<html><head></head><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>Has there been away developed to make this application accessible to the blind?<br><br>Kimberly A. morrow, Ph.D.</div><div><br>On Sep 14, 2012, at 8:52 PM, "Sheila Amato" <<a href="mailto:brltrans@frontier.com">brltrans@frontier.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Hello Colleagues,</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">I am very excited that The University of Arizona’s
Office of Instruction and Assessment (OIA) is working with me to develop an
on-line “iAbacus” designed for idevices (e.g., iPads, iPod Touches). The
application will also be available via a web site. I initially approached
the OIA developers at our university because I was looking for a way for our
future TVIs to practice their abacus skills. In our planning meetings it became
obvious to me that a tool such as an iAbacus would also be valuable to TVIs,
math teachers, teaching assistants, parents, and youth or adults learning abacus
computation. We had to start somewhere so we started with the method we
teach at UofA, Dr. Rita Livingston’s logic method. Currently the BETA (and
I do mean beta!) version of the iAbacus only adds and
subtracts.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">For the rest of the month of September we have placed
our beta iAbacus on a web site and are inviting anyone who wishes to take a look
to do so and provide us feedback. When you go to </font></font><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><a href="http://abacus.oia.arizona.edu/"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">http://abacus.oia.arizona.edu/</font></a><font face="Calibri"> to try the iAbacus you’ll also find a link to a survey about
your experience using the iAbacus. My recommendation is that you have the
survey link open on a different device/computer as you experiment with the
iAbacus. To reach the survey, use this link: </font><a href="https://ua.datstathost.com/OSS-Collector/Survey.ashx?Name=iAbacus"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">https://ua.datstathost.com/OSS-Collector/Survey.ashx?Name=iAbacus</font></a></font><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">. </font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">We intend that the beads on the iAbacus will have
speech, however, we are very stumped about what is logical to do. Before
Gary Carstensen, the programmer, spends many hours on this aspect we wanted
input from the field. Therefore, this current form of the beta is NOT
accessible to those using screen readers. However, we really would like
your input so if you can pair up with a “borrowed set of eyes” and give us
feedback that would be wonderful.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"></font> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">If you prefer not to do the survey feel free to email me
your thoughts directly at </font></font><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><a href="mailto:rosenblu@u.arizona.edu"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">rosenblu@u.arizona.edu</font></a></font><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">. Gary, the OIA staff and I are anxious to hear
your thoughts.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Thanks,</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Penny</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">L. Penny Rosenblum, Ph.D.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">University of Arizona</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Department of Disability and Psychoeducational
Studies</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Office: 520-621-1223</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Fax: 520-621-3821</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Email: </font></font><a href="mailto:rosenblu@email.arizona.edu"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" color="#0000ff">rosenblu@email.arizona.edu</font></font></a></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Visit the Program in Visual Impairment Web Site:
</font></font><a href="http://www.coe.arizona.edu/visual_impairment"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" color="#0000ff">http://www.coe.arizona.edu/visual_impairment</font></font></a></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font> </p></div></div>
</div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>You are subscribed to AERNet, The Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired Listserv.</span><br><span></span><br><span>To post a message to all the list members, send an email to <a href="mailto:aernet@lists.aerbvi.org">aernet@lists.aerbvi.org</a>.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Address list requests to: <a href="mailto:aernet-request@lists.aerbvi.org">aernet-request@lists.aerbvi.org</a></span><br><span></span><br><span>To unsubscribe from this list, go to <a href="http://lists.aerbvi.org/mailman/listinfo/aernet_lists.aerbvi.org">http://lists.aerbvi.org/mailman/listinfo/aernet_lists.aerbvi.org</a> and follow instructions to unsubscribe. Go to the same address to access the list archives.</span><br><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>AERNet mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:AERNet@lists.aerbvi.org">AERNet@lists.aerbvi.org</a></span><br><span><a href="http://lists.aerbvi.org/mailman/listinfo/aernet_lists.aerbvi.org">http://lists.aerbvi.org/mailman/listinfo/aernet_lists.aerbvi.org</a></span><br></div></blockquote></body></html>