Using Kami as Assistive Technology

Remote learning has forced teachers around the world to find ways to connect with students in engaging ways. For students with different abilities, this can be even more difficult. As a teacher myself, I am always looking for ways to get more bang for my buck. Using Kami is an effective way to reach all learners - those who identify as differently abled or not. After reading Carli Spina's article about Universal Design, I learned about how Universal Design benefits everyone. I can also see how Kami fits in the framework for Universal Design for Learning. Kami allows for users to hit all three guidelines for UDL:

1. Represent content in multiple ways.

2. Demonstrate mastery of content in multiple ways.

3. Allow learners to engage with the content in multiple ways.

Users can download Kami as a Google Chrome extension. It works with Google Classroom, Schoology, and Canvas. Some of the features are free and some are behind a pay wall. Basically, anything you can import into Google Classroom can be opened using Kami - Google Docs, Slides, PDFs, etc. Before researching Kami, I was only aware of its annotation and mark up features. I was not aware of all the other features that make it an effective assistive technology tool. Here are a few:


  • Dictionary
  • Text-to-Speech
  • Speech-to-Text
  • Record audio clips
  • Video comments 
  • Dark Mode
  • OCR (optical character recognition) for scanned documents - if you didn't do that, it would treat the document as just an image. With OCR, you can use it for the other accessibility features
  • Spanish translation coming soon!

I think Kami provides accessibilities for learners with a variety of impairments. You don't have to search around for many different adaptive tools and learn how to use all those individual tools. Kami is a one-stop-shop!

Here is a long-ish video (37 minutes) that goes into detail about using each of the above features. This is from the Kami team. It is lengthy, but worth it if you really want to use those features to their full potential.


If you are looking for some shorter explanations, here is a quick overview of Kami's features for assistive technology:


This 10 minute video explains how to use Kami's features to meet accommodations and modifications for students with IEPs.


Works Cited:

Spina, C. (2017). How universal design will make your library more inclusive. School Library Journal. Retrieved from https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=how-universal-design-will-make-your-library-more-inclusive


Comments

  1. Lindsay WeaverFebruary 26, 2021 at 10:48 AM

    Amanda,

    Kami looks so great to use and like you said, remote teaching has definitely created challenges to find ways to connect and engage students. I have many students with accommodations and reaching those accommodations through a screen has definitely had its challenges. I love the way that Kami hits the guidelines that you mention with representing content in multiple ways, demonstrating mastery, and engaging with content. Since my school is a Google school, I think it is awesome that Kami is a Chrome extension and files can be directly uploaded into Google Classroom with Kami. I love that it has a Text-to-Speech feature because many of my students benefit from hearing the text as well as following along. The video comments feature is also a great way to integrate more technology and hear first hand from students. This is such a great feature and I can’t wait to add this extension and get started using this in my classroom! Thanks for sharing!

    -Lindsay Weaver

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lindsay WeaverFebruary 26, 2021 at 10:55 AM

    Amanda,

    Kami looks so great to use and like you said, remote teaching has definitely created challenges to find ways to connect and engage students. I have many students with accommodations and reaching those accommodations through a screen has definitely had its challenges. I love the way that Kami hits the guidelines that you mention with representing content in multiple ways, demonstrating mastery, and engaging with content. Since my school is a Google school, I think it is awesome that Kami is a Chrome extension and files can be directly uploaded into Google Classroom with Kami. I love that it has a Text-to-Speech feature because many of my students benefit from hearing the text as well as following along. The video comments feature is also a great way to integrate more technology and hear first hand from students. This is such a great feature and I can’t wait to add this extension and get started using this in my classroom! Thanks for sharing!

    -Lindsay Weaver

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lindsay WeaverFebruary 26, 2021 at 10:56 AM

      Sorry for the double posting! I wasn't sure if the first one was showing up!

      Delete
  3. Eden MullerFebruary 28, 2021 at 10:01 PM

    Thanks For sharing! I am always interested in learning about resources that can be used to reach all learners within my classroom. Are you aware if this is available through Microsoft Teams. If so, how does it work? I would love to try it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amanda KneeceMarch 4, 2021 at 5:37 PM

    I don't think so. I am not familiar with Microsoft Teams, but a quick search says it's compatible with Office 365, but not Teams. Sorry!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interview with a School Librarian: Part 2 of 4

Image
Today's interview is with Sarah Jorgenson, the school librarian at Carolina Spring Middle School in Lexington, SC. We focus on the shared foundation of "Include" and how she implements this into her library program.  Something that is obvious as soon as you walk into the school library at Carolina Springs Middle School is their commitment to inclusiveness. This is the poster that greets you: I knew that Sarah would be perfect to have a discussion with about the shared foundation of "Include." She begins by discussing that she wants her collection to be reflective of the students she serves, but also reflective of a wide representation of people. I am reminded of Dr. Bishop's phrase of literature being used to serve as windows and mirrors. She wants to make sure her displays reflect this as well. Not only does she feel it's important to make sure the collection is inclusive, but the library space as well. The CSMS library includes different types of seati...
Read more

Final thoughts

As I reflect back on this past semester, I really felt like the assignments and activities completed for this course are valuable for my future career as a school librarian. It made me wish I was already working in a school library so that I could immediately apply what I learned in this course! It wasn't just helpful, but also fun to research technology hardware, digital tools, and makerspace resources. I enjoyed learning about my classmates' findings through their blog posts. Hopefully, everyone will keep their blog public so that I can return to them throughout the program and when I begin my journey of a school librarian. I feel like I now have a toolbox of websites, resources, and school librarian professionals to turn to when I need help. The biggest takeaway for me is the website assignment. It seemed overwhelming at first that I could create my own website. Don't you have to have mad coding skills for that? No, you don't! I chose Google Sites and it was surprisi...
Read more

Interview with a School Librarian: Part 1 of 4

Today will begin a 4-part series of interviews with school librarians. I spoke with four different school librarians about the AASL standards. Each librarian was asked the same questions, but each one focused on a different shared foundation. Today I will be sharing my thoughts and reflections on my interview with Mrs. Debbie Oswald at Lexington High School. I asked her to consider the shared foundation of "Collaborate." Mrs. Oswald says that she incorporates this through creating a faculty newsletter each semester, serving on the Wildcat Leadership team, her weekly meetings with all district high school librarians, her monthly meetings with all district school librarians from all levels, and social media. Resources she uses to collaborate are Google Classroom, Destiny, the school website, Twitter, and Facebook. She creates displays that highlights different authors and genres. She also collaborates with students when they come in for personal inquiry projects. More collabora...
Read more