[nabs-l] Learning to learn faster
sami osborne
ligne14 at verizon.net
Tue Feb 25 23:28:40 UTC 2014
Hi all.
I use a BrailleNote Apex for schoolwork and emails.
I know that you guys might think that audio is faster than
Braille, but I turn off the speech on my BrailleNote so as not to
disturb the other kids in my class.
However, I also use a Victor Reader Stream to listen to books,
and its audio qualy, to me, is very good.
I also use a computer with Jaws installed for surfing the web and
for playing games.
I'm not sure what my average braille reading speed is, but now
that you mentioned it, I'll probably test that and see, although
I do know that I'm a fast Braille reader...
Sami.
----- Original Message -----
From: Mohamed <malhajamy at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing
list<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 15:18:35 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Learning to learn faster
Hi Helga, me, personally, I like audio more. Braille, for me,
is rather slow. I have my BrailleNote sped up to the maximum
speed, rate 16. I just simply like audio more than braille.
----- Original Message -----
From: <helga.schreiber26 at gmail.com
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 11:36:07 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Learning to learn faster
Hi all, this is Helga! I actually use both JAWS and Braille! But
I actually
like braille more than just listening to audio, since I
comprehend more the
college material in Braille! But if I have the Braille copy in my
hand, and
I have the text of it on the computer I learn the material
faster! For
instance, for my Government class I need to learn 19 steps in how
a Bill
becomes a Law. So in that case I use JAWS and the braille copy
of the steps.
Thanks so much for listening to me! God bless!
-----Original Message-----
From: justin williams
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 8:16 AM
To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Learning to learn faster
Screen reader; I have my jaws up to more than sixty usually. I
may slow it
down to 55 or so when I am reading; I hae pretty good
comprehention because
I read before class. Also, I use learning ally; I speed it up as
much as I
can. Reading your emails I have my jaws on 65 or so. If I am
really
searching for something on the internet, I may speed it up to 70
or even 80
for greater speed.
-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Jamie
Principato
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 8:02 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Learning to learn faster
How many hours a night must you spend reading in order to keep up
with and
be successful in your classes? Are you using Braille or a screen
reader? I'd
love to hear everyone weigh in on this. If you don't read for
class every
night, how many hours a week?
Jamie
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 24, 2014, at 5:34 PM, Arielle Silverman
<arielle71 at gmail.com
wrote:
I find it easier to skim in Braille than in audio or E-text.
You can
skim in Braille by looking for indented text, sliding your
fingers
down the leftmost edge of the page looking for spaces where the
text
is indented or centered to indicate a new paragraph or section
heading, or of course, flip to the next physical page.
Also, I'm not sure speed is the end goal, at least not all the
time.
I think a better goal is to achieve a good speed-to-accuracy
ratio.
That is, you want to understand as much as possible in as
little time
as possible. Anyone can put their screen reader on 500 words a
minute
and just breeze through, but if you comprehended less than half
what
was spoken, that's not useful at all. Similarly, carefully
reading in
Braille at 100 words per minute but understanding everything you
read,
and remembering it later so you don't have to re-read right
before the
test, is valuable.
I'm one of those Braille readers who reads very quickly, and
I've
often found, especially as an adult reading denser material and
having
less practice with Braille, that I have to force myself to slow
down
or I start missing stuff.
Arielle
On 2/24/14, Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at comcast.net> wrote:
Good afternoon, Sophie,
Growing up,I admit, I took braille very much for
granted,
couldn't fathom those blinks I heard about who, didn't read
braille.
Served the Federation's summer program as the braille
instructor, was
a devotee of this page slate I have. Was beginning to learn
Grade 3,
the whole bit. I forgot, in studying Japanese language, I, with
the
help of a key my Dad found for me On-line, began teaching myself
nihongo tenji (Japanese braille) Then, at age 19, I was hit by a
car
which caused severe brain damage, a symptom of which has been
acute
tactile appraxia which for me, refers to an inability of hand to
perceive that which is sent to it via the brain. thus reducing
braille reading pretty much to a very rich and stimulating pipe
dream. And, It isn't about the spacing of the dots, like you
see with
neuropathy people, as if anything was produced in jumbo braille,
anyway. I just don't perceive what my finger feels!
But, I say aoll this to make the point of my also not retaining,
during the time i did use hard copy braille as well as a Braille
Light 40 purchased by the school district and, having no
alternative,
I have forced myself to learn audotorally on the comput as well
as
talking books.... so, it can be possible in case, got help you,
you
find yourself in this way.
for today, Car
408-209-3239
Courtney, I have to disagree with you on braille textbooks. I
actually find them more useful than audio textbooks. Granted,
I'm in
high school, so I'm probably not moving at as fast a pace as
college
students, but still. If you read a braille book in an electric
format
with a notetaker (I use a braillenote apex), you can use the
Find
command to search for important keywords if you're trying to
look up
something quickly. You can also move by paragraph and by page
if you
wish to skip irrelevant material. For me at least, I comprehend
more
when I read braille. I do okay with audio, but when I read it
with my
fingers, I tend to absorb more of the information, whereas when
I'm
listening to it, I occasionally zone out and miss something.
This is
more important for some classes than others, but reading braille
tells us how to spell things. Braille also allows us to see
what's
underlined or italicized, which may be important for some
lessons.
These are just my thoughts. Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Sophie
----- Original Message -----
From: Courtney Stover <liamskitten at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org Date sent: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 14:20:35 -0600
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Learning to learn faster
Antonio,
I'll return with more thoughts later tonight when I've properly
read
the article, but I thought I'd answer your questions, because
they
interest me on a philosophical level.
This is one of the ways that, frankly, my life experience simply
hasn't jived with NFB philosophy. NFB philosophy emphasizes the
importance of fast Braille reading, which I agree with; practice
absolutely must be maintained. However, they also seem to
strongly
insist on Braille textbooks, which I don't get behind so much.
Doing
college-level reading; I have never had to consume material as
quickly as I am right now. And, at least for me, reading
textbooks
in Braille is simply impractical, even if that Braille has
shifted
to electronic instead of hardcopy. I can read loads faster,
even
with something like RFBD and the Bookmarks function on my player
to
find important material again, than I ever thought about with
Braille, particularly because I can quickly skim over
superfluous
material like map descriptions, vocabulary I already remember,
or
excerpts from outside documents that are meant to enhance the
readings, which are always located at the end of the page, by
simply
going to the next one with the press of a button. With books
read
by a screen reader, particularly if they're from somewhere like
Bookshare and have Daisy navigation, this is even more true.
I think your point is very true, about Braille readers only
reading
at the pace of sighted ones. I went in recently to take a test
in
Braille (the one reason I keep my Braille skills sharp; my test
performance plummets when I have to have a reader), and was
noted as
one of the fastest Braille readers the proctor had ever seen.
However, someone was taking the same test with a screen reader,
and
was finished in half the time I was. So, learning to take tests
with screen and human readers is something I wish to become
proficient
at.
After all, I may have Braille accommodation now, but I doubt a
workplace, such as a call center, that has a training process
before
proper work begins, is going to allow me to have a Braille
display.
Now, this says nothing about leisure activities, in which I
vastly
prefer Braille to audio, save in rare cases. If I'm going to
read a
book, I want to actually be reading it. Also, any proofing task
would be made immensely more difficult without the use of
Braille.
I hope this at least provides an interesting perspective on your
questions, as you certainly provided a very interesting article
I'm
looking forward to diving in to.
Warmly,
Courtney
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