[nabs-l] online college vs classroom instruction

[bookwormahb at earthlink.net]

Josh,
You have a lot to consider with being a student coupled with the wheelchair.
I went to the traditional classroom all through college. I went to a big
state run school and then transferred to a smaller private school, Marymount
university.
No, online college is not more accessible.  Things like the discussion board
on Blackboard are problematic, so are the quizzes.
I tried an online class this semester and was very disappointed.  Its partly
my learning style. I didn't know what was important to extract from the text
without a class lecture.  I wasn't sure what to study for the test.
Assignments seemed a bit ambiguous with the instructions.  I just was never
sure what the professor expected.

What do you want from college? If you want the social aspect, the
independence and living away from home, the increased freedom, the ability
to just go where you want on campus such as a friend's room late at night to
hang out, then stay on campus.  Oh, another thing on campus its easier to
see your professors, if you need extra help during office hours; where as if
you are a commuter or online, you can't get to campus as easily.
]
But if you just want the academics, then online might work. Also what is 
your study habits? Online classes you are more on your own. You are not in 
class with a schedule to turn in things and you won't have classmates to 
study/compare work with;  what I mean is with papers, you often get to read 
each other's work and get suggestions.

Personally, I see challenges either way.  On campus classes will present 
accessibility challenges since you cannot see the board or screen; so you 
will want the powerpoints or screen lecture notes sent to you.
But online challenges abound because of graphics, flash content, and 
blackboard if your school uses it.


Regarding access to school due to your wheelchair, I'd check that a lot, 
even more than the blindness accomodations. The blindness is something minor 
to accommodate, where as physical disabilities require modifications to the 
built environment.

Ensure you can access all classrooms with your wheel chair. Does the school 
have enough ramp access?  Does the school have enough space for your chair 
to wheel into class?
The law, ADA, requires renovated buildings to be wheel chair accessible.
Unfortunately, some schools including the community college, I'm at now, are 
not in ADA compliance because either they did not think of it or buildings 
were built prior to 1990 and were not yet renovated.

So the law requires access, but if your school was not built with ADA 
accessibility in mind such as wide door ways, ramps, accessible restrooms, 
push buttons, etc. you will have a hard time living and moving around 
campus. So check into that.  You could even bring someone sighted and help 
you look around. That person can check for ramps, push buttons, elevators to 
each floor, accessible restrooms, and even check the door way width for you.
For ADA compliant wheel chair access door widths need to be 32 inches. But 
again, if built before 1990 without renovations, buildings are not covered 
by ADA.

HTH,
Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Josh Gregory
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 8:25 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nabs-l] online college vs classroom instruction

Hi all,
I'm a little curious here, what do people think on this? For us
blind students who are about to graduate from high school soon
(I'm a junior this year and will be a senior next) college is
something some of us look into.  So, my question: Do people think
that online college is more accessible for blind people, or
classroom instruction? If I may ask, what have people's
experiences been with both? What about a person who is blind and
partially in a wheelchair such as myself, could I manage in an
on-campus environment or would online instruction be better for
me?
Thanks so much,
Josh

Sent from my Apex

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