[nabs-l] Need Advice: Environmental Science Course

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Tina and all,

As others mentioned, you can simply ask your instructor whether the
older edition will be OK or if you need the newest one, and go from
there. If the instructor is using the textbook as a supplement, but
not assigning homework strictly based on what is in the text, you will
probably be fine with the older edition unless there are drastic
changes.

I was a bio major in college and took two semesters of general bio
with labs and two semesters of general chemistry with labs. All my bio
labs and almost all my chem labs were done in pairs or groups, so I
could participate equally in almost all aspects of the lab projects in
collaboration with my group. The only accommodation that's generally
necessary is to ask your partner(s) to verbalize what is happening in
the experiment. This kind of discussion is good for helping all group
members clarify and understand the information gained in the lab. With
this information conveyed verbally, you can participate as an equal
partner in the processes of experiment design, data recording,
analysis, and writing/reporting. Keeping your instructor in the loop
is great, but I don't think you need to ask for any special
accommodations if it's a group/partner lab. If for some reason you
have to complete lab experiments on your own, you may or may not need
a reader depending on whether you'll need to know about visual things
happening in your experiment, such as color changes or readings on
inaccessible measuring devices.

Finally, taking advantage of your instructor's office hours if you get
confused about any course material is a good idea. But, don't assume
that you'll necessarily be struggling more than other students. You
may benefit from tactile diagrams, but you may also find that the
diagrams are redundant and you can follow the course concepts without
them. You should have a good feel after a week or two of class about
what kind of additional accommodations, if any, you could benefit
from.

Arielle

On 8/20/10, Ignasi Cambra <ignasicambra at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> I don't really know how your school works, but what I do is to buy the
> regular book at the bookstore and take it to the Adaptive Technology and
> Accessibility Center in my university, which puts it in accessible format
> for me. They always ask for the syllabus for the class, so they can know
> what I am going to need for each day. You should check if your school has an
> adaptive technology center like that. Mine works great and I really don't
> know what I would do without it.
> On Aug 20, 2010, at 3:24 PM, Anjelina wrote:
>
>> Hi Tina:
>> I'd talk to the professor to see if the previous edition is drastically
>> different from the required version. Sometimes it might be wording
>> differences or chapters are organized differently. Have you tried
>> Bookshare or contacting the publisher to get the current version in an
>> accessible format? If those options don't pan out you could scan the book
>> yourself.
>> Keep in constant contact with the professor and use the office hours to
>> get clarification for parts of the course that may be visual. For labs you
>> could hire a reader who could help with-in class experiments. You'd tell
>> them what to do and they could tell you the results.
>> Just my thoughts.
>>
>> Anjelina
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tina Hansen" <th404 at comcast.net>
>> To: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 1:59 PM
>> Subject: [nabs-l] Need Advice: Environmental Science Course
>>
>>
>>> This fall, I will be taking an environmental science course at my local
>>> community college. There are two concerns I have, and I was wondering if
>>> anyone out there has taken this kind of course before, and how you may
>>> have addressed them.
>>>
>>> 1. I did the research about the textbook I need, and discovered that
>>> RFB&D has the previous eddition, but not the one my instructor is asking
>>> everyone to get. If you've been in this situation before, how have you
>>> addressed this issue?
>>>
>>> 2. Lab work. I know that there is going to be a lab in this course, and I
>>> am not willing to have it waved. If you've done lab work for a course
>>> like this, what have you done to make sure you're able to participate?
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for any advice you might have on these concerns.
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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>
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-- 
Arielle Silverman
President, National Association of Blind Students
Phone:  602-502-2255
Email:
nabs.president at gmail.com
Website:
www.nabslink.org