[nabs-l] Finding Readers and Tutors

Carlos J montas carlos.montas at gmail.com
Wed Jan 14 00:18:36 UTC 2009


I agree with all of these suggestions.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arielle Silverman" <arielle71 at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 3:41 PM
Subject: [nabs-l] Finding Readers and Tutors


> 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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>>>>>
>>>>
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