[NABS-L] Food for Thought: Time Management Materials for Blind Students

Tina Hansen th404 at comcast.net
Sat May 11 22:28:56 UTC 2019


My name is Tina Hansen, and while I'm not a student, I have a friend who is,
and I want to be aware of what's happening with students now.

 

I have a food for thought question I'd like to put out there.

 

I've been looking at the books and other materials on the general market
concerning time management and work life balance. I know this is a critical
concern of students, especially those juggling work, school and family.

 

Many of the books have valuable information about how to organize your life
and time, whether you're a student or not. They don't discuss college, but
they do give valuable tips. I know that when I was last a student, I used a
book on time management that wasn't targeted to students, but was incredibly
valuable. Now that I'm no longer a student, I'm always looking for ways to
improve my own time management skills.

 

As far as work life balance, I view school much like work. For students who
have their priorities right, school is like work. Deadlines for papers,
tests, and so forth are not unlike deadlines for reports in the work place.

 

However, I've not seen a lot in the audio book arena that is specific to the
needs of college students. There are many texts on Learning Ally that
discuss how to be successful in college, and all have valuable information.

 

The closest thing to a targeted book on BARD that I found was Organizing
from the Inside Out for Teens. Other than that, I've not seen a lot of books
out there.

 

In the past, there was more of a gap between the visual paper planners and
those offered in the blind community. Most of the specialty note takers have
some kind of planner, but they're costly. Before the iPhone, you either
needed to improvise some kind of portable planner or buy the only Braille
planner I know of, one from the American Printing House for the Blind. Yet
many of the books still seem to talk about visual planners, at least, when
it comes to the paper type. I have gotten to use my iPhone as a planner, and
I'm so pleased at the many reminder and calendar apps created for it.

 

In the past, before the age of the iPhone, I wondered if there was a need
for anything that would talk about time management from the perspective of a
blind college student. Given the recent increase in mainstream audio
programs, I'm wondering if there is such a need. If there is, the material
could simply come in the form of a single article, blog post or podcast. If
nothing, there could be discussions on how to use your smart phone as a
planner, and what apps are good for that purpose.

 

If nothing, is there still a need for articles, blog posts or podcasts
discussing time management and work life balance from the perspective of a
blind college student? If there is the need, what would the material look
like? How much should be offered? If there isn't the need, what's already
out there? What blog posts, articles or podcasts are out there for any
blind/visually impaired college student? Is there the need for targeted
content? If so, what would it look like? Any thoughts? Thanks.




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