When you need a digital assist in a classroom or other learning environment, I recommend reaching for Cool Tools for School. Cool Tools for School compares and contrasts the digital technology available on the market. It lists in detail the abilities of each tool, and explains how to use them to improve a student’s learning experience. It also offers a wealth of additional helpful information.

Who is this book for?

You will want–or really, need–this book as a valuable resource if you’re working with learners with special needs. It is designed to give parents, teachers, and other professionals an understanding of the resources available to help children gain the most value out of their educational opportunities. But–these tools aren’t just for kids. They can also be used in learning environments by adults.

As a former homeschooler who encountered some learning challenges with my own kids, I wish that I’d had a resource like this available to turn to for assistance.

When you need a digital assist, Cool Tools for School is invaluable.

While the technology discussed is widely available, I suspect you’ll be as surprised as I was at the many ways you can use it to assist students in learning.

In Dana’s own words:

“I am a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) with over 25 years of experience, but I am not what you would call a ‘traditional’ SLP as I do not help children pronounce their speech sounds appropriately, nor do I remediate voice or fluency issues. For as long as I can remember, I have been captivated by the powerful impact of technology on accommodating skills, thereby making what may have seemed impossible, possible.” (Cool Tools for School, pg. 3)

Dana works within the Canadian public school system. The language of the book and some of her content reflects this, but allows for broader use than just in Canada. Dana chose her field because of her own special learning challenges. She knows her subject from the inside out because she’s lived and applied it in her own life.

Dana also says:

“The overall purpose of this book is to teach people how to use assistive technology tools in everyday life situations. Knowing what tools are needed is the first step and understanding how to use them for school-related tasks is the next. This book will not only help you to identify which tools are needed, but will also provide unique strategies and ideas on how to apply the recommended tools to different scenarios in people’s everyday lives.” (Cool Tools for School, pg. 16)

Formatter’s notes:

Dan Mawhinney at 40DayPublishing drops the most interesting and challenging formatting projects in my lap. This is the kind of project that I would probably never agree to do unless Dan assigns it to me. It’s also uniquely suited to 40 Day Publishing’s resources as a company.

This book required a team effort. I did not design the cover. I had plenty to do with just the formatting.

This book’s challenges included:

• A complicated book structure
• A large quantity of images
• Many tables
• Full indexing

Since she’s very creative, Dana didn’t label her chapters as chapters (I’ve encountered this as well with other authors at 40DayPublishing.). So, I made educated guesses as to what constituted a chapter and which headings Dana needed. Dan gave his input, Dana gave hers, I tweaked the headings and outline (and made further adjustments to the content as needed), and Dana approved the result.

And then, there were the tables. Pages and pages of tables. Understand, I’m not complaining. The whole book was built around those tables. Insuring that every piece of information ended up in just the right place required careful attention to detail. It also required tweaking the formatting parameters more than once, and multiple passes with Dana double-checking everything.

When I realized how complicated the book structure had become, I recommended adding an index. Dan thought that was a wonderful idea. I quickly realized that I probably should have kept my mouth shut–but–I did need the practice. So, Cool Tools for School has a very helpful index at the back as well as an extensive Table of Contents in the front.

The end result was a very nice, incredibly useful book. Cool Tools for School is available in paperback and digital formats.

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