[nabs-l] in class writing

Thu Jan 10 21:15:51 UTC 2013

Hi Ashley and all:
I agree with everything that has been said on this thread. I would
just like to add a few pointers.
In college, in addition to purchasing paper folders and binders, I
also bought about three or four thumb drives. Depending on the
professor, I might have a thumb drive for just hat course. Most
college have Wifi everywhere, so if you have a laptop in class
assignments should never be a problem. However, you have to have a
plan and discuss it with your professor beforehand. I had an Italian
class, where the teacher would sometimes write the quiz questions on
the board. Instead of making me go to the ODS office, she would email
me the quiz right before class, and I would download it once I got
into the classroom. As it was a foreign language, and depending on the
quiz, I'd sometimes take that file, put it in my Braille Note and
answer the questions. I'd then email it to her right away, and would
be done along with everyone else in class.
If you are doing an in-class writing assignment, part of the
educational challenge is to do it in a short amount of time. So, it is
not really fair to have an in-class writing assignment, take it home,
complete it, and then send it to the professor. Instead, if you do not
have a laptop, I suggest writing it in your braille note, saving it in
your thumb drive, and giving that to your professor. Otherwise, most
professors are ok with you emailing things as soon as possible, with
the understanding that the assignment was completed during class.
In most colleges, students have their own laptops, and at least a
handful will bring them to class. So, when it comes to peer-review,
most of the time, the professors will announce that it is a planned
activity for a given class. In that case I have done one of two
things.
1. I know that other students bring laptops and pair up with one of
them. We exchange files via email or thumb drive, and do the editing.
2. I notify the professor ahead of time, if they do not allow
electronics in the classroom, my dilemma, and we figure out a
solution. that has involved, emailing the assignment to a student
ahead of time, bringing a print copy and them sending me an electronic
copy, or simply lifting the electronics band for that particular
assignment.
Whatever you choose to do, discuss it with the professor. It is not
their responsibility to figure out your accommodations for you. You
are not their only student. So, have a candid conversation during
which you bring up these scenarios and together you figure out a
course of action. As blind students who need accommodations, we must
always keep in mind that we have to take responsibility for our own
education. While in a perfect world everything would be accessible,
and everyone would think of the barriers we might face during a
particular class activity and justify for it, that is not the way it
works. Here, I'd also like to add a note about always, always abiding
by the honor code. Professors put a lot of trust in us when they allow
us to use technologies which most of them do not understand, in order
for us to have access to the educational materials we need. So, it is
important, that as responsible, mature adults, we always abide by the
honor code, and are ethical in the decisions we make when doing our
academic work. There should never be a question whether accommodations
compromise academic integrity, and unfortunately the question does
arise on occasion. And in the long run, that hurts the entire disabled
student population, and entities will take the few instances where
accommodations were used to violate academic integrity as a reason why
accommodations should not be granted. Furthermore, if a student uses
their accommodations to cheat, if they are caught they now have a
permanent blemish on their academic record. But even if they are not,
that student is not actually learning, and so what is the point of
paying sometimes, hundreds of thousands of dollars to attend an
educational institution and then squander away the opportunity to
learn?

Ok, that's my rant for the day.
Mary

On 1/9/13, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Laptops are the easiest way to go.  We did the same sort of thing with
> in class writings and peer critiques in a history class I had, and
> having my partner just look at my screen worked great.  If not then if
> your professor permits computer use maybe you could save the writing
> to a flashdrive as a text file and have someone else with a laptop
> peer review it on their machine?  Then you could also hand that drive
> to the teacher and not have to worry about remembering to email it in
> or do anything with it later.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> On 1/9/13, Lisa E Roszyk <rosz1878 at fredonia.edu> wrote:
>> If thbere is in class writing Iuse my laptop if Iknow its going to be
>> something Iwont have enough time to finishb in class Iwait until ikm back
>> in the dorm then email it to the teacher if its a peer edit project it
>> depen.ds on the subject but on.e thing Ihave done is find a partner and
>> get
>> the ok to do the work out side of class with them generally typing over
>> skype or google doc is great you can type and edit automatically on each
>> others documents and Ihave foun.d jaws works ok with it.
>>
>> On Wednesday, January 9, 2013, christopher nusbaum
>> <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> What about peer editing?
>>>
>>> Chris Nusbaum
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Jan 9, 2013, at 8:19 PM, Misty Dawn Bradley <mistydbradley at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>> As for me, I usually type it on my laptop and then email it to the
>> professor using Wifi. Also, if the professor needs access to the writing
>> in
>> class, if you are using a laptop, you can have your instructor look at
>> the
>> screen. If you are doing writing as a group, you can type things out and
>> let your group members look at the screen. I had one situation in which
>> we
>> had an assignment as a group that we had to write a list of things and
>> then
>> place them on a white board for the class to see, so I just took down the
>> list on my laptop and brought the laptop up while another group member
>> copied what I had written onto the board. As far as assignments that I do
>> alone in class, my professors so far have been fine with me emailing it
>> whenever I was able to get internet access, whether it be at school or
>> when
>> I got home as long as I sent it in on the day of the assignment. Perhaps
>> you can make an appointment with the professor ahead of time to work out
>> a
>> plan or place it in your letter of accomodations that you need to email
>> class assignments after class is over or at home. Another way to do it is
>> a
>> thumb drive that you save for this purpose that the professor can get the
>> file from and then give back to you. If your note taker has a USB drive,
>> this might be a good option.
>>>> Hth,
>>>> Misty
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ashley Bramlett" <
>> bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
>>>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" <
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 7:47 PM
>>>> Subject: [nabs-l] in class writing
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>> Professors ask us students to do in-class writing sometimes. Typically
>> its unannounced; its not like its on the syllabus but the professor knows
>> it usually; I mean they know when they will assign in class writing.
>> Students are given a certain  amount of time to write and then hand in
>> the
>> writing. They may share the writing with each other or the class as well.
>>>>>
>>>>> How do you handle in class writing assignments? Do you write them on a
>> notetaker or laptop you take to school? How do you hand it in since we
>> are
>> not writing on paper? So far, I’ve usually written outside class and
>> emailed the copy to the professor.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have good enough braille skills to read from my braille display to
>> other students, but I don’t usually finish the writing.
>>>>> I wish there was a computer lab in every building. Then I could walk
>> over there, type my writing prompt and then email it to the professor.
>>>>>
>>>>> I look forward to ideas.
>>>>>
>>>>> Ashley
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
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>
>
> --
> Kaiti
>
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-- 
Mary Fernandez
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will
forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them
feel."
—
Maya Angelou