[infoshare] Fw: Fred's Head Companion - American Printing House for the Blind
- From: "Maria" <malyn87@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: " Karen Gourgey" <kgourgey@xxxxxxxxxxx>, "Denise" <quest74@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "FBN" <enews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Info" <infoshare@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "lisa saunders" <lisafsaunderstheater2004@xxxxxxxxx>, "Lucia" <lmarett@xxxxxxxxxx>, "Rick" <rh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Val" <valcapmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2008 10:28:33 -0800
Fred's Head CompanionHello InfoShare members,
I am forwarding the info in the website below which I think would be of
interest to all, but particularly to those of us in college or taking any kind
of courses. Lynne talked a bit about the Fred's Head companion site at our
meeting this past Saturday, and here is a good example of its worth.
Read on and enjoy.
Maria
----- Original Message -----
From: Fred's Head Companion
To: malyn87@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2008 6:03 AM
Subject: Fred's Head Companion - American Printing House for the Blind
Fred's Head Companion - American Printing House for the Blind
The Global Text Project: Engaging Many for the Benefit of Many More
Posted: 24 Oct 2008 11:50 AM CDT
From the website:
"The project will create open content electronic textbooks that will be
freely available from a website. Distribution will also be possible via paper,
CD, or DVD. Our goal initially is to focus on content development and Web
distribution, and we will work with relevant authorities to facilitate
dissemination by other means when bandwidth is unavailable or inadequate. The
goal is to make textbooks available to the many who cannot afford them."
"We have experience with developing a free textbook, XML: Managing Data
Exchange. This project started in January 2004 when a graduate class at the
University of Georgia wrote the first version of the book. Subsequent graduate
and undergraduate classes at the University of Georgia and elsewhere have
improved and extended the book. It has been used as the XML text in a variety
of classes, and in each case the class has been required to leave the book in
better shape than they received it at the beginning of the term."
"Experience with this project and the success of WikiBooks has convinced
us that we can further develop the idea of free and open content books to
increase the value of these books to students, particularly those who cannot
afford paper-based textbooks. We want to add several innovations to improve the
quality of the books."
Click this link to learn more about the Global Text Project by visiting
the website at http://globaltext.terry.uga.edu.
Open Text Book
Open Text Book is an online registry of textbooks (and related materials)
which are open, that is free for anyone to use, reuse and redistribute.
Click this link to visit http://www.opentextbook.org.
"Study Skills: Getting the Most Out of Lectures and Presentations"
Posted: 24 Oct 2008 10:28 AM CDT
Many instructors and professors stress the importance of taking notes and
retaining information from lectures and presentations. However, many students
are unsure of how to take notes effectively. For students who are blind or
visually impaired, the challenge of note-taking can be compounded by a lack of
access to visual aspects of a presentation which clarify the points or
illustrate the concepts being discussed. This article will present some tips
for taking good notes, getting access to visual information, and using your
notes for effective study.
Taking Quality Notes
Taking notes can seem like a daunting task at first. Many students feel
that they must write down every word of a lecture in order to make sure they
have access to the correct information. Most students cannot do this, however.
Therefore, it is important to be able to identify information which is vital to
the presentation or which is likely to appear on an exam or a quiz. Later in
this series, some strategies for planning for tests will be provided, and you
may find that these help to improve the quality of your notes.
If your instructor or professor has provided you with a list of key terms
or a study guide, reviewing it often will help to guide your decisions about
what to include in your notes. Repeated exposure to the terms or questions will
allow you to become familiar enough with them that you can be alert to their
use in a lecture and write down information about how they are presented.
Important terms may be presented in a list and then identified. An answer to a
study guide question may turn up in a rambling monologue which you would
ordinarily tune out because it was difficult to identify the main points.
Some professors begin classes with an overview of what will be discussed
that day or in the coming week. These overviews provide an excellent framework
for organizing your notes. If you can write down a brief summary of the plan
for the presentation, you will be able to plan your note-taking style and
organize your study time later. Some presentations lend themselves well to an
outline form. Others lend themselves to lists or charts which you can create
later as you study. Still others are difficult to follow, and students may find
that the best they can do is to write a few comments down. If you feel that a
concept is important enough to include in your notes but you do not understand
it, ask questions and include the answers in your notes.
Visual Information
In some classes you will encounter visual demonstrations which help to
clarify points and concepts but which are not accessible to you. Access to
these demonstrations can be obtained in several ways.
1. The professor may provide a verbal description while demonstrating.
This may assist other students in the class as well. Along this same line,
another student may provide quiet verbal feedback during a demonstration.
2. The demonstration may be discussed during a meeting with the professor
so that you can ask questions and, if practical, examine the demonstration or a
model of it by touch.
3. Copies of maps, diagrams, formulas and example problems, and other
such materials can be made by the professor, an assistant or another student
for use with low vision aids or a reader at a later time.
Reading Assignments and Class Notes
In many cases the content of classroom presentations parallels that of
reading material. Staying ahead in your reading will help provide structure for
your notes as well as reinforce the content you choose to include. Furthermore,
overlapping content is most likely to be most important for you to remember.
This does not mean that the rest of the content can be ignored, but it does
often provide a guide to what the bulk of test questions will cover.
Employing Note Takers
In recent years, employing other people to take notes has become a
popular practice among students who are visually impaired. The advantage of
this practice is that the employed note taker can include information about
visual demonstrations which is necessary to successful performance in a class.
The disadvantage is that the student who is visually impaired can very easily
become a passive learner and even become encouraged to stop attending class and
to depend on the employee's attendance and judgment.
Taking notes has many advantages for all students. Not only does it
provide access to the material presented at a later time for study, but it also
keeps the student's attention focused on the presentation and causes him to
think about the material, making decisions about what is and what is not
important. In many cases it encourages participation in the class through
questions or comments, and this participation further enhances the learning
process.
For these reasons, it is very important that students who are visually
impaired or blind take notes as independently as possible and rely on
assistance for things which truly require assistance. The rewards to you in
grades and time saved because your notes are already in the appropriate format
will be great.
About the author
Sarah J. Blake is a freelance writer who has published many articles
online and in print about visual impairment and related issues. She also writes
about other health topics, disability issues, and inspirational and devotional
topics. To see more of her work, visit her writing portfolio:
http://www.growingstrong .org/writing/index.html.
NoteMesh: Collaborate to Graduate
NoteMesh is an accessible, free online service that allows college
students in the same classes to share notes with each other. It works by
creating a wiki for individual classes that users can edit. Users are free to
post their own lecture notes or contribute to existing lecture notes. The idea
is that users in the same class can collaboratively create a definitive source
for lecture notes.
Notemesh was started in May, 2006 with the philosophy that students
should collaborate to graduate. Based out of Austin, TX, the four founders met
each other while attending the University of Texas. The idea for the website
was originated around finals time, when Ryan realized that he could put a
course study guide on a wiki, and let students in the class help him fill out
the missing answers. That wiki turned out to be a success, and the team soon
formed to further elaborate on the idea. In late July 2006, a beta version of
NoteMesh was made public to students attending the University of Texas, Austin.
A month and half later, a new version of NoteMesh, featuring message boards,
wiki history, and numerous other enhancements, was made public to all students,
regardless of university!
Click this link to visit http://notemesh.com.
History and Politics Out Loud
Posted: 24 Oct 2008 10:01 AM CDT
History and Politics Out Loud is a collection of invaluable audio
materials some available for the first time on this website capturing
significant political and historical events and personalities of the twentieth
century. The materials range from formal addresses delivered in public settings
to private telephone conversations conducted from the innermost recesses of the
White House. The aim is to provide an accessible source of audio information to
enliven instruction and scholarship in history and politics and to enable easy
access for all persons to the rich audio archives of American history and
politics.
There is substantial variability in the quality of White House
conversation tapes. This has to do with the nature of the recording equipment,
the media used to record the conversations, and the care with which the
equipment was maintained and serviced. As a result, the audio varies widely in
quality. Some of the materials were based on Dictabelt technology, which
frequently generated very poor results. Others are extraordinarily clear in
quality. We do the best we can to improve the audibility of these materials
without distorting the voices of the participants or fundamentally departing
from the original materials.
To enjoy the audio files, you will need either the Real Player, available
free from Real Networks or the QuickTime Player available free from Apple. The
files do not download, they stream to either player, just click the appropriate
links for the player you wish to handle the audio.
Click this link to visit the History and Politics Out Loud website at
http://www.hpol.org.
National Center for Parents with Disabilities
Posted: 24 Oct 2008 09:44 AM CDT
A National Center for Parents with Disabilities and their Families has
been established in Berkeley, California under the auspices of Through the
Looking Glass, a non-profit organization founded in 1982. The Center will
oversee several national research studies concerning parents with disabilities
and their families, as well as provide consultation, training and publications
to parents, family members and professionals.
The research and resources of the Center will address the nearly 9
million U.S. parents with disabilities - 15% of all American families. Parents
with disabilities include mothers and fathers in all disability categories -
such as parents with physical disabilities, deaf parents, blind parents,
parents with psychiatric or cognitive disabilities. The Center is funded by a
$500,000 per year federal grant for three years from the Washington, DC-based
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S.
Department of Education.
The Center will focus its research and resource activities on four
critical areas that impact parents with disabilities: custody, family roles and
personal assistance; paratransit; and, intervention with parents with cognitive
disabilities and their children. The Center will be staffed by nationally
recognized experts regarding parents with disabilities, most of whom have
personal or family experience with disability or deafness.
More information about the Center and Through the Looking Glass is
available at the organization's website , http://www.lookingglass.org, through
two toll-free numbers, 800-644-2666 (voice), 800-804-1616 (TDD/TTY), or by
email at tlg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sell Your College Textbooks
Posted: 24 Oct 2008 09:27 AM CDT
Even when you buy used college books from the store to be read on tape,
you know they cost way too much! To add insult to injury, when you go to sell
them the College Bookstore wants to offer you mere pennies! Did you know that
if you wait to sell textbooks until the next semester they may be worthless?
Don't let this happen to you! You don't have to take this abuse! Sell your
textbooks to the Sell Back Your Book website to make sure you get the most
money possible for your college textbooks.
To Sell Back Your Books and get top Buy Back Prices, enter the ISBN of
the books you wish to sell and click the "Sell Textbooks" button. Students and
Professors can get the most bang for there books online anytime. Use the FREE
prepaid shipping label and they pay the shipping! No out-of-pocket cash
required to ship your textbooks. It can't be easier.
Click this link to visit the Sell Back Your Book website at
http://www.sellbackyourbook.com/textbook.php.
You are subscribed to email updates from Fred's Head Companion
To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Email Delivery
powered by FeedBurner
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of Fred's Head Companion
in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: Fred's Head
Companion, c/o FeedBurner, 20 W Kinzie, 9th Floor, Chicago IL USA 60610
Other related posts:
