>Thought some of you maybe interested.


Pranav


>View this article online at: 
>http://www.buffalo.edu/reporter/vol35/vol35n24/articles/BeaverBraille.html
>
>Textbooks for blind students "come alive"
>
>By LOIS BAKER
>Contributing Editor
>
>A standard textbook for primary or secondary school students is a robust
>learning tool rich with photographs, illustrations, charts, maps—visual
>images that bring the words to life.
>
>BrailleNote
>
>Textbooks for blind or visually impaired students are considerably less
>dynamic. A full book may comprise as many as 15-20 bound volumes. All of
>the helpful graphic components are useless unless the teacher describes
>them. Locating a highlighted vocabulary word is cumbersome and difficult.
>
>The learning status quo for these students may be changing as the result
>of a project completed by assistive technology experts at UB.
>
>With $400,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Kathleen
>A. Beaver, Christine Oddo and Sumana Silverheels spent the past two years
>developing a prototype social-studies electronic textbook—more precisely,
>13 social-studies prototype electronic textbooks and 10 supplements for
>grades 2 through 10—that include text, as well as descriptions of all
>graphic elements.
>
>The electronic files are designed for use with an ingenious,
>classroom-friendly device called a portable refreshable Braille
>note-taker. The device converts electronic text into speech and into
>Braille that is "refreshed:" produced as a ticker-tape-like continuous
>stream that is created by moveable pins on a keyboard, which the fingers
>read the way the eye would track words across a page. The student can
>listen to the textbook or read it in Braille.
>
>The new electronic textbooks will be available for use in classrooms
>across the nation this spring.
>
>"No other textbook out there for visually impaired students has been
>modified to this extent," said Beaver, associate director of the Center
>for Assistive Technology in the School of Public Health and Health
>Professions and project director of the Instant Access to Braille
>project.
>
>"These are the only social studies textbooks available to blind students
>across the country that have all picture and map descriptions included,"
>she said. "They also are the only ones designed to take full advantage of
>a portable note-taking device, where elements such as time lines, tables,
>bulleted lists, graphs and charts, highlighted vocabulary words, multiple
>choice and fill-in-the-blank chapter summary questions work equally well
>for output of both speech and refreshable Braille.
>
>"And because the file is electronic," Beaver added, "students can search
>for information, such as vocabulary words, instead of skimming through
>page after page of hard-copy Braille. They also can place electronic
>'bookmarks' within the text to quickly locate important material."
>
>Beaver and her colleagues developed the electronic textbooks with the aid
>of 15 blind students in grades 2 to 10. Each student received a
>BrailleNote, a personal note taker with refreshable Braille developed by
>Pulse Data International to test at home and in the classroom.
>
>The students' response was enthusiastic. "For the first time ever, I have
>been able to do my social studies homework independently, without asking
>my mom to describe the maps and pictures to me or have her help me find
>answers within the text," said one ninth grader.
>
>Converting the words into an electronic format was easy, if time
>consuming. Beaver and colleagues dismantled each student's social studies
>book and scanned the pages into a computer. Recreating the graphic images
>was not as simple. Beaver and colleagues used their knowledge from a
>workshop on describing art for the visually impaired to devise
>descriptions of every graphic image in the printed book, each carefully
>worded to create a vivid picture in the mind's eye.
>
>The colorful photo of an ancient Aztec mask in the 8th grade social
>studies textbook "Creating America," for example, comes alive for a blind
>student through these words:
>
>There is a photograph on this page of a primitive facemask made out of
>blue mosaic tiles. Some of the small blue tiles are missing. The mask has
>big white eyes with dark pupils, a broad nose and a wide mouth with
>large, square, white teeth.
>
>A picture isn't necessarily worth 1,000 words, it turns out. Sometimes
>just six suffice.
>
>In "Creating America" alone, there are 394 photographs, 130 graphic
>organizers (visual tools such as flow charts and Venn diagrams that
>define patterns and relationships within the data), 115 historical maps,
>42 charts, 32 timelines, 28 diagrams and 25 graphs. Beaver and her team
>created word pictures for every one, plus for graphic elements in 14
>additional textbooks. They currently are finalizing the references and
>acknowledgements. The textbooks will be stored as zipped files at the
>American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Ky.
>
>"Each state has one or more authorized entities, usually someone in the
>state education department, who can acquire the textbook for eligible
>students in that state," said Beaver. "The file then can be mailed or
>emailed to the teacher working with that student. Once the file is
>unzipped, it can be copied to a standard flash disk card or floppy disk
>and imported into the BrailleNote."
>
>Electronic textbooks have the potential to provide all students access to
>the full vigor of instructional materials, Beaver stated. "As electronic
>textbooks become more available, electronic note takers with refreshable
>Braille not only will give students the freedom to study and learn
>independently, they will provide a cost-effective alternative to
>hard-copy Braille textbooks."
>
>Beaver and her colleagues hope to use the textbook project to conduct
>research into the effect of the use of refreshable Braille on Braille
>literacy.
>
>
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