NRCGSH@RITVAX.BITNET (PROF NORM COOMBS) (01/18/90)
Index Number: 6321
[This is from the BLIND-L mailing list on Bitnet. Bill McGarry]
Hi Joel:
I am a blind history prof at the Rochester Institute of
Technology. Wish computers had been available 30 years ago when I
was a student. They have drastically altered my life for the
better. My professional activities have incrase several hundred
fold. You are doing GREAT things to empower your blind students
provided they have the sense to understand and realize it. Help
them to find electronic mail and electronic access to databases!
I have taken the liberty to include a short article I have written
which tells you a bit about myself and talks a bit about the worth
of adaptive technologies for the physically disabled. I regularly
communicate with a number of deaf students....blind teacher at one
end, deaf student at other, only computer between...no human
intermediary necessary!
If I can ever help you or be of help to any of your blind students,
let me know.
.............
Computer Conferencing in Education and the Physically Disabled
(Copyright January 28, 1989)
Norman Coombs
Professor of History
Rochester Institute of Technology
ONe Lomb Memorial Dr.
Rochester NY 14623
Electronic mail: NRCGSH@RITVAX.BITNET
Computer conferencing is creating exciting new opportunities for a
barrier-free learning environment for students with disabilities. The
hearing impaired can obviously communicate freely with anyone through a
system of computer mediated communication without requiring a human
intermediary. Similarly, blind persons using a computer and speech
synthesizer can access written material produced for general purposes
without needing a reader or without having it transcribed into a braille
format. Finally, assuming the system is networked through modems and
phone lines, the mobility impaired can "travel" to distant locations for a
"class" while still comfortably working from home. This is not a vision
of the future, but it describes educational ventures that are taking place
today.
I am a professor of history at the Rochester Institute of Technology,
(RIT). On our campus is located the National Technical Institute for The
Deaf, (NTID). Strange though it may seem, although I am totally blind, I
have been teaching hearing impaired students for some twenty years now.
NTID students capable of mainstreaming are part of courses I teach almost
every academic quarter. Only a very few RIT professors know sign
language, and therefore it is usual to have an interpreter sitting beside
the professor in classes where NTID students are registered. However,
since I began using a computer and speech synthesizer, there have been
occasions when the interpreter was not needed. Previously, when NTID
students came to my office, we could not "talk" without assistance. Some
"seeing" professors, in this situation, would communicate using pen and
paper. Now, the hearing impaired student and I take turns at my computer
keyboard. They can read what I input, and the synthesizer "speaks" to me
for them when they type into the computer. Even more revolutionary, I
teach a history course for the College of Continuing Education in which
lectures are broadcast on TV, and class discussion are held through a
computer conference system. Hearing impaired students have been enrolled
in this class, taking advantage of captioned videos and becoming actively
involved in class discussions through the computer conference. All of
this with no interpreter and with a totally blind professor at the other
end of the network.
For my part, I am using an Equity Two computer, IBM compatible, and a
speech synthesizer. Fortunately, I have access to a PC at home and work.
This enables me to work both places. On one I use a Dectalk and on the
other an Echo GP for my synthesizers. Computer Conversations produces the
software which takes screen output and sends it to the synthesizer. Not
only does this read what goes to the screen and what I input at the
keyboard, but it enables the user to reread what is on the screen to learn
exact details of information when needed. The software can be set to read
letters, words, lines or the entire screen. It can be set to read or omit
punctuation. The user can also query it for information about
highlighting and capitalization. It also provides limited control over
the rate of speed for the speech output.
The computer and speech synthesizer has given me far more
independence in my work than I ever dreamed of, and it has enabled me to
drastically increase my work output. My two major applications are word
processing and communications. With the speech output, I can proof my own
writing as never before. The ability to check my spelling has been a
great step forward in independence.
Electronic communication now lets me receive mail from people around
the world, and the computer can read it to me again without needing a
human reader. Perhaps the most useful aspect of this is that I now
require my students to submit essay take-home exams and term papers on
electronic mail. This has saved me hundreds and hundreds of hours of
reader service every years.
Amusingly, my handicap helped me to be aware of some of the
potentials of the computer in ways that many of my colleagues were not.
Most view the computer as a word processor or number cruncher. Few
understand its fantastic power as a communications device. (For me that
was one of its greatest benefits.) When RIT first was interested in
exploring the uses of computer conferencing in education, few professors
recognized the opportunity. However, I quickly grasped the fact that a
computer can be a communication tool and that teaching is, above all else,
communication. Ironically, at an institute of technology, a blind
professor in history was one of the first to venture into the field of
computer conferencing.
Although some of the students who were submitting their papers to me
through electronic mail were hearing impaired, I did not, at first, grasp
the possibilities inherent in the system. Early on, a deaf girl, after
receiving her grade and my comments back in electronic mail, did strike up
a regular dialogue with me saying, somewhat excitedly, that this was the
first time she had "talked" with any professor without the aid of an
interpreter. It was another hearing impaired student and her tutor who
actually saw the potential in computer conferencing. The student was a
young woman in her twenties who had lost her hearing as an adult. She was
not skilled with sign language and had a lot of difficulty in classes
because of that. She wanted to enroll in the video and computer version
of the history class. It was her experience which awakened me to the
possibilities in conferencing as a way to transcend physical disabilities
and achieve more equal access to education for the handicapped student.
By the conclusion of the course, she commented that this experience had
been her academic high point at RIT. In fact, she said it was the first
time that she had really participated in any class. It was the
opportunity to share equally in class discussion that she found so
meaningful. Although she had shared with the other students the fact that
she was hearing impaired, the fact rapidly became invisible and
insignificant.
Based on this success, I persuaded NTID to experiment with an all-
deaf computer conference course in history. Because of the ability of the
handicapped to mainstream through computer conferencing, having a separate
hearing impaired section was only for experimental purposes. We took
pains to get carefully captioned videos and to prepare discussion topics
that were clear and provocative. Almost a year was given to designing the
system for its trial run. However, when it was ready, finding students
who would enroll was difficult. Then, persuading them to actually log
onto the computer and participate was difficult. For me, this came as a
surprise. Finding new independence was exhilarating for me. Many of the
students were accustomed to "leaning" on a support system of interpreter
and notetakers. Not only did this help them with their work, but it
motivated them to show up at class. With our system, they were on their
own. Seemingly, some found independence to be frightening. Having had a
system which helped motivate them, many had not developed the kind of self
directedness that we were demanding. Also, the woman who had inspired the
experiment was about ten years older than our new group of students and,
for that reason, was more mature and self disciplined.
Clearly, I had fallen into a standard trap of those who are innovating
with new technologies. We got the system ready, but we neglected to
consider the human factor. (Here was I, a humanist, falling into the trap
of the technologist!) However, we did learn two valuable lessons. First,
the system is most suited to mature students who have self motivation.
This is true both for the general student population and for the
physically disabled. Second, when involving students who are weak, for
whatever reason, in these qualities, it is important to develop a support
network to motivate them. I believe that it is also important to remember
that a system such as this will never replace traditional educational
techniques. In fact, I do not believe it will become a major competitor.
However, for certain kinds of students in special situations, computer
conferencing opens exciting opportunities into a barrier-free learning
environment which is unique.
Although during 1988-89 I have been adapting several courses to
utilize a computer conference component, the course in which I originally
used it and in which the above experiences took place, was a freshman
course in Modern American History. The computer conference system which
is used at RIT is VAX Notes produced by the Digital Equipment Corporation
and is run on a VAX computer. In the original pilot studies, I used the
identical videos, texts and multiple choice tests with a group of students
which met three times weekly in a standard class setting. As has been
found common with other experiments in computer conferencing, the computer
group found the professor more accessible than on campus where chasing him
down in his office or by phone can be frustrating. They also found it
easier to participate in group discussion when they could first
contemplate what they were going to "say', and when they did not have the
embarrassment of facing 40 other students in person while making their
comment. In our pilot study, the computer group scored higher on the
tests than did the control group. Personally, I believe there was some
evidence that using the computer served to screen out some of the below
average students which would explain the above average score.
Only seven hearing impaired students have taken the course through
the computer during the last year. This is not enough to make any
meaningful comparisons, and those particular students did not seem to fit
the typical profile. Even those who were weak in motivation, did become
active participants once they received their first disastrous exam
results. By the end of the course they were participating regularly and
doing work which seemed average or better. Many hearing impaired students
who normally communicate through sign language have weak English skills.
Although I have no concrete evidence, it would seem self evident that
taking a course which utilized written English for regular communication
would inevitably have the side effect of increasing language skills. One
of the built-in advantages of computer conferencing for the hearing
impaired student is that the medium encourages short comments with an
informal, almost oral, style. This suits the communication to the needs
of many hearing impaired students without having to make patronizing
concessions.
Using computer conferencing to provide equal access to educational
opportunities has still another exciting and hidden benefit. Besides
providing easy access to material, and besides allowing mainstreaming in
such a way that the handicap becomes invisible, the system has the
potential to transform the learner. If the system does, as stated above,
work best for those who are motivated, then using it on a regular basis
will develop habits of self directedness and create feelings of
achievement and self worth. The ultimate benefit of education, whether
the learner is disabled or not, is not so much the acquisition of
knowledge and skill as it is the development of a new sense of personhood.
For the physically disabled, often accustomed to needing special
assistance, computer conferencing provides a new sense of equal acceptance
and a new kind of personal independence.