[nabs-l] Learning to learn faster

Wed Feb 26 01:25:31 UTC 2014

In class I plug in an ear bud to my lap top.

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
helga.schreiber26 at gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 7:17 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Learning to learn faster

Hi guys, I actually like audio as well, but I don't have it in full speed! 
And the reason why, is because since I'm not from the United States, it is
very hard sometimes for me to understand the words in English. And when I
don't understand the words, I actually use the spell feature in JAWS in
order to got them, but it actually takes me a long time doing that. That is
why I prefer Braille copies when it comes to understanding something! And as
you know, I use JAWS, but I don't have it slow, I actually have it in an
average speed. That is why I like to read my College papers in Braille, and
at the same time that I'm reading the Braille copy, I'm listening the audio
with JAWS. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks and God bless!!
P.S. Mohamed I just wantedd to tell you that  I have my BrailleNote at rate
10 my friend!
-----Original Message-----
From: Mohamed
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 6:40 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Learning to learn faster

You a bit remind me of what I do.  I turn off the speech myself, to avoid
disturbing the class.  Yes, I use a stream.  Are you using the second
generation stream? Just curious.

----- Original Message -----
From: sami osborne <ligne14 at verizon.net
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 18:28:40 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Learning to learn faster

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

_______________________________________________
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/sweetpeareade
r%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/carlymih%40co
mca
st.net

_______________________________________________
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%40g
mail
.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/blackbyrdfly%
40gma
il.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/justin.willia
ms2%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/helga.schreib
er26%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/malhajamy%40g
mail.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/ligne14%40ver
izon.net

_______________________________________________
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/malhajamy%40g
mail.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/helga.schreiber26%40gmai
l.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/justin.williams2%40gmail
.com