[nabs-l] course compass

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Cindy,

I don't know a thing about Course Compass, but your situation
definitely sounds frustrating and unfortunate. If a lot of NABS
members are having problems this might be an issue we'll want to
address as an organization with Course Compass and/or JAWS (for
scripting, etc.)

The most equitable solution is probably to hire either a reader or a
private tutor depending on how much help you think you'll need with
learning the material. If you are understanding the concepts pretty
well from the lectures a reader to simply tell you what is on the
screen may be all you need, but if you want to get more conceptual
assistance a tutor (either paid or volunteer through your academic
support center) may be more appropriate.

Alternatively, if you're short on funds and it's not easy to secure
reader money from rehab, you can see if your professor would be
willing to send you the homework questions in an MS-Word file, and
then meet with your prof or TA (if there is one) during their office
hours to go over conceptual issues. Most professors love to work with
students one-on-one and professor office hours are generally an
underused resource. You  probably won't be able to use your professor
as a reader for every assignment, but if the prof can send you the
questions and then be there to provide instruction should you  need
it, this can be very workable.

Teaching assistants are another overlooked source of assistance.
Usually TA's are graduate students in the field they teach (in this
case, math) who get paid by the department to help students and take
care of administrative details. They also hold office hours and are
getting compensated to help students with things, so you won't
inconvenience your TA unduly if you make an appointment with him/her
to go over material. TA's may also be willing to convert the homework
assignments into formats you  can use. When I took advanced statistics
at the undergrad level, my TA helped me with learning computer
programs and converting tables from the textbook into a format that I
could use. Many TA's are happy to help not just because it's their
job, but because it gives them more experience with teaching.

This isn't directly related to Cindy's question, but sometimes TA's
can also serve as good readers for exams if you're having trouble
getting permission to use your own readers. TA's have to be around on
test day, but often have nothing really to do during the test itself,
making them available to read. The good thing about using a TA as a
reader is that the TA is familiar with the material and can describe
diagrams, charts, etc. accurately. Yet it's often not as
nerve-wracking as using the professor as a reader especially if the TA
isn't grading your test.

Arielle

On 1/12/09, Cindy Bennett <passionflower505 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> This semester, all of the homework for my college algebra class is done
> online through a website generated by the company that publishes the book.
> It is called course compass. Today i attempted my first assignment. I first
> downloaded the necissary software, and i attempted to read the questions,
> but so far, Jaws version 9 has not read any of it. My room mate confirmed
> the fact that the questions are vissibly there, but it is, in fact, that
> jaws is just not reading them. Have any of you worked with course compass
> while using a screen reader?
>
> I would really like to hear what you guys have done when online components
> did not work. Should i just get another assignment? Something out of the
> book? One of the purposes of the online homework is to provide access to
> help. There are links that walk students through difficult problems step by
> step, and if i don't have access to the site, then i would be missing out on
> a lot of help. There is a learning center on campus, but sessions for the
> course that i am in generally meet as a group. Should i request to have a
> private tutor since i might not have access to all of the online help?
>
> It is disapointing to me, because so far, i have had access to everything
> having to do with the school and even blackboard, but this is different.
> Thanks
> Cindy
>
>
>
>
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