EASI Starts New Online Training Course

EASI STREET: TO SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND MATH

NEW COURSE LOOKS AT ACCESS BARRIERS AND SOLUTION

S Wading through a complex mathematical equation is difficult for most of us, but imagine how much more difficult it'd be if you couldn't see the equation on paper. Or, imagine trying to follow a biology lecture if you couldn't hear the professor speak, but rather you were reading lips. Think about declaring chemistry as your college major and having your professors determine - before even speaking to you - that you couldn't master the material because you couldn't use your hands. Historically people with disabilities have faced both social and technical barriers that have deterred them from studying or working in the fields of science, engineering and mathematics. While the barriers can be daunting, researchers are developing new tools that help people with disabilities work in these technical fields.

EASI's new online workshop, EASI-SEM, focuses on how to get past access barriers and provide accommodations that will make it easier for students with disabilities to study the technical fields. The course is a basic primer on access to science, engineering and mathematics. It is aimed at faculty, administrators, service providers and students. In this course, we'll discuss computing, laboratory and text access barriers and simple access solutions. We'll explore new and developing technologies such as Triangle, AsTeR, Dotsplus, the Nemeth Code, and laboratory accommodations.

We'll also look at professor and administrator attitudes about students with disabilities, and we'll look at accessible computerized testing. We'll talk about teaching and learning strategies for people with learning disabilities and software programs that allow a person to provide captioning for videotapes.

This course is a good general introduction to problems and access solutions for people with disabilities who want to study and work in the technical fields.

The course development was funded by a National Science Foundation grant and includes videotapes and manuals developed for the project. The first three-week course will begin July 29. The cost is $95 for the course plus $75 for three accompanying videotapes.

For further information or to register for the course, contact Carmela Cunningham at carmelac@aol.com or (714) 830-0301.

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