[nabs-l] Assignments with copy editing

[bookwormahb at earthlink.net]

Sean,
Wow, I never knew blind students had that much lee way.
I was treated like other students, but  with accomodations.
They had procedures there so you would not be able to cheat easily.

The only quizzes I took home were last semester when I did them 
electronically; we figured it would be easier to take a short quiz that way 
rather than going to the testing center who does not have a decent version 
of Jaws!
The school is way behind in providing reasonable accomodations; jaws is old!
I had to email my take home tests and quizzes at the same time as other 
students.
I never questioned it as it seemed fair to me.
Oh only one time for my counseling theories test I had an extra day for the 
take home, open book test.

I went to George mason university, GMU, before Marymount university, mu.
You said
"It amazes me how many students are allowed to use
notetakers and laptops (with internet connections), get copies of tests
ahead of time, or email in test answers well after the testing period is
over."
At both schools that never happened.
I took my test in the learning resource center, lrc, at mu and the dss 
office at GMU.
In all cases, I had to leave my belongings in the main part of the dss 
office or lrc.
They told me not to bring a phone either.  I was not allowed to have a 
laptop or a
notetaker with me.  At mu they even wrote down the time you started and 
finished the test so your professor
would know you did not get extra time than you were supposed to have.
I'll add that these procedures were for all students with disabilities, not 
just blind students.
I was treated like other students but got double time for tests.  They had 
policies to ensure that you did not cheat or that someone was taking the 
test for you.
At MU they also have you show your ID and
sign the honor pledge.
I was allowed to use the computer for essays though; but not allowed on the 
internet.

Regarding my case, I'll see what the disability counselor says.
She is going to get me a reader for the test; I'll have to explain that I 
need to read this part myself to ensure I pick up errors.
I can braille it myself at home with my embosser, yet I don't know if 
they'll allow that.
I'm an honest person and would never take advantage of time, but who knows.

Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Sean Whalen
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2011 1:24 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Assignments with copy editing

Hi Ashley,



Yes, I understand what you are saying. I was thinking that you could have
the reader there to notate the corrections you want to make after you find
them by reading a Braille copy of the article. True though it may be that
you could cheat by accessing notes on your BrailleNote if you were reading
the article on its refreshable display, you could certainly also cheat, by
having access to all your notes, as well as nearly unlimited time to look
for errors in the article, if you took the article home ahead of time and
transcribed it yourself. You see what I mean?



On a tangentially related note, and not having anything to do with you in
particular, Ashley, it drives me crazy sometimes how much leeway is given to
blind students on exams, when the leeway clearly opens up the option of
cheating for a student. I don't know if many professors/alternative testing
administrators just assume that these sweet little blind kids would never
cheat on an exam, or what, but many many times in college, the only thing
that stopped me from cheating my ass off was my own sense of what was the
right thing to do. It amazes me how many students are allowed to use
notetakers and laptops (with internet connections), get copies of tests
ahead of time, or email in test answers well after the testing period is
over.



If we want our work to be viewed just like anybody else's, it is important
that our accommodations do not compromise the integrity of our work.



It seems to me that, given your completely reasonable request to have a
Braille version of the articles you are to edit, the onus is on the school
to find a way to provide them to you.



Having them talk to GMU or another local establishment with Braille
production capabilities seems like a good idea.



Good luck,



Sean





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