If you didn't have knowledge of the proper tools, you would think that internet in the classroom cannot be used to help students who are visually impaired. The internet can be a great tool for finding information, so why should blind or visually impaired students be excluded? The link below is to a website that provides a free download for a softwear that allows visually impeared students to surf the web indepedently. It uses modern technology to present the information on a computer auditorily, and filters out irrelevant information. For instance, if there were a calendar on the screen, rather than hearing meaningless numbers one in front of the other, the student would hear only the relevant information- such as "Presentation on March 20th."
I think that putting students on as equal of a playing ground as possible is a very important task- one that often requires special tools. This site is an excellent one!
http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/
I really enjoined reading you blog and listening to your podcast. I think both sites were great resources. I particularly like the one you discussed in your blog more because you mention how special needs students should also be able to find information. I thought the information on the auditory learning was very interesting and a good way for students to be able to use technology that will benefit their learning needs.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed you post. For some reason you sounded very passionate about the topic. On a business note, i visited the site and it is a very awsome technology that i did not know existed. I would have liked to see a demeonstartion of the technology but it is a very informative site. Thank You
ReplyDelete