[nabs-l] online college vs classroom instruction

Josh Gregory joshkart12 at gmail.com
Sun May 22 00:11:21 UTC 2011


This thread has really expanded, this is great!
Josh

sent from my Apex

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing 
list<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 21 May 2011 18:34:34 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] online college vs classroom instruction

I think that's an even better idea! Thanks! I think Jorge had a
good idea, but sometimes you don't have time in a class period to
read the whole paper aloud and make revisions to it.  I think
I'll try that next time.

 Chris

"A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities motto)

--- Sent from my BrailleNote

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Ignasi Cambra <ignasicambra at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 21 May 2011 16:53:46 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] online college vs classroom instruction

In college people generally type everything, including rough
drafts.  They still take handwritten notes, but papers are
generally done on the computer from the beginning.
If you know who your partner is going to be, just ask him to type
that particular draft instead of writing it.  I'm sure your
teacher will understand why you are doing that, and I'm also
pretty sure that your partner will not mind.
On May 21, 2011, at 2:20 PM, Chris Nusbaum wrote:

 Ashley,

 You bring up an interesting issue.  My middle school, too does
peer editing of papers, where we hook up with a partner and read
and make revisions to each other's handwritten rough drafts
before we type them for our final copy.  But if you're
mainstreamed in a class with sighted people, how do you handle
those situations? I have to resort to a reader because my
instructional assistant wouldn't have time to scan and Braille
it.  But are there ways that you all handle these peer editing
times independently? Do you request your partner's paper ahead of
time and scan it into Kurzweil or OpenBook? Will those OCR
softwares scan handwritten materials? In college, are even rough
drafts typed into a computer, so you ask your partner to email
their draft to you? I would be interested to hear all of your
strategies! By the way, I hope to see many of you on the call
tomorrow!

 Chris

 "A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities
motto)

 --- Sent from my BrailleNote

 ----- Original Message -----
 From: <bookwormahb at earthlink.net
 To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 Date sent: Sat, 21 May 2011 00:16:41 -0400
 Subject: Re: [nabs-l] online college vs classroom instruction

 Josh,
 You have a lot to consider with being a student coupled with the
wheelchair.
 I went to the traditional classroom all through college.  I went
to a big
 state run school and then transferred to a smaller private
school, Marymount
 university.
 No, online college is not more accessible.  Things like the
discussion board
 on Blackboard are problematic, so are the quizzes.
 I tried an online class this semester and was very disappointed.
Its partly
 my learning style.  I didn't know what was important to extract
from the text
 without a class lecture.  I wasn't sure what to study for the
test.
 Assignments seemed a bit ambiguous with the instructions.  I
just was never
 sure what the professor expected.

 What do you want from college? If you want the social aspect,
the
 independence and living away from home, the increased freedom,
the ability
 to just go where you want on campus such as a friend's room late
at night to
 hang out, then stay on campus.  Oh, another thing on campus its
easier to
 see your professors, if you need extra help during office hours;
where as if
 you are a commuter or online, you can't get to campus as easily.
 ]
 But if you just want the academics, then online might work.
Also what is
 your study habits? Online classes you are more on your own.  You
are not in
 class with a schedule to turn in things and you won't have
classmates to
 study/compare work with;  what I mean is with papers, you often
get to read
 each other's work and get suggestions.

 Personally, I see challenges either way.  On campus classes will
present
 accessibility challenges since you cannot see the board or
screen; so you
 will want the powerpoints or screen lecture notes sent to you.
 But online challenges abound because of graphics, flash content,
and
 blackboard if your school uses it.


 Regarding access to school due to your wheelchair, I'd check
that a lot,
 even more than the blindness accomodations.  The blindness is
something minor
 to accommodate, where as physical disabilities require
modifications to the
 built environment.

 Ensure you can access all classrooms with your wheel chair.
Does the school
 have enough ramp access?  Does the school have enough space for
your chair
 to wheel into class?
 The law, ADA, requires renovated buildings to be wheel chair
accessible.
 Unfortunately, some schools including the community college, I'm
at now, are
 not in ADA compliance because either they did not think of it or
buildings
 were built prior to 1990 and were not yet renovated.

 So the law requires access, but if your school was not built
with ADA
 accessibility in mind such as wide door ways, ramps, accessible
restrooms,
 push buttons, etc.  you will have a hard time living and moving
around
 campus.  So check into that.  You could even bring someone
sighted and help
 you look around.  That person can check for ramps, push buttons,
elevators to
 each floor, accessible restrooms, and even check the door way
width for you.
 For ADA compliant wheel chair access door widths need to be 32
inches.  But
 again, if built before 1990 without renovations, buildings are
not covered
 by ADA.

 HTH,
 Ashley

 -----Original Message-----
 From: Josh Gregory
 Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 8:25 PM
 To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 Subject: [nabs-l] online college vs classroom instruction

 Hi all,
 I'm a little curious here, what do people think on this? For us
 blind students who are about to graduate from high school soon
 (I'm a junior this year and will be a senior next) college is
 something some of us look into.  So, my question: Do people
think
 that online college is more accessible for blind people, or
 classroom instruction? If I may ask, what have people's
 experiences been with both? What about a person who is blind and
 partially in a wheelchair such as myself, could I manage in an
 on-campus environment or would online instruction be better for
 me?
 Thanks so much,
 Josh

 Sent from my Apex

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