Illinois
School for the Visually Impaired
658 East State Street • Jacksonville, Illinois
62650-2130
Toll Free: 800-919-5617 • Voice: 217-479-4400 • TTY: 217-479-4415 • Fax:
217-479-4479
www.isvi.net • E-mail:
ISVI
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Us
General
News Student Meal
Parents
|
Assistive Technology
|
Ms. Wells’ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY CLASS NEWSLETTER |
October, 2011 |
The Assistive Technology (AT) classes at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired (ISVI) are focused on operating Microsoft Office programs, functioning with screen readers and magnifiers, navigating applications on Apple products and staying in the know with current assistive technology. These areas improve the student’s knowledge on what is available to them through life. There are five different AT classes offered, Assistive Technology 1-4 and Technology for Independence.
The school adopted a new emailing program this year. The transition to Microsoft Office Outlook has been a relatively smooth one. Microsoft Outlook is commonly used in different workplaces and at many colleges, so the students will be at an advantage learning it now. Outlook is extremely accessible with many easy to remember shortcut keys. Control N—new message Control R—Reply Control F—- Forward Alt S—Send |
WEBSITES To make sure the students are staying up to date with current technologies, certain classes are required to review and summarize an article weekly in the area of assistive technology. Some of the websites that they use are: www.blindtraining.com www.afb.org/accessworld www.freedomscientific.com
|
Apple product applications need to be looked at in a different perspective when teaching visually impaired students. Operating an application for a visually impaired student requires Voice over, Zoom, or White on Black; all which are in the accessibility options in settings. Voice over is a touch screen reader which allows the students to drag their fingers on the screen to interact with and navigate the applications. Students then drag their finger to find links, headings, and other interactive icons. For students that do not prefer screen readers, there is zoom. The zoom feature enlarges the information on the screen. This is done by holding your finger down to indicate the direction the magnification should move on the screen. Zoom does not change how an application works, just how much is displayed on the screen. Then there are students who prefer the white on black setting. This accessible option makes the text on the phone white, and changes the background to black.
Education
Departmental Pages
Department References
Guidance Corner
School News
Sports
Transition
Residential
Life
Programs
Recreation News
Recreational Schedule
Transition
Transportation
Outreach
Birth to 3 Program
Low Vision Clinic
Opening Doors
Conference
Summer Camps
Workshops & Seminars
Resources
Additional Links
Assistive Technology
Reference Guide
Site Map
Staff Directory
Vision
Information
Website Visitors
On March 12th Mr. Thompson’s
Technology Classes had the opportunity to learn about the latest and greatest
technology products for the visually impaired. Representatives from G.W. Micro,
Inc. came to ISVI to demonstrate their newest products called BookSense,
BrailleSensePlus, Duo Handheld CCTV, and a portable wireless Braille display.
BookSense is a digital audio book
reader. It is similar to the Victor Reader but has other enhancements. It is
Bluetooth capable and recognizes more file formats than other available book
readers. Students saw the third device ever made and they were the third group
to see it demonstrated. It is expected to be released for market in May of 2009.
BrailleSensePlus is an exciting new
version of the BrailleSense. ISVI students had the opportunity to use the device
and were very interested in the new technology. They were also shown the Qwerty
BrailleSense. There is only one of these available and it has not been released
for market.