[nabs-l] Animal observation and experiment for biology class

Sun Sep 22 23:54:32 UTC 2013

Suzanne, 
What school do you go to and what clicker do you use?

For one thing, there are accessible clickers.  I don't know much about it, as I have never used one.  And if this is the only class you're taking with clicker questions, you may not care to look into using one.  But for future reference if you want, look into it.  There is iClicker, and there is TurningPoint or Turning Technology.  

As for now, I would highly recommend talking to your professor about the questions you have missed. This happened to me.  I kept missing them because there was so little time and I wasn't prepared to deal with that.  So to get credit for the ones I missed, I just talked to him and explained the situation.  I suggested a way to make up for the missed points, to ask me questions, either during their office time or just before or after lecture that were similar to the clicker questions, and then if I get it right, just add those points to grade somewhere or go back and change the points for missed clicker questions.  Or I could do some sort of extra credit.  That's what happened and it worked out fine.  
I hope you are in close contact with your professor.  And I hope you are communicating all these accessibility situations to him/her.  Often the professor will have a great alternative.  As for the rest of the clicker questions throughout the rest of your current class, I would have someone help you with entering the responses on the clicker, as it is not fair to not be able to make sure your response is accurate and has been sent successfully.  You should be able to enter the channel before class ever starts.  I would enter the channel when I got to class that way it already knows what channel I was on and didn't ask me when I was trying to enter information.   There may be a way to lock in the channel so you don't have to enter it, as someone suggested, u might want to look into that. That would certainly be the easiest thing, if that is the only class you are using it for.  But if you are using it for more than one class, enter the channel before class starts and it should not be an issue when you are doing the question.  Then like I said, for the question, have a TA or a reader from DSS or your own reader help you with seeing the screen.  Of course if you are just doing multiple choice answers, it may not be a big deal, but if you are entering numeric information, I think it's good to be able to double check the screen, and depending on which clicker your school uses, you will need help with entering the numeric info.  I would suggest not using a student next to you to help you with it though, as these questions typically only give a very short time period to answer, and each student needs that limited time to figure out the answer and enter it for themselves.  

As far as getting access to the actual question, you could have your professor print out the question and give it to you in large font every day when he puts it up on the board.  Sit in front so if they forget, you can raise your hand or whatever to remind them to give it to you.  If they forget to print it out for you, they either will just use the questions as review and not give anyone points for that day or they will do something to let u get those missed points as they will be aware that it is not your fault that you missed it.   I used to email my professors the day or morning before each class politely reminding them, towards the beginning of the semester.  I think that might be a good option for you.  Or you could possibly have them email it to you before class or something.  Or you could use a reader for the question as well.  
One way to get around this is to have the clicker questions on an accessible website, which some schools do.  I don't know how complicated of a process it is to set that up but if nothing else, you could suggest it to your professor for future reference.  

As for your lab.  I think there have been some very good suggestions.  One thing that always comes to mind is - Get a reader.  Pay someone to describe something for you, you might be able to get someone from DSS to do this.  
The option that I personally would take however, is what Arielle said - do something that does not require sight. If my understanding of your assignment is correct, I don't know why you need to involve vision in it at all, unless you just want to.  
Working with another student is also something you could ask your teacher about I suppose.  Good luck.  And let us know what you decide.

Anna E Givens

On Sep 22, 2013, at 5:24 PM, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I wonder if there is a way to lock the channel on the clicker so you
> can't accidentally get kicked out of the channel you need to be in?
> Arielle
> 
> On 9/22/13, Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu> wrote:
>> Our clicker questions are every lecture and count toward our grade. She has
>> read the questions out loud but quickly and they are biology genetics stuff
>> so I usually need to reread and make sure I have all the data right before
>> doing my punnet squares or come up with the answer.
>> 
>> Most of the time the questions were not super long so I had time to reread
>> and calculate.
>> 
>> There have been several times I enter my answer and my screen says change
>> channel? I need to get out magnifier which takes a few seconds to turn on
>> then go through the menu on the clicker o make sure the channel is still
>> right, get back to the place ot answer then answer. The channel is often
>> wrong because it took my answer entry as my input for new channel.
>> 
>> I have 2 days with no answers registered when got all four each day
>> correct.
>> 
>> 
>> On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 2:26 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke
>> <lizmohnke at hotmail.com>wrote:
>> 
>>> Hello Suzanne,
>>> 
>>> I am not sure if each college or university uses the clicker questions in
>>> the same manner, but I can describe how I have been able to use them
>>> while
>>> attending a community college.
>>> 
>>> The professor who uses the clicker questions only uses them for review
>>> questions and poll questions. Therefore, if a student is not able to
>>> participate, or does not wish to participate, it does not effect their
>>> grade.
>>> 
>>> In the past, the professor handed out the clickers during class. They
>>> were
>>> not all that complicated as they had a layout similar to a telephone
>>> keypad. However, this semester students can use either a cell phone to
>>> text
>>> the answer, or log into the survey website with their laptop computers.
>>> 
>>> In either case, the professor reads both the question and the answers
>>> aloud so I can follow along with what the rest of the class is doing.
>>> When
>>> the professor used the clickers, all I had to do was press the button
>>> that
>>> corresponded with the answer while pointing it in the direction of my
>>> professor.
>>> 
>>> I do not know if every school uses the clickers in this same manner, but
>>> this is how I was able to deal with the situation. Alternative methods
>>> may
>>> be to ask a student sitting next to you to read the question and the
>>> answers, or perhaps a reader from the disabilities office if they provide
>>> such a service.
>>> 
>>> Even though I have had usable vision for most of my life, I have found
>>> non-visual techniques to be the most effective and efficient for me.
>>> Perhaps you may wish to give some of them a try.
>>> 
>>> Warm regards,
>>> Elizabeth
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------**--------------------
>>> From: "Suzanne Germano" <sgermano at asu.edu>
>>> Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 4:03 PM
>>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" <
>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Animal observation and experiment for biology class
>>> 
>>> I am taking general biology as a lab science requirement. We have to
>>>> observe an animal then design and experiment and then perform the
>>>> experiment. An example that one person is doing is what percentage of
>>>> time
>>>> do duck go in the water based on temperature. We cannot do pets.
>>>> 
>>>> I don't have people sitting around doing nothing waiting drive me
>>>> somewhere
>>>> and to be my eyes and observe and animal several times.
>>>> 
>>>> Have any of you had to do something like this? What did you find the
>>>> best
>>>> solution to be?
>>>> 
>>>> Also clicker questions. How do you deal with them? I use a cctv to see
>>>> the
>>>> board and even with that I can't read long questions fast enough. And
>>>> there
>>>> have been several times my clicker goes into change channel mode when I
>>>> select an answer. I can't read the clicker display or the buttons. I
>>>> have
>>>> to get out my hand held cctv to read the screen and get it out of change
>>>> channel mode by the time I fix it time is up.
>>>> 
>>>> Suzanne
>>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/**listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org<http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org>
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>>> nabs-l:
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/**options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/**
>>>> lizmohnke%40hotmail.com<http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/lizmohnke%40hotmail.com>
>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/**listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org<http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org>
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> nabs-l:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/**options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/**sgermano%40asu.edu<http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/sgermano%40asu.edu>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nabs-l:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/arielle71%40gmail.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/annajee82%40gmail.com