I have read with interest the suggestions made by other instructors who have
worked with blind students. Many of the tips mentioned are consistent with my
experience several years ago when I had the privilege of teaching a blind student in
introductory psychology. I say "privilege" because I learned a lot from having her in
class and from thinking about how to adjust my approach to facilitate her learning.
Being so conscious of
her needs was really good for me - no teaching on "auto-pilot"! :-)
One thing I struggled with was how to teach some concepts that I, a sighted
person, couldn't imagine learning without "seeing" in some way. It turned out that
she, being experienced at using her other senses in place of vision, was much more
able to learn from verbal descriptions than I had anticipated. Also, I figured out
some ways to adapt some visual information by making it tactile. One example that
comes to mind was
teaching about the normal curve. Because I was not confident that I could communicate
the concept of the normal curve by merely telling her about it, I took a photocopy of
a normal curve and used a pin to poke holes along the line that formed the curve and
the boundaries of the areas under the curve. Before class I gave her a brief
explanation of what I had done, so that when I got to that topic later in the class
period, she was
prepared to follow along by feeling the normal curve while the other students looked
at it. She said that my braille-like version helped her, and I hope that it did.
Retta
"Hershberger, Tom" wrote:
> I will be teaching a completely blind student next semester in my general psychology
> course. The text and readings will be available on audio tape, but I am looking for
> TIPS, which is the point of this list. The major difficulty is that I make
> extensive use of graphics in the lectures (graphs, pictures, diagrams, etc) and
> routinely use video clips to make points. I have been in touch with all of the
> obvious offices and agencies.
>
> Comments, suggestions, advice, etc. are welcome.
>
> Tom Hershberger
>
> Thomas J. Hershberger, PhD
> Professor of Psychology
> Chatham College
> Pittsburgh, PA 15232
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 412 365-1128
>
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--
Retta E. Poe, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Programs
College of Education and Behavioral Sciences
Professor of Psychology
Western Kentucky University
1 Big Red Way
Bowling Green, Ky. 42101
(270) 745-4662 FAX: (270) 745-6474
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://edtech.cebs.wku.edu/~rpoe/
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