|
This course is part of a series of three integrated courses designed to investigate the uses of electronic technologies in delivering braille instruction. For participants involved or interested in an academic program for preparing Master Special Education Teachers of students with visual impairments, this is one of five core competency courses required to develop competencies needed for teaching children with visual impairments.
The goal of this on-line instructional workshop is to introduce participants
to the technologies, techniques, and tools of braille writing and
transcribing. This course is designed to present students with detailed
instruction on braille, coupled with laboratory activities designed to
evaluate new knowledge and skills. The course is designed as a
12-session program covering a wide variety of topics.
Course Objectives
This course is designed to provide educators, parents, future and current braille transcribers, and other interested
persons with the knowledge to be able to create Grade 2 braille
documents using one or several braille writing devices. Students should
also be able to describe other aspects of braille use, such as history and
development, specialized codes, and other related topics.
Prerequisites
There are no academic prerequisites for this course, other than the appropriate Internet connectivity, including access to a graphical browser or accessibility software, and an email account. You should allow at least four (4) hours per week on average for the course. As in any course, some weeks will be easier than others. Each session is marked by a graphic showing our estimate of the time needed to complete that session:
 15-minute clock represents a short session, completion time less than two hours
 30-minute clock represents an average session, completion time between two and four hours
 45-minute clock represents a long session, completion time more than four hours
Again, these indications represent our best guess, and will be modified with your input at the end of the course!
Hardware/Software Requirements
Because this course is necessarily graphics intensive, it is recommended that participants have available to them a 14.4 bps Modem or faster. A Macintosh Power PC or a computer with at least a 486 processor will also speed your navigation, though slower computers may also be fully compatable.
This course is designed primarily for the Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers. The format and functionality of the content may be significantly distorted if viewed with other browsing software. Information about how to download the latest versions of these browsers can be found in our Getting Started section.
Participants will need email software and access to a mail server to correspond with the instructor and other students in the course, as well as submit assignments and tests for grading. Netscape has a built in email program. Information on how to configure Netscape to read mail is provided in our Getting Started section.
You might also wish to download a Perkins braille emulation program. These programs allow you to use a regular computer keyboard to "mimic" the behavior of a Perkins brailler. You will be asked to use some braille emulator in this program. You can opt to use one of our free emulators, or you might choose to purchase a more powerful computer translation program. The public-domain (free programs) can be downloaded at:
Downloading Braille Emulation Programs
|