It has finally become time to wrap up my learning project! I started off this project knowing how to sign the majority of the alphabet and how to sign O’ Canada. I also started this journey thinking there were three main resources I could use to help me: Marlee Signs, ASL Bloom, and YouTube. I was very excited about learning American Sign Language; however, I will admit I was slightly overwhelmed with trying to find new resources. In the past when I had attempted to learn, the majority of the resources I was able to find were focused on teaching baby signs. While I can definitely see the benefit of resources like this, they are not the most useful in teaching the skills required to meet my goal of having a conversation with someone in ASL. Through this project I have been able to learn about so many resources that are available today. They have all been created with different purposes in mind making each of them unique. They all have different capabilities and it has been really interesting to see why each resource has been designed to function in that manner that they do. I have appreciated getting to explore what I have liked and disliked about each resource. I feel if I was to create my own it would end up being a mixture of every resource that I have tested so far.
My learning project did not move in the trajectory that I originally pictured that it would. I set out to learn to have introductory conversation with someone using ASL. I thought that it was going to take me a lot longer to learn how to do this, but I was able to learn how to have this baseline conversation by the end of February. This freed up for time for me to explore other interests that I had related to my amended learning goal as in which I wanted to spread awareness about the misconceptions that many people have about ASL. I also had the opportunity to learn about the way in which ASL has begun to be incorporated into technology.
Learning Project Progression
- Discussed my desire to learn ASL
- Discussed a couple resources that I planned to utilize
- Reflected on my previous knowledge
- Followed an ASL Instagram page
- Tested out the ASL Bloom app
- Learned about the importance of ASL being recognized as its own language
- Reflected on my lack of knowledge that ASL is a language completely separate from English
- Read a blog post about the misconceptions that people hold about ASL
- Connected learning to a video going around social media reporting on a woman that did not know ASL being hired by the Tampa police department to interpret a press conference
- Amended my learning goal to include the spreading of awareness about common ASL misconceptions
- Used Instagram as my resource of the week
- Learned about ASL grammar from a post on Instagram
- Furthered my learning about the importance of ASL being recognized as its own language from another post on Instagram pertaining to the Barbie movie
- Reflected on the difference between the use of captions and ASL interpretation
- Used YouTube as a learning resource
- Used Zoom to record my learning process this week
- Reflected on my discomfort with using screen recording resources
- Posted my own video sharing my learning this week!
- Practiced using program called MovieZilla
- Used the Marlee Signs app to practice my ASL skills
- Posted another video sharing what I was able to learn this week!
- Decided to have some fun and attempt to learn some nursery rhymes in ASL
- Perused the channels of people that were posting ASL nursery rhymes to ensure they are being posted by people that are a part of the community. Found two channels that stuck out. One channel acknowledged that they were hearing, but were posting videos to share their ASL learning journey. The other seemed to pretend as though they were experts on the subject
- With the help of a video called Awti Answers: What is ASL Rhyme? discovered that because ASL is a visual language things cannot rhyme
- Reflected on my lack of knowledge about ASL and my learning thus far
- Introduced to a website called Start ASL from another site listing ASL learning resources
- Learned about the importance of not relying on fingerspelling to fill in the blanks when you do not know the sign for a word
- Learned about the written form of ASL called glossing that is written in the order in which they are signed and uses symbols to indicate the ASL grammar that should be used when signing
- Realized that I am getting to the point in which I can understand what is being signed so long as it is slowed down
- Discovered I need more practice to develop my recognition of fingerspelling
- Based on in class discussions explored the incorporation of ASL in coding
- Found article by Lenovo tech company that discusses the benefits of computer programmers using ASL to communicate
- Found a video of a programmer describing their experience in the field as a person that is a part of the deaf and hard of hearing community
- Found a tutorial to develop an ASL detection software using the Python coding language
- Found a video of a group of students that have developed gloves that translate ASL into English and reflected on its possible future applications
- Found a video of someone using Scratch to code a game meant to teach students the ASL alphabet
- Introduced to Signapse resource that interprets websites and video into ASL using artificial intelligence
- Reflected on the possible classroom application of this resource
- Introduced to PopSign app which is a game developed to help people learn ASL
- Did not like that it focuses on teaching singular words instead of phrases
- Really loved the idea of making language learning more fun and engaging
- Personally, I would use this resource as way to practice my skills when I am not feeling motivated
This project has also taught me a lot about blogging and video editing. I was scared to share my learning on my blog at first. I have read blogs in the past, but I have never been on this side of the website before. I have realized that I really love sharing what I learning and working on with others. For one thing, it keeps me accountable to continue to push myself to find new resources. I have found that I also love receiving comments on my posts. I find it motivating that all my hard work and learning is being used to educate others on new topics. It is also really nice to see that people are interested in the project that I have been working hard to develop. Using a blog to share my journey has also helped me to reach the addition to my goal that I added in week two in which I wanted to spread about the general lack knowledge hearing people have about ASL.
Thank you to Katia for giving me a platform to work on something that I am passionate about! I have been wanting to start learning ASL again for a long time. I struggled to find the time to, not only do the learning itself, but also find resources that are free, useful, and easy to use.