[Athen] Blind Student Taking CS/Web Dev Courses

[Priest, Ione]

Laura,

We currently have two CS majors. The biggest barriers we've run into have been in courses with graphic-heavy content - specifically an architecture course that primarily focused on the physical layout of circuitry which required a great deal of tactile production on our end. This may become a big factor for your student if they're wanting to focus on Web Development coursework, and many of our web dev. courses have a heavy emphasis on the graphic interface portion of things.

Outside of this, most of our professors have been very flexible in allowing the students to use a variety of different methods to complete projects and assignments because they understood the content itself was the most important thing for the students to master, not necessarily the specific tools. Most of the professors we've met with are actually happy to have them work in simple text documents where possible, as it was a good demonstration of the students' grasp of the concepts. Where text files were not sufficient, we did also utilize Eclipse and Notepad++ as Tamara mentioned. One of our students is very adept with LaTex, and their professor has provided all the materials in this format, including exams.

I will add that both of these students are great at self-advocating their needs to professors as needed, and very tech-savvy to the point they may have used additional programs on their own that I'm not aware of. I'm not sure what your student's skill is, but that can also play a part in how things are approached.

Thanks,

Ione Priest, CPACC<https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/cpacccertification> |  Accessibility Technology Manager
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Access Center
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Campus Box 56, P.O. Box 173362, Denver, CO 80217-3362
303-615-0200 (office)
720-778-5662 (fax)
ipriest at msudenver.edu<mailto:ipriest at msudenver.edu> | www.msudenver.edu/access<http://www.msudenver.edu/access>
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[Metropolitan State University of Denver]
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From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Russell Solowoniuk
Sent: Monday, March 9, 2020 3:58 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Blind Student Taking CS/Web Dev Courses

Hi Laura,

You should probably first check with the student to see if she/he is a Braille user. If you will need to prepare textbooks in Braille, or contract out to do this, the turnaround time can be quite lengthy.

Cheers,

Russell

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Tamara Mariotti
Sent: Monday, March 9, 2020 2:22 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Blind Student Taking CS/Web Dev Courses

Hi Laura, I would highly suggest that you begin with the professors/instructors to find out what they are using for books, and online tools. We found that Pearson My programming lab etc. was not easily accessible. There have been many listserv concerns with Pearson products. However, I found that was the biggest concern, the materials and if they are in an accessible format. The other area is math. Many computer majors require high levels of math, so having Math accessible programs, such as Math Type, etc. is a must. Also, meeting with the student to know where his strengths are, etc.

I always had a plan B for student to have a 1:1 NOTE TAKER and to describe things working with him in the class when needed, and a 1:1 tutor, preferably the same person through the learning commons to work with him. I also suggested that the student set up at least 1 time per week at office hours with the instructor(s) as needed. So organizing the information prior to the class beginning is really crucial here.

Then there are the computer programming related software that is way over my expertise. Here are some ideas I was provided that I provided to the Professors/Instructors and the student.
https://help.eclipse.org/2019-12/index.jsp?topic=%2Forg.eclipse.stardust.docs.wst%2Fhtml%2Fwst-integration%2Fdynamic-web-proj.html<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhelp.eclipse.org%2F2019-12%2Findex.jsp%3Ftopic%3D%252Forg.eclipse.stardust.docs.wst%252Fhtml%252Fwst-integration%252Fdynamic-web-proj.html&data=02%7C01%7Cipriest%40msudenver.edu%7C570e7fd4ab9e450c42e008d7c4753de9%7C03309ca417334af9a73cf18cc841325c%7C1%7C0%7C637193880159991843&sdata=vujcy45XL3I9MsK3TPgsx3VLJet2GZVY52a58TnSQyo%3D&reserved=0>

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnotepad-plus-plus.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cipriest%40msudenver.edu%7C570e7fd4ab9e450c42e008d7c4753de9%7C03309ca417334af9a73cf18cc841325c%7C1%7C0%7C637193880159991843&sdata=GBUndCMqZSsUT%2F8UI5L1zqUHhjbzhWIAWVfTE9G2l2E%3D&reserved=0>

Eclipse with the PyDev plugin (www.eclipse.org<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eclipse.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cipriest%40msudenver.edu%7C570e7fd4ab9e450c42e008d7c4753de9%7C03309ca417334af9a73cf18cc841325c%7C1%7C0%7C637193880160001836&sdata=E9iZMLwCrOhZL%2BxEAlMoYbpp7DvVbCPhc8jSIiow3EA%3D&reserved=0> ) or Microsoft Visual Studio 2017/2019 - yes it can do Python now. These are for Windows.

Notepad is the way to go when writing code. NVDA or JAWS reads tabs, spaces and now it also can read line endings in Notepad fine as long as that feature is enabled and you've maximized the window.

If the rest of the class is working with an integrated development environment the instructor might need to provide special instructions for importing notepad text in to the environment.

Make sure too, that your student has access to the code samples that are usually a free download with purchase of the textbook. Because an integrated development environment can often help with syntax, he'll be missing out on that using Notepad, so code samples are crucial.

Hope this helps.
Tamara Mariotti

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Laura Loree
Sent: Monday, March 9, 2020 2:23 PM
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Athen] Blind Student Taking CS/Web Dev Courses

We have a student who is blind that has expressed interest in taking CS/Web Development courses at our institution in the Fall. We are already beginning to have discussions with key parties on campus in order to be proactive. Has anyone worked with a blind student in these majors and do you have any advice/strategies that worked well for you in supporting the student?



Laura Loree, M.A.Ed., CPACC, CTFL
EIT Accessibility Manager
Accessible Technology Center
Utah Valley University
Email: laura.loree at uvu.edu<mailto:laura.loree at uvu.edu>
Phone: 801-863-6788
Room: FL-111-F

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