Post by Ms. Kathy on Jun 13, 2004 1:14:18 GMT -6
[shadow=red,left,300]Unusual Uses for JAWS[/shadow]
JAWS is the name of a computer screen reading program for the blind. It is created by Freedom Scientific, a company which makes technology for the blind. I also have a former student who works there but that is not why I mention it here. It is the most widely used program of its type in that it makes almost everything in Windows accessible to the visually impaired.
Below is the company's own description taken from the Freedom Scientific web site:
The most popular screen reader worldwide, JAWS® for Windows works with your PC to provide access to today’s software applications and the Internet. With its internal software speech synthesizer and the computer’s sound card, information from the screen is read aloud, providing technology to access a wide variety of information, education and job related applications. JAWS also outputs to refreshable Braille displays, providing unmatched Braille support of any screen reader on the market. A training tutorial is included.
Reading a Book
I had a student who needed to read a classic book. Sometimes teachers will assign reading at the last minute and forget to get a reading list in time to have a Braille copy accessible or a student may accidentally pick up the wrong volume in his/her reading of a book. [Because Braille takes up so much space, often a single book in ink print is several volumes in its Braille counterpart.]
Often classic books can be found on free literature web sites. I would copy the assigned chapters and paste them into a MS Word document. Then I'd save the document on a floppy disc or in a special folder on the desk top for my student. When she came to resource, she could open the folder and listen to JAWS read the chapters to her.
I could also assign chapters to be read at home and email them to her.
This process would encourage her to remember to get the right book volume or audio tape since the screen reader voices show very little emotion or inflection. At any rate, there was no excuse for not completing the assignment.
Teacher-Made Testing
Create a test in MS Word. Save it to a floppy on in a special folder with the student's name. At test time have the student retrieve the test document.
Answers can be inserted into the document or in a note taker like the Braille Lite Millennium. (The Braille Lite can be hooked up to the computer printer to print out an ink print document.) Either way, the student can print out an ink print copy.
I had one of my high schoolers do it this way so that she could get into the habit of creating her own ink print copies for her teachers so that she would not have to worry about having work transcribed for her. She had gotten into the habit of depending on transcription in lieu of staying in practice with using the computer keyboard which is essential in communicating in the sighted world. This way, not having one's work transcribed is not an excuse for turning in late work or no work at all.
JAWS is the name of a computer screen reading program for the blind. It is created by Freedom Scientific, a company which makes technology for the blind. I also have a former student who works there but that is not why I mention it here. It is the most widely used program of its type in that it makes almost everything in Windows accessible to the visually impaired.
Below is the company's own description taken from the Freedom Scientific web site:
The most popular screen reader worldwide, JAWS® for Windows works with your PC to provide access to today’s software applications and the Internet. With its internal software speech synthesizer and the computer’s sound card, information from the screen is read aloud, providing technology to access a wide variety of information, education and job related applications. JAWS also outputs to refreshable Braille displays, providing unmatched Braille support of any screen reader on the market. A training tutorial is included.
Reading a Book
I had a student who needed to read a classic book. Sometimes teachers will assign reading at the last minute and forget to get a reading list in time to have a Braille copy accessible or a student may accidentally pick up the wrong volume in his/her reading of a book. [Because Braille takes up so much space, often a single book in ink print is several volumes in its Braille counterpart.]
Often classic books can be found on free literature web sites. I would copy the assigned chapters and paste them into a MS Word document. Then I'd save the document on a floppy disc or in a special folder on the desk top for my student. When she came to resource, she could open the folder and listen to JAWS read the chapters to her.
I could also assign chapters to be read at home and email them to her.
This process would encourage her to remember to get the right book volume or audio tape since the screen reader voices show very little emotion or inflection. At any rate, there was no excuse for not completing the assignment.
Teacher-Made Testing
Create a test in MS Word. Save it to a floppy on in a special folder with the student's name. At test time have the student retrieve the test document.
Answers can be inserted into the document or in a note taker like the Braille Lite Millennium. (The Braille Lite can be hooked up to the computer printer to print out an ink print document.) Either way, the student can print out an ink print copy.
I had one of my high schoolers do it this way so that she could get into the habit of creating her own ink print copies for her teachers so that she would not have to worry about having work transcribed for her. She had gotten into the habit of depending on transcription in lieu of staying in practice with using the computer keyboard which is essential in communicating in the sighted world. This way, not having one's work transcribed is not an excuse for turning in late work or no work at all.
