Low tech but great tool-Draftsman

Even though I appreciate technology, it is important to remember there are low-tech tools that help our learning process immensely.

Click Draftsman Tactile Drawing Board to see what students can use to practice their print letters and handwriting. These boards can also be used in math class. Students can draw what the math teacher is drawing and follow along with the class. The boards are also used to draw pictures and diagrams, hey even a game of tic-tac-toe!

DigiMemo-- Digital Writing-recognizes handwriting

A friend told me about DigiMemo--a new tool that has jumped into the technology scene. She uses it for her low vision students. When the teacher is writing notes on the board, a sighted student can copy the notes on this computerized pad, because the low vision student rarely can see the board. After class, the DigiMemo can be hooked into a computer and uploaded as an image for the low vision student to read.

Well, I have taken this tool and added a very important component: The ability to read handwriting and transfer that handwriting into text.

When I first tried the DigiMemo, I could only get an image which talking software does NOT read, I was incredibly disappointed. So, I thought surely we have come far enough that software can read handwriting. Well, we have. Just a bit more sleuthing and I found what I was looking for. I loaded the handwriting software and did another copy of notes on my DigiMemo, transferred the information to my computer--did a couple simple tricks and viola...text that Jaws talking software could read.

What a powerful tool. The sighted student is not doing much more than they typically do. They write their notes, which are stored in the DigiMemo, then transfer the information into text, which requires using a mouse. I believe, in time, the DigiMemo software will be accessible to blind students who know their hotkeys.

The downfall is DigiMemo cannot do graphics...well of course. AND the person taking the notes needs to have legible print so the computer can read it easily. I tried cursive, but it only caught some of the letters. I tried really sloppy writing and I was still very pleasantly surprised at how much it picked up but you would need to be a detective to figure it all out. You need good printing skills...period.

For about $140, I think it is a great investment. Teachers and students are excited when I tell them about DigiMemo. A great tool for school this year and another lesson for me to prepare--hey, that is what I like!!

Iphone, texting and talking software

Picture you as a student sitting in class working on your laptop and the teacher asks you to input formals into excel and make them fit correctly and you have forgotten how to do this. Everyone around you uses a mouse to get to where they are going so you cannot ask them for help.

But you have another weapon. You pull up gmail and a text box, while using your talking software and start texting your teacher of the blind who happens to be hundreds of miles away from you physically, but right beside you virtually. You ask her how to enlarge the boxes in excel to make them fit the content. The answer comes back swiftly.

On the teacher's side, she can either be sitting at her computer to text back or have email on her iphone. Today, she happens to be out grocery shopping and the text comes in. She stops right where she is at to text the answer back to the student without missing a beat. This is actually faster than if the teacher was in the school building and someone would have to go track her down.

Ok, for me I am usually NOT out shopping and working at my computer helping my students around the country. BUT, if I wanted to be out shopping I could be. It is always the possibility of what we want to look for, not restriction. Technology allows the possible!!

For iPhone lessons, go to: iTools

Video Chat--Google Talk accessibility

I added this tool to my toolbox of instruction awhile ago as it always takes time to work out the bugs. I have a very excited diligent student that always wants to help with the new ways of technology. We started with Skype as she really wanted to use the mouse, so we enlarged everything on her screen and gave her an enormous mouse to find where she needed to go, but it took her a long time to read the text compared to her JAWS reading it to her.

We tried other video chat options. But one lesson changed everything, as I sat on my mountain and she in her house, I told her to use FireFox, Jaws talking software and GMail to do video chat. When I texted her and JAWS read it back, her elation was felt through the text box, as she texted several dozen !!!!!! Being low vision, her response time was still not quick enough when she tried to use her eyes and she knew it. After a lesson, I told her I needed to go back to Skype to figure out all the hotkeys for her. She texted back very quickly that she wanted to keep using the mouse in Skype. So I said that was fine and I would just do the hotkeys for the other kids. A minute later (I could tell she was thinking) a text came back and said, "Well, I am moving so much faster using Jaws maybe I should use the hotkeys too." I smiled--if you give a child permission to want what they want, they usually turn your direction fairly quickly. I texted her back and said that was fine. I would give her the hotkeys to Skype too and she could decide what method she would use.

The huge advantage of this is when the student is in class and they run into a problem, they can immediately text for an answer without bothering anyone in the class. How powerful is that! A teacher of the blind can instruct so many more kids at a constant given time no matter how far apart the students are in the country. It is virtually bringing all the kids to the teacher's door--or rather computer. :) -smile

Iphone and braille display

One of the most exciting things to happen in instruction is pairing the Iphone with a braille display. This is not just for the blind, but more importantly the deaf/blind. Over a year ago, one of my students asked about the correct phone he should buy--voice was not enough--he could not hear it. We had gone to the phone store with his mom, showed him the iphone and went over the cost of it. Mom saved his money from his SSI and around March he came in with an iphone that could pair with a tiny braille display. He can easily carry around both. For the first time, he could text his friends and they could text back. He could and can now communicate with the world. The elation I still feel over this and watching him get so excited about what this means for his life and socialization skills overwhelms me. This is why I teach. Someone comes to me with a problem and I need to figure out the best solution, then see the joy on the student's face when they realize what power there is in this tool keeps me going and searching even further and wider for all things possible. What a truly exciting time we live in!!

Exciting instruction with technology

Technology has certainly taken us a long way. In the last year, I have been working on and perfecting the use of teaching long distance with students. As in, I am hundreds of miles away form my students, but with a phone call and a computer, I can pull up their machines, give instruction and watch everything they are doing, just as if I was sitting right next to them: Correcting, inputting and watching their skills grow.
If you would like a free lesson on this, contact me offlist at deniserob@gmail.com and I will set up a time to demonstrate this powerful tool. You too can be a teacher sitting in one place and teaching far more students than you ever believed possible. No car or gas needed.