Browsing by Subject "braille"

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    TEDI 3 Week 2 - Braille Reading and Writing Skills
    (2019-06-01) Watson, Tammy
    In this video, Tammy Watson, a braille specialist at the secondary school level, discusses teaching braille to both teachers and learners at school. She discusses how learning through braille changes the physical structure of the brain, particularly in regards to the parts of the brain related to nerve sensitivity and muscle control in the fingers. Tammy explains how braille characters are designed, and how children are best taught to both read and write braille. She discusses how to develop the fine motor skills, posture and muscle development required to use braille, through explaining different kinds of activities that can be used in the teaching environment. She also discusses how to represent visual images through braille.
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    TEDI 3 Week 3 - Conversations on the Experience of Accessible and Inaccessible Learning Material
    (2019-06-01) Watermeyer, Brian; Leteane, Benedict; Lourens, Heidi; Botha, Michelle
    In this video, members of the TEDI-VI MOOC panel discuss their experience of accessible and inaccessible learning materials. Benedict reflects on his experiences as a learner in the special school system, in which there were not sufficient braille books for the number of visually-impaired learners in the classroom, and insufficient tools (such as Perkins braillers). He explained the difficulties of having to rely on partially-sighted learners in the classroom, who had to take on additional responsibilities in the classroom, and the anxieties this could induce in the classroom. Heidi, who had full access to accessible learning materials, discusses the difficulty of submitting assignments which were scoped in inaccessible ways (such as requiring images and photographs) for visually-impaired learners. Michelle discusses the difficulty of advocating for her needs and negotiating for assistance with different teachers, which she had to do herself, and the experience of feeling singled-out as the only child with visual impairments in the classroom. She discusses the experiences of shame of asking for consideration from her teachers and the sense of imposing on their teaching techniques, and how her school experience and grades were very dependent on the willingness of her teachers to accommodate her learning needs. Heidi discusses the lack of accessible leisure reading material in the school library and the lack in general of recreational activities for learners with visual disabilities. The panel closes by discussing the transformative potential of assistive digital technology while being aware of the pitfalls, particularly with the focus on audio at the exclusion of braille.
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    TEDI 3 Week 3 - Curriculum Differentiation for the Visually Impaired Child: Part 2
    (2019-06-01) Viljoen, Hestelle
    In this video, Hestelle Viljoen discusses how to differentiate the curriculum in order to make it more accessible, specifically with regard to teaching methodologies and assessment methods. She describes how visually-impaired learners may require more time and different kinds of learning materials (such as braille or audio content) in order to engage with the curriculum. She discusses how to adapt visual content (such as graphs or images) to make it more accessible, through a variety of methods, with specific examples. She also discusses the 'reasonable accommodations' during assessment provided by South African law for learners, which can include assistive devices, different physical accommodations or provision of different stationery or tools.