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Monday, November 29, 2010

November Keyboard Shortcut

Well, November is ending, but here's a keyboard shortcut that can carry you into December and beyond:

Quitting/exiting an application/program--for the Windows user, press and hold Alt, then press the F4 key. This works for most applications, including Type to Learn, Zoomtext, and browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox.
On a Mac, the shortcut to quit applications is Command-q. Try them out, they can help students and teachers work more efficiently on the computer by not having to search for that mouse cursor!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Congratulations to the Winners of Use of the Apex Accessible PDA!

Well, it was a difficult choice, but the winners of the "Be the First LAUSD student to Use an Apex" Contest* are: Karen A. from Marshall High School and Guadalupe G. from Nobel Middle School. We also have a runner-up, Gabriel L. from Irving Middle School. Gabriel will be assigned a special Apex that has the Sendero GPS software, maps and blue-tooth receiver while he is being trained by one of our Orientation and Mobility Instructors. All three students wrote terrific essays in response to questions I posed. Their responses are presented below. Congratulations to all the winners, and to the other 6 students who submitted essays to the contest, you will be placed in the queue to be the next students to upgrade your mPowers as we purchase new Apex accessible PDA's. Thanks to all the students who participated in our contest!

*PLEASE NOTE: the winning essays entitle each of the winners to trade up their mPower BrailleNote to the new Apex while they are students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Visually Impaired Program.

WINNER 1: KAREN A., MARSHALL HIGH SCHOOL, GRADE 12
QUESTION: We seem to be moving more and more toward digital files (electronic books as .brf or DAISY files). If you had the choice today, would you choose an embossed hard copy of your books, or would you prefer an electronic file to use on your braille notetaker? Why? Would you prefer certain types of books in one format or the other? Explain your preferences.

Winning Essay: With technological advances, I still consider embossed braille books very important. Embossed Math and Science books provide readers with proper use of the Nemeth code. Because my Calculus book is only available in audio format (CD), I have no idea on the more advanced nemeth symbols for characters like ' and Greek letters like θ. Consequently, I have low scores on standardized mathematics tests because the only time I ever see these symbols is on tests unless the problems I am solving are transcribed for me. Most of the time, I must write and solve these problems in computer braille on my mPower so my teacher can see my work in print, and because computer braille only uses the numbers from the Nemeth code, other Nemeth symbols for characters like π must be assigned on the keyboard and braille display so that they print out accordingly. Because my classes move so quickly, it takes too long to do my homework on the brailler and have someone overwrite it. I also prefer embossed science books for the same reason. In this case however, my chemistry and physics books are available electronically; both of them are very difficult to read because of the extra characters added in the files. In my Physics book for example, a problem when translated in computer braille may look like:
frac (m/s) over s/frac = frac m over s/frac × frac 1 < over s/frac = frac m over s^2/frac
because of the HTML code used for computers
In grade 2 [contracted] braille, the same problem looks identical except the less-than is spelled out. It is so much easier to simply look at the problem in an embossed book where it WOULD look like:
(m/s)/s=m/s*1/s=m/s²
Physics is already hard enough to understand with the book in front of you; students do not need the extra confusion of trying to decipher example problems which are meant to help you, NOT frustrate you.
On the other hand, I prefer electronic books for books with more text such as English and History books. First of all, electronic books allow me to access multiple books instantaneously on my mPower WITHOUT having to search for the correct volume, flip to find the page, etc. Rather than having to read one volume of a history workbook to copy the questions and through another embossed textbook to find the answers, I can access both these books with the press of a button. Secondly, obtaining an already available electronic book is much easier than accessing an embossed book which can take months. All I do is either download or request the book from Bookshare [www.bookshare.org] or WebBraille [www.loc.gov/nls], open the book file, and find the chapter or section with the find command. Although I do take the extra time to find and replace the dashes in front of page numbers, this demands much less energy than having to carry three or more volumes of the same book home. Plus, electronic books allow each person to have his or her copy of the book without having to share one volume. Thirdly, I love having novels for English electronically because it facilitates my ability to take close reading notes, which involve analyzing citations throughout the novel. If I were reading a book such as Heart of Darkness in embossed braille, I would have to literally copy the quote word by word out of the book, whereas with an electronic book, I copy and paste the quote into the file containing my notes. Despite the pros and cons of embossed and electronic books, I will continue using both to my advantage depending on what is available.

WINNER 2: GUADALUPE G., NOBEL MIDDLE SCHOOL, GRADE 8
QUESTION: How will you ensure the longevity of your Apex; in other words, how will you care for it? Write a list of at least 5 precautions you will take to keep your Apex safe and in good working order.

Winning Essay: I came to Nobel [Middle School] from Blend, Mr. Pouliot taught me to use the BrailleNote and then I was given an mPower, I have had the same mPower for the last three years it has never had to go in for repair since I have had it, I would like to be one of the first students to have an Apex to use. My mPower has been my best friend and has helped me to be a good student. ... I have always taken good care of my mPower. I don't download stuff to it, or mess around with it. I use my thumb drive, and I am always careful when I put my thumb drive in or take it out. I always try to be careful when I print to not jam the cable in or pull it out too hard. I only use the charger that came with my unit and I always charge it at home. Last week, Mrs. Tomlinson taught us a few new things that will help keep our mPower working longer. Please consider me for an Apex, I will be a responsible user and take good care of it.

RUNNER-UP: GABRIEL L., IRVING MIDDLE SCHOOL, GRADE 8
QUESTION: Being the first to receive the newest technology brings with it some responsibility. Write an essay on how you would benefit our program by being one of the first students to receive an Apex. How will you share your experiences and knowledge of learning to use this new braille notetaker? Why do you think it is important to share your knowledge?

Winning Essay: One way I would love to give back to the VI program after winning the Apex is to create audio tutorials in mp3 format that explain how to use the Apex from beginning to end. One of the things I liked when I got my Victor Reader Stream were the tutorials that were on the Stream. The thing that made these tutorials so special from all the other ones is that you can clearly hear what is going on with the Stream as the person explains it step by step. I've always loved to record things, so I have a lot of technology I can use to make sure that all the BrailleNote prompts are heard as I explain them on the tutorial. I think that audio tutorials are much more helpful to a person learning how to use any new piece of technology because when something is being read on the computer, often times it is difficult to understand. However, if you have real person going through it step by step, and allowing you to hear what the BrailleNote is doing or saying, it'll be much easier for someone who does not have much experience with this piece of technology to quickly get the hang of using it.
Another thing that I think would be very beneficial for the VI program is someone who can work with people who are learning how to use the Apex over the phone or in person. I can be that person. Often times, people who are listening to a tutorial get it right away, but sometimes people still have questions. This is where working with the person who made the tutorial over the phone or in person is helpful. I'm always reachable via my cell phone, and I am more than willing to take the time to work with people using the Apex over the phone for as long as necessary, or until they understand it. I think that this would help out the program a lot, because there might even be less BrailleNotes sent in to Humanware for repair.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Scholarship Money Available to Legally Blind College Bound Students

I got this information in an email and thought I'd pass it on to interested high school students who are college bound and legally blind.
The National Federation of the Blind Scholarship Program application is now available online. This national scholarship program is available solely to persons who are legally blind and living in the United States or Puerto Rico. There are 30 awards, from $12,000 to $3,000. In addition, each winner will be assisted to attend the NFB Annual Convention for 2011 in Orlando, Florida. The annual contest begins the first week of November 2010; all documents required from the applicants must be postmarked by the March 31, 2011, deadline. Applications and full details are available online at http://www.nfb.org/scholarships.
Questions may be emailed to scholarships@nfb.org.