To: [log in to unmask] From: Collette O'Neill [log in to unmask] Below is an article from today's Australian. Collette Blind get in touch with e-learning Tracy Peacock NOVEMBER 27, 2002 RESEARCH aimed at putting blind and vision-impaired people in closer touch with their computers should open e-learning opportunities for them in information technology. Curtin University of Technology data communications lecturer Iain Murray said his team was initially modifying the Cisco Network Academy program's certification course, Cisco certified networking associate, for use by people who are vision impaired. Curtin's school of electrical and computer engineering teaches the Cisco e-learning programs in internet technology to undergraduates. The research team, which includes three blind students and one who is vision impaired, hopes to open up the IT field to the blind. "It's the training they can't get to – when they get the training they can do it," Mr Murray said. The Cisco course was designed for people wanting to work in areas such as an IT help desk, network administrator or an internet service provider administrator. The instructor-led e-learning environment was a good way for the blind to learn, he said, and the team was creating an instructor's manual on how to teach the course to blind students. Mr Murray will outline the project, which is expected to be completed within 12 months, at the annual Cisco Networking Academy conference in Bangkok next month. This report appears on australianIT.com.au.