things that we have been learning up to this point so that we are fully prepared for our practicum that is just around the corner.
It is hard to believe how quickly all of this going. It really is flying by. The school days just seem to be going faster and faster. I am enjoying my time at Stenberg College and all the great things that I am learning. Stay tuned for more as the adventure continues and we get closer to our practicum time. Hope you are enjoying the great weather we are having.
Check out a video of our Education Assistant Diploma Program.
