[nabs-l] marketing class

[Misty Dawn Bradley]

Hi,
In the past, I had a sociology instructor who would send me links to written 
transcripts of the videos that could be found online. A lot of documentaries 
have transcripts that can be found online, as long as you know the title and 
the station where it was broadcasted. Not all videos have this, but if the 
professor knew it was available, she would email me a link to both the video 
and transcript if it was available. Maybe you could ask the professor or 
instructor if she could do this or at least provide you with the title and 
producer of the videos ahead of time so you can search for a transcript.
As for powerpoints, my instructors have usually either posted them on 
Blackboard or Moodle for all students, or if they do not do that, I have 
asked them to email me a copy of the powerpoints that they use in class so 
that I can turn them into an accessible format. If you want to read through 
a powerpoint presentation with JAWS, you can usually just open it in 
Microsoft Powerpoint and hit F5 to make it a slide show, and then Jaws will 
read the first slide. You can then hit the spacebar key to go to each slide 
and have JAWS read it, and then it will exit the slide show at the end of 
the slides. You can also turn the Powerpoint into a PDF file by selecting 
pdf in the file types in the save as dialogue box. I do this a lot when I 
don't want to have to deal with the powerpoint program itself. I open the 
file up in Microsoft Powerpoint, and then I go to "Save As" and tab to the 
file type box and down arrow until I hear PDF and press enter to select it, 
and then I hit enter again, and it saves it. I then close the file and go to 
the folder where the powerpoint file is, and there will now be two different 
files with the same name but different extensions: one is a powerpoint .ppt 
or .pptx extension, and the other is a .pdf extension. Open the .pdf 
extension file, and it will be the powerpoint but in the pdf format, so it 
will be like reading any other pdf file and will have the text of the 
powerpoint in it. It will also contain the graphics or pictures found in the 
powerpoint, but they generally don't get in the way of JAWS reading the text 
and usually only take up one line and will just say graphic and then a 
number when JAWS comes across them. I have converted many of my powerpoints 
from professors to pdf in this way, since it is quicker for me to read 
straight through a pdf file than it is having to deal with slides and 
powerpoints that sometimes won't read well with jaws.
I have used Blackboard in the past, but it has been a few years, so I am not 
sure what it is like now, because my current school uses Moodle rather than 
Blackboard. When I did use Blackboard, it was frustrating but doable, but I 
heard that it has become more accessible since then. You could maybe try it 
out, and then if you have any problems with the discussions, you could 
notify your professor or the disability services office. Perhaps your 
professor will be flexible enough to allow you to email the discussions and 
assignments to her if Blackboard is inaccessible. I have also done this with 
professors in the past. I just email them and explain that the Blackboard or 
whatever platform I am using to upload an assignment or forum is not 
accessible and explain that I did try to upload the assignment or do a 
discussion forum but could not submit it due to inaccessability. It is good 
to try to do it through Blackboard first though, so you can show that you at 
least tried to submit it there, as usually professors and instructors can 
view logs of each student's activity on Blackboard, so if you let them know 
that you tried doing it that way, they will see that you tried and honestly 
could not do it with your screen reader. Also, if you get accomodations 
through the Disability Services office, they can even put in your 
accomodations that you will need to email your assignments or have an 
alternate method of submitting them if Blackboard is not accessible, so 
maybe this could be an actual accomodation for you that can be put in your 
accomodation letter, so the professor could then make an exception about 
submitting things on Blackboard for you.
I hope this helps, and I hope it makes sense!
Misty


-----Original Message----- 
From: Ashley Bramlett
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 3:07 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: [nabs-l] marketing class

Hi all,

I am debating whether to take intro to marketing or another business class. 
I’m taking a class more for the knowledge, as a resume builder, and 
something to do as I look for work. My goals are to learn something for the 
work world; I may want to go into marketing or communications; I have a 
liberal studies degree.
I also want to learn about the office environment and how it functions.

I’m hesitant though as I wonder just how accessible the class will be. In 
the past, group work using case studies, videos, and blackboard discussions 
has posed a big problem.

The professor says she lectures from powerpoint. This is typical as many 
teachers do it; she also uses class discussion, group activities, case 
studies, and videos.
I could benefit from lectures and discussion as everyone else does.

But she indicates we use ocasional group blackboard discussion and videos 
are critical.

So my questions. Have you taken marketing? If so, what was your experience? 
Did you run into these challenges and how did you deal with them?

Is the blackboard submission link accessible? How about discussions?
I may have issues with group projects, but that would be the same with the 
business organization development class too.

How did you get access to video content? I would ask the professor 
questions, but she is adjunct and does not have an office on campus. she 
already told me in her email that she is only on campus to teach, and 
furthermore, the best communication channel is email. This eliminates the 
idea of discussing stuff either on phone, skype, or in person in her office. 
Often, face to face is best, because emails you can go round and round and 
not be helped. Now, with a discussion, you can have more of an 
understanding, in my opinion.

So, I’m just thinking aloud. My last professor for religion showed videos 
extensively, but we worked it out. she spoke to me after class to answer my 
questions or if there was some action she felt I needed, she told me after 
class.
Additionally, any concerns we discussed in office hours; she was full time, 
and had office on campus.

I’ll check online and see if there are any ratings for the marketing 
professor.

Look forward to ideas.
Ashley
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