[Blindmath] AFB Teleseminar Dec 2nd on How will students with Vision Loss Fare in Common Core Assessments

[sabra1023]

Of course if they're trying to scan their math with Kurtzwell that won't work at all. However, if another screen reader like NVDA is used, and the test is produced in an accessible format, which means that hardcopy tactile graphics are provided when necessary and that all information can be read by the screen reader, then I think it would be more fair than having a human reader. I tried to take a multiple-choice test with a human reader once, and it was very difficult. Firstly, I don't like the idea of someone I don't know having knowledge about how well I'm doing on my test. Secondly, the reader is it a computer, so I can't quickly get the person to read small parts of text, and correctly identifies special symbols. This test had no special symbols, but it probably took three times as long as it would have with jaws because the reader spoke slowly, repeated questions unnecessarily, and asked me several times if that was the answer I wanted. I think it would be impossible for me to take a math test with a reader and I don't know how other blind people are doing it. For the test to be completely fair, there needs to be away to tactilely represent what I am reading and writing. It's laughable to expect any person to hold all of the steps for a calculus problem in their head. If the reader writes down everything you say, you still don't have a way to access the information as equally and completely as your site appears, which makes the test not fully accessible. Though using a screen reader alone isn't completely fair, it is still more fair than having a reader, because you have complete, albeit slow and tedious, access to the auditory information. For coding, I think there needs to be consistent access to a brill display no matter what because it's not acceptable for a blind person to go character by character with a screen reader checking for errors. That just wastes everyone's time.

> On Nov 25, 2013, at 9:17 AM, Paul Chapin <pdchapin at amherst.edu> wrote:
> 
> I’d like to respond to Mary.
> 
> Part of the problem here is how tests are designed and structured.  Typically we take a fairly simple problem to solve (otherwise it can’t be done in the time limitations), make sure it’s fairly complex in form (to “test” the student) and then restrict the students access to other information in the name of preventing cheating. Exactly what does any of this have to do with the real world?
> 
> Once, back when I was a programmer, I did a presentation to a computer science students where I told them that the good news was that the real world is open book and the bad news is that 70 isn’t passing.
> 
> Memory is nice and as a programmer, knowing the parameters that go with a particular function is useful and makes things go faster but what’s really important is that I know that the function exists. If I have to I can always look it up to find the parameters. What’s even more important is for me to know which functions I need to use. That requires an complete understanding of the problem, including knowing what questions I should be asking to get the critical information I need. Everything else is just mechanics.
> 
> Paul Chapin
> Academic Technology Specialist
> Amherst College
> X2144
> 
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