[Blindmath] Question about having an assistant in the classroom for stem subjects

[Sabra Ewing]

Basically, I am having a situation where I had problems in a lecture style course. It came up while at resolving these problems that the professor said I declined an assistant at the beginning of the class, implying that if I had an assistant, everything would have been hunky-dory. I know that the problems I had had nothing to do with whether assistant or present or not. The only thing I think an assistant would have been useful for is as a witness to things that happened inside the classroom. Because I can't even understand what an assistant is supposed to do in a situation like mine, I can't explain why the lack of an assistant did not cause my problems.

Sabra Ewing

> On Nov 11, 2015, at 5:07 PM, Suzanne Germano via Blindmath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Notetakers for blind students
> 
> I have partial vision so I use a cctv to se the board but I can say in my
> stem classes: Calculus, linear algebra, several programming, theory of
> computer science etc that the professors often do not verbalize much of
> what is on the board or on the power points. They also like to use laser
> points and say things like "you start here and then go to here and then
> here before you finally get to here." So not at all helpful if you can not
> see it. Even the ones that try to remember things like I am color blind
> will often forget and say "the area circled in green"
> 
> So there are situations where depending on the student and the professor
> that a notetaker may be beneficial
> 
> I have used lab assistants in courses like chemistry to tell me color
> changes. I prefer not to use another student as they may not be doing
> things right or understand the lab being performed. The couple of times I
> asked for someone in the lab, I requested somewhere who was majoring in the
> subject and well above the course I was taking.
> 
> On Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 3:46 PM, Dave M. Thomas via Blindmath <
> blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
>> Sabra,
>> 
>> You do not come across as being at all confused to me I think you're spot
>> on. Blind people can and do perform perfectly well without assistants in
>> STEM lecture classes. As was the case in your Ceramics course, there might
>> be times in STEM labs when some assistance would be helpful ... for
>> example, in a chemistry lab. But you are right about not needing it in the
>> lecture classes.
>> 
>> Dave
>> 
>> 
>> Dave Thomas, M.A.
>> Academic Counselor, Learning Effectiveness Program
>> University of Denver
>> Katherine A. Ruffatto Hall, #424
>> 1999 E. Evans Ave.
>> Denver, CO 80208
>> Phone: 303-871-7758
>> Fax: 303-871-3939
>> E-mail: dave.m.thomas at du.edu
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sabra
>> Ewing via Blindmath
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 3:21 PM
>> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Sabra Ewing
>> Subject: [Blindmath] Question about having an assistant in the classroom
>> for stem subjects
>> 
>> I am having trouble understanding the concept of using an assistant in the
>> classroom for lecture style stem subjects as it relates to blindness. It is
>> getting to the point where it is becoming a problem in my interactions with
>> people who believe that blind people should have assistance for these
>> subjects. I understand that if you are paralyzed, you would use an
>> assistant in lecture to take notes for you because you can't write with a
>> pencil and maybe you can't use an alternative device to take notes on a
>> computer. I understand that if you are deaf, you would use an assistant to
>> translate everything from English to sign language, you could have a
>> condition that would make you run around for no reason or not be able to
>> stay on task in an assistant would help with that. However, none of those
>> apply to me. Let's say A blind student is in a lecture. It could be
>> anything like math, science, or programming. If that person had an
>> assistant in the classroom, what with the assistant do
>> 
>> ? If the
>>  assistant is supposed to be taking notes, why can the student not take
>> their own notes and why has an assistant been chosen instead of removing
>> excess ability barriers? I am just really trying to understand this, and
>> I'm not going to go into details, but I am in a situation where I need a
>> rational explanation for why I did not have an assistant in one of my stem
>> classes. After fourth grade, I never really had an assistant in the
>> classroom. If you are saying to just think about why I had an assistant in
>> the fourth grade and before, I tried that, but I can't remember why. In the
>> future if I am offered an assistant for class, should I just take it even
>> if I don't know why so the professor can't blame any problems that occur in
>> the class on the lack of an assistant? It would seem wrong to have an
>> assistant just for that though. I had an assistant and my ceramics class
>> who helped me find things in the room and know how to use the tools and
>> glaze and keep track of my pieces, but
>> 
>> I did no
>> t do any of those activities in a stem class. I have really tried to
>> think very hard about it even though it doesn't seem like it, but I just
>> get more confused.
>> 
>> Sabra Ewing
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