On Saturday afternoon (October 22), our class explored an app called Pictello. It can be used on the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad. The larger screen on the iPad is really the best way to go in my opinion as in this case, bigger is better, especially for students with visual differences. It is $18.99 on the iTunes store. Basically, it is an app that enables a person to create a talking photo album and talking book. It is truly an amazing app that can be used by all students but also can be very beneficial to students with learning differences. The description on the app write-up states that Pictello is developed for all ages and skill levels, is easy to use and requires no reading skills to locate and read stories. There is a ‘wizard’ built in that allows the creation of a story to be interactive and enjoyable. Pictures for the story can be taken in real time and put into the template or can be retrieved from other sources. A very versatile AT app.
As a Family Studies/ Core subject teacher in secondary schools, I can think of many ways to use Pictello - here are five ways:1. For a student new to Canada: Use Pictello to tell a story about a student's life before they came to Canada. Can show former town/living environment,customs, traditions, extended family, trip to Canada itself. Examples of picture pages can include a geography picture (from google earth, their house, relatives, traditional dress. Narration can be by the student with relatives from home speaking on some pictures as well. Could be finished with the new friends they have made in school since they have arrived. Outcome: students, teachers and other school workers would learn about the student’s previous life and thus contribute to a collective understanding of inclusiveness. Could be shared in Social Studies, PDR/ Healthy Living or homeroom/assembly.
2. For a student in a Lifeskills class, such as Family Studies: Pictello would be great for me to use with a student identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder to teach cooking skills (life skills). I had such a student in my class last year and Pictello would have been an awesome AT tool. I made many food products last year from spaghetti to smoothies and it would have been great to have a ‘storyboard’ that showed the stages of the process with visual pictures and voice. Examples of pictures pages could include pictures of the Foods Lab itself, of ingredients to be used, of students demonstrating the technique. Pictures could also be added by the fellow students working with the ASD student culminating in eating the finished product. Outcome: ASD students will learn about following procedures, new foods, new hands-on ways to manipulate food and working collaboratively. Classmates will learn positive ways to interact with students with differences. Could be shared in a learning center environment prior to a food lab experience for comprehension purposes or used as reinforcement during or after the experience.
3. For an ESL student: - Pictello would be great to use specifically for a student that is in the process of learning English as a second language. Pictello would be good for use as a visual/auditory dictionary. Pictures associated with basic language to subject specific language could be used with recorded pronunciation to enhance language learning. Could be used for every class as an AT device and carried on their person throughout the school (would be a bonus if the student could take the device home as well). Examples of picture pages can include just about anything that is relevant to the language requirements in the school environment – examples: social greetings to science pictures with the ‘translation’ spoken and written for the object. The student could be encouraged to ask classmates to assist in picture taking and labeling in English to encourage positive social interaction. Outcome: ESL students will be able to learn a new language more easily and become better prepared to actively participate to achieve school learning outcomes while classmates will learn to become accepting of students from other cultures.
4. For a class of students who are about to undertake a new experience: Pictello would be a great tool for teachers to use to record a visual story from a previous year with last year’s group of students. For example, a school trip to another part of Canada which the school visits every May/June. Pictures could be taken during the entirety of the trip; casual pictures along with pictures of buildings, places and activities. The teachers could incorporate a mark for this aspect of the school trip where each student makes one page with a comment about their favorite or most interesting part of the trip. This video “diary” would be shown to the class as a whole in advance of the trip the following year and could relate to expectations, rules, and other trip objectives. Outcome: the following year’s students will be ‘educated’ as to the nature of the trip with its stated expectations which will contribute to a positive, successful experience.
5. For the school to make a presentation to the community: Pictello would be a useful tool, potentially offering a more personalized experience than PowerPoint to engage a school community audience for a persuasive presentation. An example of this would be the case of a school needing the community to financially support a fundraising effort to purchase equipment for a school program. Specific example: Physical Education program needs new sports equipment for a new-to-the-school winter outdoor activity. Snowshoes, cross-country skis and boots are needed for this program to succeed. Students can take an iPad or ipod and make their own story of why they would like to have this equipment and what it would mean to them to participate in outdoor sports as opposed to always being inside in the gym. Individual students could have a page each with their own picture and audio recording. A fun, light-hearted touch would personalize the experience. The Pictello story could be displayed on a PC and projected to an audience in the gym. Parent-teacher night or orientation night at the beginning of the school year would be a good time to share a school need with the community at large and hopefully associated fund-raising activities. Outcome: a win-win situation with an end result of motivation to fund-raise for equipment and a shared feeling of community with the school.
(6.) For a student who struggles with anxiety disorder/has great difficulty with changes in routine: Pictello could be used to provide a visual story (a social story) to show upcoming events. ASD students, cognitively challenged students and students diagnosed with severe anxiety would benefit from a visual/audio story that would prepare them for an upcoming event. Reinforcement of ideas, familiarization with routine and ability to inject themselves into the storyboard with their own picture, prior to the actual event, would go a long ways to desensitize an anxious student and strengthen the probability of a successful outcome with ASD and other cognitively challenged students. For examples, picture pages could include telling the story of a visit to a museum. A sequential step by step picture/auditory story showing the student getting ready, going on a bus, a picture of the museum, pictures of the exhibits etc. would be shown in advance. Outcome: the student will be less anxious and have a positive experience with less stress and minimal disruption to others.
