[nabs-l] Readers and Testing

[Ashley Bramlett]

Hi Jamie,

I'm not sure what to reccommend.  My best advice is to prevent such a 
situation.  Have back up readers!

If your reader doesn't show up for a whole week before the exam, I think its 
the student's responsibility to go to the professor, the dss office or 
someone to find another reader.
Its the student's responsibility to learn the matterial and one should do 
something about accessibility problems way before an exam.

Definately talk to the professor or write about the situation, but prior to 
the exam!
I would say refusing to take the test because you could not prepare sends a 
bad message.  So perhaps the student should take the exam and see how they 
do.  If they fail the exam, that will teach them to be proactive and study 
next time with a different reader or tutor.

I did not have issues with readers for preparing for tests in my one math 
class I had.  But I did encounter the other part of this situation you 
described.

I was in a math class and had to use a combo of large print and readers for 
the text.  I could not get it in braille nor did rfb have it.
My class used an online assignment system called Course Compass.  As you 
described, the software the math department uses for
> practice exercises and test preparation isn't at all accessible.  I was 
> not able to do the practice exercises and test preparation online like 
> other students because Course Compass was not accessible.  I use jaws.
So I did equivalent exercises from the text, the old fashioned way.  The 
advantage of doing it online was you got immediate feedback whether your 
answer was right or wrong.  But you can still practice the concepts and do 
homework out of the textbook.  So there's a solution to test prep.  If the 
software is inaccessible go back to doing it out of the textbook and write 
your work by hand.

I think a situation  like this won't arise if a student is proactive and 
addressess accessibility issues before an exam comes or better yet right 
when the class starts.  I think such big accessibility issues like 
inaccessible
software that is a big part of the class so you can prep for the exam, 
should be addressed eary on.

Hth,
Ashley


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jamie Principato" <blackbyrdfly at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 2:23 PM
Subject: [nabs-l] Readers and Testing


> This is more a survey than anything. I'm asking this question so that I 
> will
> be better able and more equipped to help someone that means a lot to me.
>
> If you're a student in a math class and the university you attend can't 
> get
> you a brailled textbook, and the software the math department uses for
> practice exercises and test preparation isn't at all accessible, and your
> teacher assigns you a reader but no back-up reader, and your reader 
> doesn't
> show up for the entire week before a big exam, possibly due to illness, 
> what
> should you do? Should you still go and take the exam on test day even 
> though
> you couldn't adequately prepare? Should you refuse to take the test until
> you are able to prepare properly? Should you try to write to the professor
> who assigned the reader about the situation even though at such a big
> university it seems like the professors just don't care about the needs of
> one of thousands of students? Please help... :(
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