Pat,
I'm not sure where I come down on this topic.   It is such a 
different time than when I got started.  Then, you had actual coild, 
resistors and caps. to feel and feel the discreet differences.  And 
perhaps you built a circuit using these components and could 
understand the circuit knowing tactually the involved components.  I 
have tactually been around the inside of my TS850 and, honestly all 
the components are secrets!  They feel the same, although they 
certainly electrically aren't.  I'm sure you could put six different 
ICs in my hand and tell me what they were and did and all of them 
would feel the same, with the same connections, all doing different 
things.  So I guess my point is, perhaps it isn't as important as it 
once was to understand the physical differences in parts.  Were I to 
come in to the hobby today I'm not sure if I would have the ability 
or desire to build something.  But that's me today, not me sixty 
years ago, so perhaps this isn't a valid thought.
Sorry, I don't guess I gave you an answer to your original question, 
but just my thoughts.
Good luck and thanks for all the time and talent you have spent 
keeping all of us in the electronics loop.
Pat, K9JAUAt 07:59 AM 10/19/2015, you wrote:
>Hello, all -
>
>Been a while since I posted.  I'm looking for a web resource that describes
>common electronic components in a way that would be useful to blind
>students.  When teaching in person I can do a show and tell, like Gordon
>West used to do at Handiham California Radio Camp, but these days most
>people are going to head down the self-study route and even if they are able
>to get to a local class it is likely the presentation will be a PowerPoint
>and the presenter may not know how to describe.  It would be great to locate
>some on line resources that explained things like resistors, capacitors, and
>inductors in a more blind-friendly way.  Any ideas?
>
>Thanks!
>
>73 - Pat
>
>Patrick Tice
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