[NABS-L] College computer concepts course

Mon Feb 19 13:51:29 UTC 2024

Hello everyone,

First of all, I really appreciate the thoughts, and suggestions, 
regarding my struggles with the computer concepts course. This has all 
been helpful to me.

Also, Noah mentioned that it might be helpful to know some things about 
me. As well as what is expected from this class. That way, maybe people 
might be able to help me a bit better. So, I thought that I would share 
as much information as I could.

I will start out with a bit about myself.

I am 47, and am in my second semester, at my local community college. 
This is my second time attempting college. The first time I tried this 
was back in 2004. That was a horrible experience! I really never thought 
that I would want to ever try going to college, again.

However, I surprised myself. After volunteering with a crisis chat 
service for a while, I decided that I would like to attempt to become a 
social worker. I don't even know if this will be possible, at my age. 
Or, even where I live. But, I figured I would try. If I don't end up 
doing this type of work, then maybe I might discover something else I 
really enjoy.

I live in Missouri. I have lived out here for about 10 years now. I 
don't really feel this state has all that much to offer, when it comes 
to working with blind individuals. But, this has just been my personal 
experience.

I am totally blind, and have been this way since birth.

I am currently using a laptop with windows 11, and, the latest version 
of Jaws.

I also have Microsoft Office installed.

I do have some experience using NVDA. Although, I have more experience 
using Jaws. And, I use it more often.

I also have an iPad. But, I haven't tried using this for school. I have 
considered it though. Just to see if some results might be different. 
Although, I do know that for this class, we are not encouraged to use 
tablets, and the like.

The school uses Canvas. Which I do find pretty easy to use. I don't 
really have any issues with it.

Also, I did get the package to learn how to use Powerpoint, and such. 
The one that is sold by the people who gave us NVDA.

However, I have not had a chance to try and really look over any of it.

Now that I have shared all that, here is what we are supposed to be 
covering in class.

Microsoft 365, set up. Opening word, setting up an account, and, word 
ribbon.

Assignment, Microsoft Word screenshot upload practice.

Beginner's guide to Microsoft Word, APA outline example.

Assignment, create APA timplet.

Microsoft PowerPoint, I don't think he lists all the assignments yet, 
for this.

Also, this is the last thing that he has listed, for now. But, he has 
said that we will learn to use Microsoft Excel. As well as learning to 
use, or create databases.

However, I do not know quite what this means, because he hasn't gone 
into more detail about it.

I hope this might be of help?

If you all need more information, please just let me know. I will 
certainly see what I can do.

What sorts of questions might I need to ask my disability services 
office, in order to get help in this class?

Any other thoughts, and suggestions are much appreciated.

Thank you,

Terri

On 2/18/2024 5:00 PM, Kendra Schaber via NABS-L wrote:
> Hi all!
> Regarding learning tech skills on your own, I have not had luck with learning how to use braille displays or screen readers with videos that are posted on line. The people who puts those videos together targets teachers and educaters who  are sighted. YouTube itself is awesome! The people who uses YouTube to teach blindness tech does not realize that there are just as many independent blind people who are in college and who are teachers themselves as there are blind students who are in the k through 12th educational system. This major gap affects everyone who is needing to learn this tech, or any part of it, while in college. I needed to share this info so that you can avoid this trap in your research. Unfortunately, for us bvisual but blind college students, the best work around is to seek training on the stuff that you need. If that’s not accessible, a sighted reader and computer driver is a good work around.
> Kendra
>
>
>
> Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
> ________________________________
> From: NABS-L <nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org> on behalf of Steve Jacobson via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2024 8:10:18 AM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Steve Jacobson <steve.jacobson at outlook.com>
> Subject: Re: [NABS-L] College computer concepts course
>
> Terri,
>
> I have not taken a class like this in a while and can't say much about what you should expect from your Disability Services Office.  However, since I have had to take training courses where I've had to sort through similar issues, I have a couple of things to offer that might be helpful.
>
> Probably the biggest issue that you will face if you have not already had to face it, is that such courses are usually very dependent upon using the mouse to carry out actions.  It is likely that this is not going to be effective for you.  Much of what can be done on a Windows or Apple computer can be done using a keyboard, but the level of knowledge of using the keyboard to perform actions instead of a mouse may not be there with your professor or by your DSS office.  Whether this is right or wrong is not really the question, it simply is likely the case and we have to find ways around that to succeed.
>
> So much of how you approach this is dependent upon your individual characteristics that it is hard to know what will be most effective.  One extreme approach, which I have used in the past, is to try to learn everything you can from such a course without regard to accessibility.  This would mean you would need a "reader" to describe screens to you and to do the mouse clicking so you can learn the concepts as they are taught to everybody else.  This actually works better than you might think because there are concepts that will be taught that are not dependent upon the mouse.  If you learn how others are dealing with the course, later you can take the time to find out how to more accessibly carry out the same tasks.  In addition, you will be able to concentrate on finding accessible ways of doing the particular things you actually want or need to do, rather than trying to find ways of doing everything accessibly even though some of it you may never use again.  This approach may not feel right, but it actually can work.
>
> A less extreme approach would be to get a syllabus or schedule of what will be covered when in your class.  This would allow you or your Disability Service office to get a list of keyboard shortcuts for the particular software that you could study before you have to deal with it in your course.  Microsoft has many lists of keyboard shortcuts and equivalents on their website as does Apple.  The problem with this approach is that you may not understand what some of these keyboard shortcuts do until the equivalent topic is covered in your class.  This also means extra work and study on your part.  Also, by sharing the list, some of us may be able to help you anticipate software that is not very accessible so you can work around that to get through this course.
>
> Part of this process will also have to be for you to learn more about the assistive technology that you are using.  If, for example, you have not used a computer before but have used a note-taking device, you will have to figure out if you are going to use a screen reader and which screen reader.  There are some functions within a screen reader that won't be known at all by your professor that can help you.  For example, JAWS for Windows has some ability to analyze Microsoft Word formatting which can help you find problems of which you might not be aware.
>
> Finally, as you start to learn how all this works, you will find that you will be able to guess at ways certain mouse functions can be done on the keyboard.  In addition, asking occasional questions of other students, those you may know or those on this list, might give you quick answers that will get you past problem points.
>
> I hope some of this is helpful.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NABS-L <nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Terri Stimmel via NABS-L
> Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2024 6:01 AM
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Terri Stimmel <icecreamlover76 at outlook.com>
> Subject: [NABS-L] College computer concepts course
>
> Hello everyone,
>
>
> As I have mentioned here before, I am attending a local, community college in my area. I don't believe that they have worked with too many blind people. Although, they do work with people who have different disabilities. I get the feeling though, that a lot of the people they work with, have such disabilities as, autism, and things of that nature.
>
>
> Anyway, I am currently taking a computer concepts course. It is a basic course, from what I understand. It will cover such things as, Microsoft Word, and all of those products. As well as maybe a couple of other things. But it isn't anything too crazy! This is a course that I have to take. It is one of the requirements.
>
>
> So what I was wondering is, is there anyone here who has dealt with this sort of class, in the last few years, or so?
>
> How did you get through this class?
>
> What were some things that needed to be done? Either, things that you needed from the professor? Or, things that the disability services office needed to do?
>
>
> I have a pretty decent professor. He wants to make this class work for me. And, he is even trying to help me, a little before class.
>
> Also, I am able to use my own laptop. They are not having me use one of the computers in the classroom. We use Canvas, quite regularly, to upload our assignments. That is the easy part.
>
>
> I am really struggling with this class. I don't know how to perform a lot of the tasks that he is asking of us. And, he doesn't know what to do, either. I have been trying to research things, and find the answers.
> That way, we can both learn together.
>
>
> However, trying to do this, while managing my other three classes, is turning out to be rather difficult. And of course, the disability services office, does not have too many answers. Which really doesn't surprise me, because they do not have the experience.
>
>
> Any thoughts, and advice on all of this, would be very much appreciated!
>
>
> Thank you,
>
>
> Terri
>
>
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