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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2016 - 05 - 06 - ID#4i7yer
5
Hello /r/Blind! (self.Blind)
submitted by betterAT
Hello /r/Blind community, I come to you seeking your help in becoming a better assistive technology instructor. I've been an instructor for the past five years but even so, I feel that there are areas in which I can improve. It is with that desire to improve that I come to this community to ask questions.

I'd like to lead with three questions to commence this inquiry.
First, did any of you members of this subreddit obtain technology training at a center/facility? If so, what did you enjoy about the instruction provided?
Second, what did you not enjoy and if you could suggest an improvement for the instructor, what would it be?
Third, was there any concept, software, hardware that you would have liked to learn but did not.

Any feedback would be great as I enjoy working with the visually impaired to help continue developing their skills in all areas of technology.
romanj35 1 points 7y ago
I myself had a few hours. The instructor was nice but I'd be willing to bet bored with her job. Now, that said, I'd only be able to recommend common sense stuff. Don't use only the inside the learning center pcs, if the student feels comfortable enough to do it have them bring their own pcs, tablets, smartphones. Install nvda, voice-over, talk-back with them.
If it's cane training, have the instructor make field trips out into parking lots and also use the cane too.
It shouldn't just be, hit the button, click that, to the left a little bit. Which is what it was for me.
Nighthawk321 1 points 7y ago
I've never learned anything from a center because most instructors don't know how to use most software past a cheat sheet. That being said, it's great that you're wanting to be the best instructor as possible. What sorts of hardware/software do you work with?
fastfinge 1 points 7y ago
Personally, I've never had any technology training, and never felt like I wanted any. I'm fine reading or listening to the included manuals and audio guides, and just learning it myself. I think you might find that Reddit might not be a good place to ask this question, because most of us here are probably going to be self-starters.
geoffisblind 1 points 7y ago
I guess I can maybe answer part of your question, I have been offered help, I believe I have something in the region of 10-30 hours of training that are at my disposal if I want them I just haven't wanted to actually do it. I have kind of been winging the whole assistive technology thing on my own and I'm not doing too bad with things like Zoomtext which I've been using fore about 5ish years. Right now working my way into screen readers is the biggest issue. I know I should be using them more actively as they are helpful, I'm just not good enough yet to pull away from zooming in and color correcting. I'd consider myself to be very proficient with Zoomtext. Other technology is pretty easy to pick up, for me CCTV devices are pretty intuitive, I figured out the ins and outs of everything I needed on mine in like tenish minutes after opening the box and setting it up so further training just felt like it would be a waste of time. Once I get the hang of using NVDA I'll probably use that more since screens fry my retinas after too long and I like using my functional vision on things I enjoy, not burning it out on emails. Now that you posted this, I probably need to get in contact with that guy. I don't know if that answered your question fully, I can't really say why I haven't actually taken advantage of training yet, it might be an "I can do this by myself" attitude that I tend to take on things which I like but sometimes puts me in situations like this where I don't pursue training that I really should get.
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