I am in the final week of my first class at GCU. I have so many thoughts on this experience so far. I can't wait to tell you all about it. So far so good!
The first class they have you do is University Success (UNV-108). This is an introduction to the online platform. It gives a taste of what life will be like through out all of your courses. It also is taylored to your specific degree program which is amazing! This means you get to jump into your major right away!
There is more than one teacher who teaches this class. The Professor that I have is fantastic. She is so responsive to private messages. She is super engaged through out all the elements of the class. She gets grades back fast. That last one is my favorite because Lord knows I am crazy when it comes to grades.
The support behind the scenes from my Student Services Counselor, Field Experience Counselor, Library Staff and Enrollment Counselor has been great. This is another fantastic aspect of GCU. You are not in this alone. You have an entire graduation team who has your back from start to finish.
So far, everything has been very accessible with my screen reader on both my computer and my phone. I am currently using JAWS and Voiceover on my iPhone.
I am able to navigate all of the different areas of the online classroom with no problems at all. I tend to bounce between using two different browzers, Firefox and Google Crome. I use Google most often.
I am able to get my textbooks so far in PDF format. I download them onto my phone using the Voice Stream Reader ap that I purchased from the ap store for $14.99. This has been a fairly plainless process. I admit that I would rather have a real person reading than a computerized voice though. In some of my classes this will be possible because I am an ENglish major. I can't speak for what is available for other programs.
I took one quiz in this class and it was also totally accessible. I was worried because tests on online platforms are sometimes glitchy with screen readers. How refreshing it was to realize that I had nothing to worry about.
The library section of the school website is accessible for the most part. I will say that it does sometimes take longer to find exactly what i am looking for when I am searching for journal articles. Once I have found the one I want, click on it, and try to read... It takes a while to find exactly where to go. I wish there was some more fine tuned key-commands to navigate this. Honestly, there could be and I am just not aware of them yet. This is all so new to me.
Last week, we had to do a video submission assignment about our disposition to teach. I was really nervous about this. I have to admit though, it makes me want to get back into my YouTube channel again. Want to see how I did?
Watch Disposition To Teach Here
Overall, I am really happy with this decision to start GCU. I am proud to be a Lope! Stay tuned to follow me on this journey. Comment down below and let me know what videos you would like to see on the channel.
PLAYING THE BLIND CARD... Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those cards you hold well. And always remember when life's got you down, keep your head up... you can't see the ground anyway.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Monday, August 5, 2019
Monday, May 27, 2019
Volunteering At A Blind School
As most of you know, I was not born blind. Since I didn't go blind until basically adulthood, I have zero experience with blind children. I figured I should probably take care of that since I plan to get a teaching credential to be able to teach visually impaired students.
Where is the best place to do this you ask? Well my friends, let me tell you. I decided to start volunteering at a blind school. Great idea right?
So far, it has been a wonderful experience. I am loving it! I am learning so much and having so much fun in the process. All the staff are fantastic too.
It has been so interesting seeing how this works. I love watching the kids learn on an equal playing field. They don't have to fight to understand. The material is accessible and put in their hands in a way that best fits their needs. Accomodations are a part of every day life and totally normal. Technology is at their finger tips. The staff go above and beyond to give their students the best learning opportunities possible. It is beautiful.
I really love it here. Sometimes I wish I could volunteer more often. It is a great place to be.
I'm still not sure if I want to teach in a general ed school or a blind school, but I'm loving the process of sorting it all out.
Where is the best place to do this you ask? Well my friends, let me tell you. I decided to start volunteering at a blind school. Great idea right?
So far, it has been a wonderful experience. I am loving it! I am learning so much and having so much fun in the process. All the staff are fantastic too.
It has been so interesting seeing how this works. I love watching the kids learn on an equal playing field. They don't have to fight to understand. The material is accessible and put in their hands in a way that best fits their needs. Accomodations are a part of every day life and totally normal. Technology is at their finger tips. The staff go above and beyond to give their students the best learning opportunities possible. It is beautiful.
I really love it here. Sometimes I wish I could volunteer more often. It is a great place to be.
I'm still not sure if I want to teach in a general ed school or a blind school, but I'm loving the process of sorting it all out.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Utilizing "Quick Nav" On Your Bluetooth Keyboard For Ipad
I bet you're super siked about your new Bluetooth Keyboard. this will make typing your documents, emails and what not super easy right? But what happens when you can't get a single letter to type on the screen? The arrows and function keys work... but nothing else... WHAT IS WRONG?!?!?!
Don't panic, there is an easy fix to this problem...
Are you ready for this? Do you think you can handle it? This could quite possibly be responsible for single handedly blowing your mind. Please read on at your own risk. Be aware that Playing The Blind Card will not be responsible for any such casualties that may come to pass as a direct result of reading these instructions.
Now that you have been appropriately warned... here we go...
Why you are in the typing field in which you wish to type, you must ensure that "quick nav" is tuned off whily your doing your marvelous typing. In order to do this simply follow these steps...
Step 1:
Press the right and left arrow at the same time.
Step 2:
Enjoy typing
Step 3:
When you are finished typing and want to go back to navigating your Ipad, follow step one again to turn "quick nav" back on.
That's it!
I know, it's a bit anticlimactic isn't it? But this will work and you will be eternally grateful for this infomation. I know I was when a good friend of mine clued me onto it.
Thanks for reading and as always... keep your head up... you can't see the ground anways
Don't panic, there is an easy fix to this problem...
Are you ready for this? Do you think you can handle it? This could quite possibly be responsible for single handedly blowing your mind. Please read on at your own risk. Be aware that Playing The Blind Card will not be responsible for any such casualties that may come to pass as a direct result of reading these instructions.
Now that you have been appropriately warned... here we go...
Why you are in the typing field in which you wish to type, you must ensure that "quick nav" is tuned off whily your doing your marvelous typing. In order to do this simply follow these steps...
Step 1:
Press the right and left arrow at the same time.
Step 2:
Enjoy typing
Step 3:
When you are finished typing and want to go back to navigating your Ipad, follow step one again to turn "quick nav" back on.
That's it!
I know, it's a bit anticlimactic isn't it? But this will work and you will be eternally grateful for this infomation. I know I was when a good friend of mine clued me onto it.
Thanks for reading and as always... keep your head up... you can't see the ground anways
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Review of Apple TV Using Voiceover
Entertainment is a priority for everyone right? Well this fact shouldn't change just because you can't see what's entertaining you. Today we will be discussing the functionality of Apple TV with voiceover activated.
Don't worry seers... there is good stuff in here for you too, so do not... I repeat... Do NOT hit your back button!!
As many of you probably already know, Apple is an amazing company by normal standards. To the blind community, it is outstanding. It brings the wide world of technology into our hands without adding a lot of excess. This is huge!
Back in the day, in order for us to have technology, we would have to spend an outragious ammount of money and probably break our backs carrying the monstrosities. Now however, for the most part, we are only spending the outragious ammounts of money that a seer would pay and are carrying around devices that are the same size as them too.
Thank you Apple for helping us blindy's be followers!... Ok just kidding :)
But seriously, Apple has taken huge strides in making their products usable by the blind, and other disabled communities. This is truly much appreciated by most.
Getting to the point, today I am going to talk to you about the Apple TV. This for those of you who don't know, is a media streeming box that hooks up to your television.
This product is a tiny little box that packs a big punch. It does a lot and isn't terribly expensive in comparison to other Apple devices. It retails for right around a hundred dollars.
The only thing extra you will need to purchase besides the Apple TV device, is an HDMI cord and a converter if you are not running a High Definition TV.
One flaw right out of the box, once hooked up, in order to turn on voiceover, you will need a seer. This can be frustrating for someone (like me) who wants to play with the device right away and can't.
Once this pesky problem is taken care of, it's pretty much smooth sailing from here. You will need to of course sign in with your Apple sign in information. This will allow to to acess any content you have boughten from Itunes such as movies, music and TV shows. You will also be able to get your Itunes radeo stations here as well.
If you have a Netflix account, or Hoo Loo Plus (probably spelled wrong), you are in luck because those are available on here as well. You can also get content from other things such as Disney Channel, PBS, ESPN and much more. Just so you know however, in order to watch certain items you will need to have a cable or dish subscription.
Before you even ask I will provide the side note: Yes, Netflix and what not is usable by us blindy's. More on that to come in another post.
You can also utilize the wonderful world of You Tube from you amazing Apple TV.
Parental controls are also functional. However, might I offer a small tip mom and dad? Be sure to send the kids out of the room before entering your passcode... hello... it talks... they can hear it and see it. This may pose a problem for some of you. There are ways around this thought. The restriction section will also allow you to make it to where a passcode has to be entered to make a purchase. You can also choose ratings that you do or don't want your little ones watching. Don't worry, if needed, this can be bypassed with your passcode.
Furthermore, in the Main menu section of settings, you can tell your Apple TV what you want shown on your home screen. It will give you such options as "Show, HIde, or Ask" The first two are self explanatory. The ask option just means that if the item is clicked, it will ask the user to enter the passcode. For instance, if you don't want your child using You Tube without permsion, you would set that to "Ask" in the main menu section of settings.
All in all, the Apple TV is a great product. I would give it a four out of five rating. I honestly use it more now than my regular cable TV. There isn't anything on it that I can't do. The only improvement I would like to see is the inconvenient way to put it into sleep mode. This can be annoying at times. If you love movies, TV and music, you will love the Apple TV.
Stay tuned for a demonstration on the You Tube channel.
Thanks for reading guys and as always... Keep your head up... you can't see the ground anyway :)
Don't worry seers... there is good stuff in here for you too, so do not... I repeat... Do NOT hit your back button!!
As many of you probably already know, Apple is an amazing company by normal standards. To the blind community, it is outstanding. It brings the wide world of technology into our hands without adding a lot of excess. This is huge!
Back in the day, in order for us to have technology, we would have to spend an outragious ammount of money and probably break our backs carrying the monstrosities. Now however, for the most part, we are only spending the outragious ammounts of money that a seer would pay and are carrying around devices that are the same size as them too.
Thank you Apple for helping us blindy's be followers!... Ok just kidding :)
But seriously, Apple has taken huge strides in making their products usable by the blind, and other disabled communities. This is truly much appreciated by most.
Getting to the point, today I am going to talk to you about the Apple TV. This for those of you who don't know, is a media streeming box that hooks up to your television.
This product is a tiny little box that packs a big punch. It does a lot and isn't terribly expensive in comparison to other Apple devices. It retails for right around a hundred dollars.
The only thing extra you will need to purchase besides the Apple TV device, is an HDMI cord and a converter if you are not running a High Definition TV.
One flaw right out of the box, once hooked up, in order to turn on voiceover, you will need a seer. This can be frustrating for someone (like me) who wants to play with the device right away and can't.
Once this pesky problem is taken care of, it's pretty much smooth sailing from here. You will need to of course sign in with your Apple sign in information. This will allow to to acess any content you have boughten from Itunes such as movies, music and TV shows. You will also be able to get your Itunes radeo stations here as well.
If you have a Netflix account, or Hoo Loo Plus (probably spelled wrong), you are in luck because those are available on here as well. You can also get content from other things such as Disney Channel, PBS, ESPN and much more. Just so you know however, in order to watch certain items you will need to have a cable or dish subscription.
Before you even ask I will provide the side note: Yes, Netflix and what not is usable by us blindy's. More on that to come in another post.
You can also utilize the wonderful world of You Tube from you amazing Apple TV.
Parental controls are also functional. However, might I offer a small tip mom and dad? Be sure to send the kids out of the room before entering your passcode... hello... it talks... they can hear it and see it. This may pose a problem for some of you. There are ways around this thought. The restriction section will also allow you to make it to where a passcode has to be entered to make a purchase. You can also choose ratings that you do or don't want your little ones watching. Don't worry, if needed, this can be bypassed with your passcode.
Furthermore, in the Main menu section of settings, you can tell your Apple TV what you want shown on your home screen. It will give you such options as "Show, HIde, or Ask" The first two are self explanatory. The ask option just means that if the item is clicked, it will ask the user to enter the passcode. For instance, if you don't want your child using You Tube without permsion, you would set that to "Ask" in the main menu section of settings.
All in all, the Apple TV is a great product. I would give it a four out of five rating. I honestly use it more now than my regular cable TV. There isn't anything on it that I can't do. The only improvement I would like to see is the inconvenient way to put it into sleep mode. This can be annoying at times. If you love movies, TV and music, you will love the Apple TV.
Stay tuned for a demonstration on the You Tube channel.
Thanks for reading guys and as always... Keep your head up... you can't see the ground anyway :)
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Did You Miss Me? Me Too
So for the first time in ages, I am coming to you from my computer. Granted, at the moment I am on my old computer, but am on a computer nevertheless.
I have nursed this one for just about as long as I am going to be able to. I was able to get it to boot up today so that I could get all the word documents off and transfered to my newer one. I thought this mission was already accomplished. However, after looking through my email inside and out, frontwards and backwards... I realized I was wrong... unfortunately, dead wrong!
So, here I am...
I am getting very excited about getting back to work on an official capasity. It feels good to have a laptop on my... well... my lap. Okay, so that didn't sound as cool as I was hoping. You will forgive me right?
I know that in the past year I have really neglected this blog. I could spend countless sentences and endless words begging for your forgiveness, but I am not gonna do that. Do you want to know why??? Beacause it won't really matter!
What will matter is my promise and didcation that I still care about all of you. There has just been a lot going on with life that I can't disclose here. I am working hard to get back to the world of the living. As some of you may know, I have been trying to make myself seen again in the social media world. I am still hoping to get back to the land of Good Reads. That hasn't been difficult without a computer.
I also am well aware that I owe you some blog posts. I am in the middle of my series on my trip across the country to Florida. I am also going to be starting a series on blind traveling in general, blind dating, blindness in school and a blind technology section as well. As always I will be posting about my writing.
As mentioned before, I am going to be transferring the material from my other blog, over to this one. I think it will just be much easier for me to maintain one blog instead of two. Don't you agree? This will take a bit of time because I need to incoorporate the assistance of a seer. I will keep you posted on the development of this.
I will be slowly but surely uploading some of my more popular posts from there soon. Now that I can get to them that is. So, for those of you who have been loyal to bother blogs... sorry for the repeats, please bare with me.
I will be uploading some new videos to the You Tube channel soon too!
Are you as excited as I am? Okay, I know, you're probably not, but put on a brave face okay? Thanks.
Clandestine in audio book form is still in production. Yes, I know... you guys are ready and waiting. I am so sorry for the time it has taken to get it out to you. There has been some complications behind the scenes in the technical world, but I assure you it is coming very soon.
If any of you is good at creating wbsites... please send me a private message. I am looking for someone who can build me a spectacular, stupendous and out ragiously amazing web page. Of course, I should probably also mention that I am looking for someone that is willing to do this on either a volunteer or extremely cheap basis. If you are interested, or you know someone who is, get a hold of me via email or on Playing the Blind Card's Facebook page. The link to both can be found on this page.
Well, I have successfully rambled for long enough I think. I must get back to work transferring files. Thank you for allowing me to take a break with you.
PS... I noticed when I signed in that the blog is getting close to 60,000 page views!! Now all we gotta do is beaf up the ammount of people signed up to follow. Keep doing what you do and get the word out about the page. Remember, I couldn't do all this without you all. That being said, just know that you all rock and I love ya bunches.
As always... Look before you leap
I have nursed this one for just about as long as I am going to be able to. I was able to get it to boot up today so that I could get all the word documents off and transfered to my newer one. I thought this mission was already accomplished. However, after looking through my email inside and out, frontwards and backwards... I realized I was wrong... unfortunately, dead wrong!
So, here I am...
I am getting very excited about getting back to work on an official capasity. It feels good to have a laptop on my... well... my lap. Okay, so that didn't sound as cool as I was hoping. You will forgive me right?
I know that in the past year I have really neglected this blog. I could spend countless sentences and endless words begging for your forgiveness, but I am not gonna do that. Do you want to know why??? Beacause it won't really matter!
What will matter is my promise and didcation that I still care about all of you. There has just been a lot going on with life that I can't disclose here. I am working hard to get back to the world of the living. As some of you may know, I have been trying to make myself seen again in the social media world. I am still hoping to get back to the land of Good Reads. That hasn't been difficult without a computer.
I also am well aware that I owe you some blog posts. I am in the middle of my series on my trip across the country to Florida. I am also going to be starting a series on blind traveling in general, blind dating, blindness in school and a blind technology section as well. As always I will be posting about my writing.
As mentioned before, I am going to be transferring the material from my other blog, over to this one. I think it will just be much easier for me to maintain one blog instead of two. Don't you agree? This will take a bit of time because I need to incoorporate the assistance of a seer. I will keep you posted on the development of this.
I will be slowly but surely uploading some of my more popular posts from there soon. Now that I can get to them that is. So, for those of you who have been loyal to bother blogs... sorry for the repeats, please bare with me.
I will be uploading some new videos to the You Tube channel soon too!
Are you as excited as I am? Okay, I know, you're probably not, but put on a brave face okay? Thanks.
Clandestine in audio book form is still in production. Yes, I know... you guys are ready and waiting. I am so sorry for the time it has taken to get it out to you. There has been some complications behind the scenes in the technical world, but I assure you it is coming very soon.
If any of you is good at creating wbsites... please send me a private message. I am looking for someone who can build me a spectacular, stupendous and out ragiously amazing web page. Of course, I should probably also mention that I am looking for someone that is willing to do this on either a volunteer or extremely cheap basis. If you are interested, or you know someone who is, get a hold of me via email or on Playing the Blind Card's Facebook page. The link to both can be found on this page.
Well, I have successfully rambled for long enough I think. I must get back to work transferring files. Thank you for allowing me to take a break with you.
PS... I noticed when I signed in that the blog is getting close to 60,000 page views!! Now all we gotta do is beaf up the ammount of people signed up to follow. Keep doing what you do and get the word out about the page. Remember, I couldn't do all this without you all. That being said, just know that you all rock and I love ya bunches.
As always... Look before you leap
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