[nabs-l] Finding Readers and Tutors

Tue Jan 13 21:41:56 UTC 2009

Hi Rachel and all,

I don't have a lot of personal experience with choosing readers and
tutors, but I know that many of you on the list do have experiences
and tips that would be helpful to share with us. My general
experience, though, has been that better-quality tutoring can be found
in mainstream tutoring centers than through the DSS office. DSS can be
skilled at converting materials, but they hire relatively few student
workers compared to places like the university academic support
center, so I'd imagine their hiring practices aren't quite as
selective. So I'd recommend seeking out services like the college
academic support, writing center, etc. to find high-quality
specialized tutoring. If you're interested in tutoring, blindness
really isn't a factor and so we should be able to use mainstream
services for that.

Readers, on the other hand, are definitely a blindness-related service
so you won't find a group of trained readers available on  campus to
choose from. Again, though, using the DSS office introduces another
agent in the process, preventing you from having a direct relationship
with your reader and making it harder to choose, manage, reprimand and
replace your readers on your own. A good strategy for choosing a
high-quality reader, which many students have used, is to interview
several and  pick the one or ones you like the best. It's also a good
idea to have backup readers available. As for finding interested
candidates, if you don't have much reading beyond a single course,
hiring someone in your class may be most appropriate. But if you need
a reader for multiple  courses or someone with particular expertise in
an area, then advertising formally through on-campus fliers, email
announcements, or through professors for a particular course (i.e.
calculus professors to find an algebra reader) may be more effective.

Arielle

On 1/13/09, Rachel Becker <Rachel at beckerconsultants.com> wrote:
> How do you find a good reader/tutor?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
> Behalf Of Arielle Silverman
> Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 6:04 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] course compass
>
>
> Hi Beth and all,
>
> That's why it's so critical for us to pick our own readers and tutors
> as much as possible--so we have some quality control!
>
> Arielle
>
> On 1/13/09, Beth <thebluesisloose at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Cindy, to answer your question, I did Course Compass once, had the
>> same problem, and hired a prite tutor through the Office for Disabled
>> Students.  She walked me through the stuff I had to know.  I at first
>> had a girl who had no idea what to do, then I got bad grades on the
>> tests, then another lady toom over, and the grades improved.  Sad,
>> isn't that?
>> Beth
>>
>> On 1/12/09, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 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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