Do professors really understand?
Greetings! I'm Christian Robicheau, assistant editor at http://www.sterlingcreations.ca and welcome to December!
Ah yes! December is here and I hope that everyone is ready to start celebrating.
This week our president Donna J. Jodhan has an interesting editorial to share with us. It focuses on whether or not professors understand the challenges being faced by blind students at university.
Enjoy and have a great weekend.
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Do professors really understand?
By Donna J. Jodhan
When I was at university which was many years ago, I must say that as a whole, most professors understood that in order to complete my courses, I had to have access to texts and that I had to be given a bit of extra time to write exams. They also understood that we all had to go the extra mile to ensure that my texts were on time and that I could understand charts, diagrams, and graphs.
When I was at university, there were no online courses and my texts were either given to me on tape or in Braille. Lectures were all conducted in the classroom and I was able to get the full attention of most of my professors. I either typed my papers or spoke onto tape and sometimes I had oral exams for French and Spanish.
That was then and this is now. With the evolution of the Internet, more courses are being offered the online way. Students submit their exams via email or by logging into a specified website. They receive their texts through the Internet but there are still classroom sessions to attend.
For blind students, the online way could be looked upon in two ways; as a blessing and as a challenge. As a blessing because they do not have to travel to be at class physically. As a challenge because many web developers are still finding it difficult to develop websites that are accessible to blind students.
Do professors really understand that in order for blind students to participate fully in web based courses, they need to have the following?
Equal access to all texts. Equal access to all websites that are being used during the course. Equal access to all online resources. Equal access to professors.
Professors need to ensure that texts are made available to their blind students in a format that they can read. They need to understand that blind students need extra time to complete exams and they need to be aware that whenever changes are made to software by the learning institution involved, care must be taken to ensure that the student's software is compatible and if not then efforts need to be made to find suitable alternatives.
This is not going to change and as technology continues to evolve then so too will the challenges for blind students increase. What is the solution here? More dialogue between all concerned and the development of ways to deal with all of this.
I'm Donna J. Jodhan wishing you a terrific day and weekend.
To reach me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca and I would be delighted to send you an electronic copy of our latest newsletter.
Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna's blogs and editorials.
Donna Jodhan! Advocating accessibility for all
http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com
Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business ventures
http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm
Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility
http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog
A monthly editorial on issues on diversity
http://www.diversityintheworkplace.ca
Ah yes! December is here and I hope that everyone is ready to start celebrating.
This week our president Donna J. Jodhan has an interesting editorial to share with us. It focuses on whether or not professors understand the challenges being faced by blind students at university.
Enjoy and have a great weekend.
+++++++++++++++
Do professors really understand?
By Donna J. Jodhan
When I was at university which was many years ago, I must say that as a whole, most professors understood that in order to complete my courses, I had to have access to texts and that I had to be given a bit of extra time to write exams. They also understood that we all had to go the extra mile to ensure that my texts were on time and that I could understand charts, diagrams, and graphs.
When I was at university, there were no online courses and my texts were either given to me on tape or in Braille. Lectures were all conducted in the classroom and I was able to get the full attention of most of my professors. I either typed my papers or spoke onto tape and sometimes I had oral exams for French and Spanish.
That was then and this is now. With the evolution of the Internet, more courses are being offered the online way. Students submit their exams via email or by logging into a specified website. They receive their texts through the Internet but there are still classroom sessions to attend.
For blind students, the online way could be looked upon in two ways; as a blessing and as a challenge. As a blessing because they do not have to travel to be at class physically. As a challenge because many web developers are still finding it difficult to develop websites that are accessible to blind students.
Do professors really understand that in order for blind students to participate fully in web based courses, they need to have the following?
Equal access to all texts. Equal access to all websites that are being used during the course. Equal access to all online resources. Equal access to professors.
Professors need to ensure that texts are made available to their blind students in a format that they can read. They need to understand that blind students need extra time to complete exams and they need to be aware that whenever changes are made to software by the learning institution involved, care must be taken to ensure that the student's software is compatible and if not then efforts need to be made to find suitable alternatives.
This is not going to change and as technology continues to evolve then so too will the challenges for blind students increase. What is the solution here? More dialogue between all concerned and the development of ways to deal with all of this.
I'm Donna J. Jodhan wishing you a terrific day and weekend.
To reach me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca and I would be delighted to send you an electronic copy of our latest newsletter.
Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna's blogs and editorials.
Donna Jodhan! Advocating accessibility for all
http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com
Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business ventures
http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm
Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility
http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog
A monthly editorial on issues on diversity
http://www.diversityintheworkplace.ca
posted by Editor at
4:04 AM
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