[nabs] First time college student with a couple questions

Laura Glowacki orangebutterfly87 at gmail.com
Wed Dec 29 21:56:25 GMT 2010 

Looks like a very basic intro to computers course for people who 
aren't comp sci majors.  My guess is that this may be a better 
bet than the calculus I course.  I'm sure either would be doable, 
but I had to learn the hard way that what is doable and what is 
the least stress-inducing can be very different sometimes.

You could email the professor and ask for an electronic copy of 
the syllabus.  Or you can even search the course name and number, 
your university name, and the word syllabus and find it using a 
google search.  The syllabus would give you a better idea of what 
to expect, and professors are often willing to share those even 
if they are not the most up-to-date.

Laura
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
To: "'Discussion list for NABS,National Alliance of Blind 
Students.'" <nabs at acb.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs] First time college student with a couple 
questions


And, figure out if the course is conducive to your needs. 
There's no need
for a deep dive into programming if all you need to do is satisfy 
some core
requirement for a music degree.  Even my introductory C++ course 
was no
casual picnic. :)  Find out if there's a relevant course to audio 
technology
you could take that would satisfy the requirement and contribute 
something
tangible to your field.

Best,

Joe

"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their 
sleeves,
some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam 
Ewing

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-bounces at acb.org [mailto:nabs-bounces at acb.org] On
Behalf Of Joseph Lee
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 2:01 PM
To: 'Discussion list for NABS,National Alliance of Blind 
Students.'
Subject: Re: [nabs] First time college student with a couple 
questions

Hi,
A very good description. The next step is finding out what
exactly is being
taught in that course - programming language, HTML, etc. so
that those who
took it could recommend programs that worked for us.
Cheers,
Joseph

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-bounces at acb.org [mailto:nabs-bounces at acb.org] On 
Behalf Of
Miranda
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 10:31 AM
To: Discussion list for NABS, National Alliance of Blind 
Students.
Subject: Re: [nabs] First time college student with a couple 
questions

Hi,
I'm really leaning toward the Computer Science course, as I took 
another
look at the course catalog and discovered the math course is
Calculus I with
review of pre-calc concepts.
Below is the description of the Computer Science course:
Introduction to computer Science:
Computers have had an impact on almost every aspect of modern
life. Why is
this? What has been their impact on other disciplines and on
the society in
which we live? What do we need to know about computing so that
we control
the technology rather than being controlled by it? This course
will address
these and other questions while giving hands-on practice in a 
particular
context, such as creating animations or web applications. Topics 
include
fundamentals of computer programming, how computers represent
information,
limits to what is computable, human-machine interaction, and 
ethical and
social issues raised by the widespread use of computers.

Thanks, and have a great day!

In Christ, Miranda

-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Lee <joseph.lee22590 at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 2:36 AM
To: 'Discussion list for NABS, National Alliance of Blind 
Students.'
<nabs at acb.org>; 'Ashley Bramlett' <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [nabs] First time college student with a couple 
questions

Hi,
Programming... I wonder what it'll teach you... I really hope it 
is web
development, since it is slightly easier to learn HTML (in my
opinion). As
for math stuff, I personally recommend going over Algebra II
and basic trig
materials to get started. Pre-calculus (if I remember right) is
mostly used
to review Algebra II and basic trig stuff (no calculus at all).
Cheers,
Joseph

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-bounces at acb.org [mailto:nabs-bounces at acb.org] On 
Behalf Of
Miranda
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 11:36 PM
To: Ashley Bramlett; Discussion list for NABS, National
Alliance of Blind
Students.
Subject: Re: [nabs] First time college student with a couple 
questions

Hi Ashley,
Thanks for your email! I'll check out APH for their tactile 
graphics and
science kits. I'll also check out NBP.
I am attending a local private college, and I'll be majoring in
music with
an emphasis in vocal performance. As far as getting accessible
materials,
I'll be advocating along with my vocational rehabilitation 
counselor. My
college is small, and I'm the first totally Blind student to my
knowledge.
They are more than willing to work with me to meet my
accomidation needs, so
I'm not complaining. *Smile*
I'm a member of NLS, Bookshare and RFB&D. I have to take this 
pre-calc
course. Sadly, I can't get around it unless I take a basic 
computer
programming course. If all else fails, I'll do that! My husband 
does web
design and computer programming, so I would be able to make it
through the
course with his help if need be. I can take a basic
quantitative reasoning
course for my QR requirement, but I'd eventually need to take 
either the
pre-calc or computer programming to satisfy my math/computer 
science
requirements. Both the pre-calc and computer programming course
would also
satisfy my QR credit, so I figure why take QR plus one of the
other courses
when I can skip the QR class altogether? *Smile* If only that
darn QR class
could satisfy my Math/computer science credit!
Thanks again for your message, and have a great day!

In Christ, Miranda

-----Original Message-----
From: Ashley  Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 12:24 AM
To: Discussion list for NABS, National Alliance of Blind 
Students.
<nabs at acb.org>
Subject: Re: [nabs] First time college student with a couple 
questions

Hi Miranda,
Which college are you attending and what aspect of music? 
Performance?
vocal?  Music therapy maybe?
I have a blind friend who is a music major as well; he is a
freshman; I'll
ask him if he used braille but I think he relied on audio from
RFB so far.

So I can not answer your question about braille .brf files.
But you could
check with National Braille Press and see what they have.  As
others said
bookshare has .brf files but I don't know if they have what you
need or if
you're a member.


As for the other classes, those are hard due to the visual
aspect and well
they're just abstract.
I stayed away from
pre-calculus and math; had one required math class about
problem solving and

had a tutor for that.
You might want to have some more specific questions for us.
But in general
a good source of texts is Recording for the blind/dislexic, RFBD.
If books are not available there, your disability office will 
hopefully
provide you alternative formats such as scanning the text for you 
or
obtaining the electronic version from the publisher.

Generally here are some accomodations for math/biology.

1. Maintain a good relationship with the professor if possible;
go to them
with questions or concerns; use their office hours.  They can
explain things

in greater detail or show you concepts.  They can "draw"
something for you
or actually have makeshift or real models.  Some biology
departments have
models you can touch; George Mason university had some.
Otherwise you could

make some up.  For instance demonstrating mitosis for cell
reproduction you
can use magnets to show how things split apart and go to opposite 
ends.

2. Ask your college to purchase some adaptive matterials;
they'll likely say

no but it can't hurt to ask; public schools may be more likely
to say yes;
its state money.
I'd recommend getting the tactile anatomy kit sold by APH.

3. Have multiple ways to represent diagrams/drawings.  Of
course some things

they draw you can just imagine and some problems rather than
graphing you
can solve numerically; but you need all options. Buy a raised
line drawing
kit and raised graph paper; I think APH sells them.
Things like wiki sticks or string can be used for diagrams too.

4. Obviously you need to be able to show work to a professor;
they cannot
read braille.  So doing homework on your computer or pac mate
and printing
may work.  You also may want to just work them out mannually and 
use a
reader/scribe to transcribe work.

5. Biology has lotsof memorizing.  So as with all classes but
particularly
that one, take notes and study systematically.  Group concepts
and study
those together; helps with memory.

HTH,
Ashley
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Miranda" <knownoflove at gmail.com>
To: <nabs at acb.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 7:55 PM
Subject: [nabs] First time college student with a couple 
questions


> Hi,
> I will be attending college in 2012 for my BA with a major in 
> music.
> Do any of you know of Braille transcribers who will provide
textbooks in
> BRF format to read with a Braille display? I have a Pac Mate,
and want to
> get books not containing graphics in BRF if  at all possible.
> Any ideas on how to make biology and a pre-calculus course
(with algebra,
> geometry and trig review) as accessible as possible?
> If anyone has any other advice pertaining to college I'd 
> greatly
> appreciate it.
> Thanks in advance for any help you can give, and have a great 
> day!
>
> In Christ, Miranda
> _______________________________________________
> nabs mailing list
> nabs at acb.org
> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs
>

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