Finaly Back

well it has been a while since i last posted. I don't know how long this stretch will go, but i hope to maintain it for a while.

Al0t has happened since my last post (obviously) but to be honest i really don't want to get into it right now. So as things come up and as I remember juicy tidbits here and there i will digress, so be prepared to be bounced around while reading. now on to what is happening to me currently.

I am a bit over a month into the fall semester. Its been a busy one so far (yes i know same old story). but this semester started off extra busy because on top of my course work and Assistantship, i was writing 2 proposals for a really big conference that is held in LA every spring. the deadline for the proposals was a couple of weeks ago. you would think that i have more time on my hand, and well i guess i do. But I do admit that i fell a bit behind on my readings for my classes while i was concentrating on the proposals. so now i am in catch up mode. one of my classes has a large amount of reading, which really isn't bad but I have been feeling i am not in my most efficient mode lately. I am scanning and converting most of my material myself (look to previous blogs on this process). i was able to get 2 of my 3 books electronic from the publishers but the 3rd book they didn't have electronic. so I have to scan it, unfortunately it is the hardest book to scan and convert. i did bring an extra copy over to my Universities disabled student services (DSS) office but they are overloaded and backed up. I need my reading materials at least 1 week before the due date so i have time to convert to audio and read them. this semester i have been lucky to get them on the day the readings are due. so i find myself doing the scanning anyway. Ok enough bitching.

in addition to my classes I am trying to finish up my pilot study. for my doc program we are required to complete a portfolio one of the pieces of that portfolio is a study to be submitted for publication. I have collected the research of my study now and am in the process of analyzing and writing up the results. My goal is to finish the study and have it submitted by the end of the spring semester. I had wanted to do allot of writing on it this past summer but life intervened and i lost my momentum and didn't accomplish much of anything. to be honest i think i am still trying to get that momentum back. I know it will come back, just not sure when.

On the bright side of things, i am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have one semester of courses after i finish this fall. so i should be complete with all my course work in May. my study should also be submitted for publication by then. so what that means is I should be ready to take my comprehensive exam next fall. then after my comps the only thing left is my Dissertation. the pilot study i am working on now is a pilot for my Dissertation. so as i said, i am starting to make it through.

Well i guess thats good for now. and i just want to remind you, that you will find multiple mistakes in this blog. I did not prof read it. and that is intentional for 2 reasons. 1) I am a student with LD and i want to give you a bit of that experience with my raw writing. and 2) i'm just lazy. i did spell check, only because i can't stand those "little red lines".

Our need for electricity

I have been wanting to make an entry in the blog about strategies and tips and techniques for communicating with faculty about a disability. More specifically things and ways that I have been using throughout my career to communicate my disability needs with my faculty. I think however I'll hold off on that entry until next time. Because of, well, current events that have happened here in Hawaii. For those of you who may not know, just this past weekend, we had two major earthquakes here in the Hawaiian Islands. Fortunately physical and property damage were relatively minimal, some damage to a port on the big Island, and some structural damage to several houses and buildings on several of the islands. We were also very fortunate in that there were no fatalities related to the earthquakes. The main thing that happened, at least for most Hawaiians, it's a lot of power for most or all of the day on Sunday. I for one, was without power from about 7:30 a.m. until about 11:30 p.m.. Now you may be thinking, "big freaking deal, you live in paradise so you don't have power for a day." And ordinarily I would agree with you on that statement. However it just so happened that it was pouring rain on Sunday. It is kind of difficult to go to the beach or on a nice hike when it's pouring rain. So I like most people was stuck inside now again this wouldn't be so bad, I happen to have a midterm coming up on Thursday, perfect opportunity to study. Now here's the catch, as mentioned in one of my earlier postings I listen to all of my textbooks, fortunately I had converted most of my readings onto my iPod. Unfortunately I had drained the power of my iPod, making it relatively useless until I can plug it in charge it. The backup of course is I have these files saved on disk on my computer. Now I do have two computers, being the technophile that I am, well actually three computers but that's another story altogether. One of my computers is a desktop which is completely useless during a power outage, the other computer is my laptop, which is three years old and need a new battery. The battery lasts for all of about 10 minutes before it dies. Just a side note the third computer is my work laptop, which did have a couple hours of battery life but, was in my office and didn't have the files needed anyway. So sitting in a dark apartment with no assistive technology available to me freely brought home the message of how reliant I have become on electricity and technology. It also made me really aware of how unprepared I am for a natural disaster, I do have some candles, but no matches, most of the food I have in my cabinets and refrigerator required cooking and all my cooking apparatuses are electric. Fortunately, I had several flashlights and actually came up with a rather ingenious way of lighting my living room by reflecting a bicycle light off of a mirror and some aluminum foil to reflect around in the room. But that's neither here or there. The main point I think I want to emphasize today with this story was how dependent I become on technology for me to do even the littlest studying. I have been complaining lately that I have been g stressed and overworked and it was kind of nice to take the day off on a vacation day so there is the plus there. As much as I promote assistive technology, and I have been promoting it a lot and will continue to do so. Assistive technology is not the end-all be-all and does have its drawbacks.

Time-Managment?

I know I haven’t posted in a while, sorry about that. This has been a bad start of the semester for me. I am usually prepared for the start of classes the week before classes start. This semester I didn’t have the opportunity to do that, was very busy before the semester began. So it feels like I am still playing catch up. I have been forgetting meetings, which I am usually very good about not doing. I hope I can get myself back on track before the semester ends. Time management has always been a problem for me that is why I need to be prepared right from the start, or it is that much harder to get back on track. The technique I use and this my be a shocker, but I use a paper calendar. Well I used to use a PDA (palm Vx) but it died about a year ago, so I have to use paper. That is until I can save up and get myself a new PDA. I have realized that if it is not in my calendar I don’t remember it. It being a meeting or class or anything. So I am trying to be good about writing things in my calendar as soon as I hear about them so I know to go. There is my short rant this entry on time management or lack there of.

Flattered

I woke up this morning thinking of how much I had to do today. It was one of those days of lots of meetings followed by class. Except this class was different, this class I was actually conducting a 30 min lesson. To be honest the only difference that made was more work in between meetings to get my handouts ready. I have done so many presentation so far in my career and especially on this particular topic (Text-to-
Speech technology) that it really didn’t faze me. Hardly even worth mentioning except that it was part of my day. But I will get back to class later

I started the day doing some research for my mini lesson tonight, finishing up my outline and hand outs. I have a tendency to wait until the last minute on things. My fist meeting of the day was to go and observe the Dissertation Defense of one of my colleges. I am really glad I went! It was an enlightening experience. For one I had always envisioned a defense, and I’m probably not alone in this, to be like those old spy movies where they interrogate the prisoner. I, the doc student, sit in a dark room with a light shining in my face, while five faceless figures bombard me with questions, relentlessly drilling me. But that is not what happened at all. My college presented her research and her committee asked a few questions. But mostly words of support were said to her. It was a friendly calm experience. Well that’s how I perceived it anyway.

My next meeting in the day was great! For my job as a graduate assistant for the Technology and Distance programs at the COE, I am the administrator of a couple of databases and online systems. As part of my responsibilities I occasionally present to faculty both individually and in groups. Today I had the opportunity to present to the faculty of my department, something I enjoy doing. Well except the fist time, which is a story for another time? Today I presented on one of the systems I work with, while my boss and supervisor (I technically have 2 supervisors at work) presented on other aspects of the office. Well while my supervisor was presenting on the other system I work with, he asked for those of the faculty who have used it to talk about their experiences. One of my professors, and mentors stood up and talked about the system. He then closed his comments praising me for my efforts, really praising me. Then another professor I work with added a few accolades, followed by another faculty. I was a bit embarrassed and well very flattered. I thought to myself “wow this praise in front of my bosses and my entire department. It couldn’t be a better place and time for it.” My boss even commented to me after we left the meeting about getting complimented. I have never taken to compliments well. As a matter of fact I am more prone to come up with excuses as a response to being complimented then to just accept it. And more prone to just accept being criticized the come up with excuses for it. I know this may seem the opposite of how it should be, but I think it all has to do with my LD and lack of self confidence. It is pretty common for students with LD to have low self confidence. And I am sure I will talk more about this in later postings.

My next meeting of the day was pretty routine, just a meeting about a new online interface I am going to probably end up being some what involved with. Looks like a cool program though.

And finally was my class. I am doing my internship this semester co-teaching a class with that same professor who started the praise during the faculty meeting. I did think him for it by the way when we were setting up for class. I had 30 min to present the first of 2 parts on Text-to-Speech software today. I ran out of time of course, but in a good way. The students were asking questions and we were starting a discussion. But the class had to move on to other things. I am glad I set it up as a 2 parter. I felt good about my presentation and my professor also said it went well. As a whole I think the overall class went well. I am looking forward to finishing my lesson. One of the things I am working on under the guidance of my professor is to make my lessons more personal and more story like. I tend to be very didactic when I tech, and I agree that more personal and story like instructors are better instructors. I also feel I can be a good role model for other with LD so I am trying to bring my lessons home, so to say.

I am still on a high from that faculty meeting!

I woke up this morning thinking of how much I had to do today. It was one of those days of lots of meetings followed by class. Except this class was different, this class I was actually conducting a 30 min lesson. To be honest the only difference that made was more work in between meetings to get my handouts ready. I have done so many presentation so far in my career and especially on this particular topic (Text-to-
Speech technology) that it really didn’t faze me. Hardly even worth mentioning except that it was part of my day. But I will get back to class later

I started the day doing some research for my mini lesson tonight, finishing up my outline and hand outs. I have a tendency to wait until the last minute on things. My fist meeting of the day was to go and observe the Dissertation Defense of one of my colleges. I am really glad I went! It was an enlightening experience. For one I had always envisioned a defense, and I’m probably not alone in this, to be like those old spy movies where they interrogate the prisoner. I, the doc student, sit in a dark room with a light shining in my face, while five faceless figures bombard me with questions, relentlessly drilling me. But that is not what happened at all. My college presented her research and her committee asked a few questions. But mostly words of support were said to her. It was a friendly calm experience. Well that’s how I perceived it anyway.

My next meeting in the day was great! For my job as a graduate assistant for the Technology and Distance programs at the COE, I am the administrator of a couple of databases and online systems. As part of my responsibilities I occasionally present to faculty both individually and in groups. Today I had the opportunity to present to the faculty of my department, something I enjoy doing. Well except the fist time, which is a story for another time? Today I presented on one of the systems I work with, while my boss and supervisor (I technically have 2 supervisors at work) presented on other aspects of the office. Well while my supervisor was presenting on the other system I work with, he asked for those of the faculty who have used it to talk about their experiences. One of my professors, and mentors stood up and talked about the system. He then closed his comments praising me for my efforts, really praising me. Then another professor I work with added a few accolades, followed by another faculty. I was a bit embarrassed and well very flattered. I thought to myself “wow this praise in front of my bosses and my entire department. It couldn’t be a better place and time for it.” My boss even commented to me after we left the meeting about getting complimented. I have never taken to compliments well. As a matter of fact I am more prone to come up with excuses as a response to being complimented then to just accept it. And more prone to just accept being criticized the come up with excuses for it. I know this may seem the opposite of how it should be, but I think it all has to do with my LD and lack of self confidence. It is pretty common for students with LD to have low self confidence. And I am sure I will talk more about this in later postings.

My next meeting of the day was pretty routine, just a meeting about a new online interface I am going to probably end up being some what involved with. Looks like a cool program though.

And finally was my class. I am doing my internship this semester co-teaching a class with that same professor who started the praise during the faculty meeting. I did think him for it by the way when we were setting up for class. I had 30 min to present the first of 2 parts on Text-to-Speech software today. I ran out of time of course, but in a good way. The students were asking questions and we were starting a discussion. But the class had to move on to other things. I am glad I set it up as a 2 parter. I felt good about my presentation and my professor also said it went well. As a whole I think the overall class went well. I am looking forward to finishing my lesson. One of the things I am working on under the guidance of my professor is to make my lessons more personal and more story like. I tend to be very didactic when I tech, and I agree that more personal and story like instructors are better instructors. I also feel I can be a good role model for other with LD so I am trying to bring my lessons home, so to say.

I am still on a high from that faculty meeting!

The Burden of Accommodations

As a college student with a disability, making sure you have the appropriate accommodations is one of the most important things there is. Lately I've been really thinking about this for several reasons. First off, this relates to my assistantship where I am assisting one of my faculty members with her online course by providing technical support. One of the students in the class has a disability and requires accommodations in the class. We, the professor and I, had suspected they might need accommodations because we had heard rumor of their disability. The professor had tried contacting this student a number of times to find out exactly what accommodations they might need. The student never responded. This particular student missed the first of four online conferences, I honestly don't know if it is because of his/her need for accommodation or other reasons, there were other mitigating circumstances for several students for this conference. However it is now the third week of the semester and he/she finally contacted the DSS office on campus to arrange accommodations for the class. The problem is that we are now scrambling to try and make this class accessible to them when if he/she had the forethought to contact the needed people before hand all this would've been done. I mention this partly out of frustration and partly because it is a sore spot with me.

Being a student with a disability myself I realized the importance of “having all your ducks in a row” before the semester begins. As a matter of fact I remember expressing to several of my professors how I was kicking myself and feeling guilty that I was getting such a late start on preparing for this semester by only contacting them and arranging my own combinations of couple days before the semester began instead of my usual week or two. I think one of the reasons, and a pretty major one at that, for my success at the postsecondary level is my self advocacy. One of the main changes between high school and college for a student with a disability is the level of self advocacy needed. You see in high school laws are there to protect students with disabilities so it is the teacher's responsibility to make sure they get all the combinations they need, it's not as simple as that but that's the gist of it. Whereas in college student first must disclose their disability before any accommodation arrangements can be made. The student also has to take the first step by contacting the DSS office every semester to receive accommodations for their classes.

As far as my own combinations go, today presented with a little glitch that I hope I worked out. The DSS office sent me e-mail today with questions regarding a course reader I given them to scan and provide electronic text for me. When I spoke with the professor about this e-mail he cleared up some of the confusion in the discussion he mentioned a change in the syllabus. Now ordinarily this would be a big deal, except that the DSS office uses the syllabus as he tried for when and which ordered to stand with readings from this reader. It occurred to me that the professors’ thought behind what the DSS office would do is they would just take the tire readers scan it be done with it. However having worked in a DSS office myself I know this is not a practical option, I am not the only student who is requesting materials to be scanned. So the office needs to prioritize and order what gets scanned when. Basically today I met with the counselor in charge of providing the electronic text and gave her the new syllabus timeline. However I'm sure I'll be needing to contact her again as the semester progresses to keep changing the order of things. I just hope they can get as much of the scanning done as soon as possible so the fluidity of the syllabus does not become too much of a burden.

My Readings

You may have been thinking to yourself “how does someone with a learning disability handle the reading load involved with a PhD program?” then again you may no. in either case I am going to tell you.

Because I am studying technology and people with disabilities. I usually provide my own accommodations when it comes to the technology side of things. What I do is take my printed text, whether it be from a text book or from an article, and scan it into my computer. I then take that scanned image and use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to convert that image of my readings to electronic text (e-text). Once my print readings are electronic I then edit the e-text for recognition errors and formatting. Once edited, I use text-to-speech software to covert the e-text to mp3. then once in mp3 format I use a program that converts mp3 to audiobook format. This allows me to bookmark and adjust the speed of the reading once on my iPod. Once all this is done I take the original print version and my iPod (now loaded with the audio version) and head off to a coffee house or café to read. I listen to the audio and read along at the same time.

You may be wondering to yourself “why format the text if it’s just getting converted to audio?” then again my may not. Anyway I discovered that the software I use to covert text to audio doesn’t pause unless I tell it to. It also handles some punctuation with, well not enough of a pause. So I go thought and put the appropriate punctuation in the appropriate spots to make it more comfortable for me too read. So this formatting thing is really a personal preference and not a necessary step. What it does is allow me to concentrate better on the reading and not get caught up on “there should be a pause there” or “where was that title it was just part of the first sentence”.

I’m sure that seems like a long complex process just to read an assignment. Well it is. But up until I started doing that, and I have really only been using this method for my PhD program not really before. Anyway up until I started this method, I have never completed the assigned reading for a class. I would start off reading, then skim a bit (never could skim well either) then just jump to the chapter summary or discussion of the article. I now complete all, well almost all my readings. My grades are better now then they have ever been. So the work is defiantly worth the effort.

Plus I don’t do all the scanning/OCR myself. The Scanning/OCR being the big and slow part of the process. I take a good amount of my readings to the disabled student services (DSS) office on campus and they provide me with an e-text version of my readings. I have also been relatively successful in contacting the publishers of my text books, and after providing them with the necessary information (proof I purchased the book, proof of my disability, etc.) have been able to receive an e-text version of the book from them. I do want to take this opportunity to then the publishers you don’t know how vital that is for me.

The only draw back of having others provide me with the e-text is receiving it in a timely manner. For example this semester. I also admit it is partly my fault, I started the process late. (we will talk about timeliness and timelines later) but I have yet to receive any e-text from the DSS office I know they are backed up especially this time of year. And I also have not received anything from the publishers of my texts, well not yet anyway. Fortunately I have been able to scan the readings for the next couple of weeks myself. And the article I sent to the DSS office was more of a reference and I didn’t need it scanned.

I have noticed that I don’t need all my readings scanned. If it is just a reference article not something we really need to read through then I don’t want it in e-text. It is easier for me to just skim for what I am looking for.

Well that about does it for my method of reading. I did not discuss software specifically because I don’t want to promote one program over another. I am happy to share the specifics to anyone who asks.

Voice-Recognition

I have been thinking about an idea of what I would like to research this semester. This semester I'm taking a class on general research methods and the major project in this class is to write a research proposal. So you may see as the semester progresses and as my blog progresses the writing style make change. I was working with one of my professors today and we were discussing our research idea (I'm not going to share it now). What is encouraging is that he suggested he would like to help me out with this research idea. Before I get too excited about it and move forward I do need to speak with several other faculty because the goal would be to write a proposal the semester and conduct the research and write it up the following semester in a different class. You see, as part of my program I have to create a portfolio. One of the items in this portfolio is a research project, I'm hoping that this idea can become that project. Just to give you an idea, because I realized I never discussed what my research interests are. My primary research interest is looking at technology specifically assistive technology and students with learning disabilities at post secondary settings. Yes I know it sounds like a mouthful basically, it boils down to special technology for college students with a learning disability.

A little background on why I got involved in this field. My learning disability affects me in the area of written language. Basically, I have difficulty with writing and reading. The writing difficulty is visible in the mechanics of how I write. That means my spelling, punctuation, organization, and even handwriting. The reason I mention this is because this is one of the factors that led to my pursuing a career in technology and people with disabilities. I first started using technology as an accommodation for myself when I was a junior in high school. My high school chemistry teacher felt my handwriting was so poor that he had me type all of my lab reports so he could read what I was saying. Having always enjoyed working with computers even back in the day, this was no big deal for me. When I was in college myself I took a class on computers for people with disabilities, and thought "wow, this stuff is really cool!" My first memories of seeing "assistive technology" in action stems from watching science-fiction television as a child. One of my favorite television shows was the original BattleStar Galactica. At the end of every episode the commander of the ship would make entry into his journal. What was so fascinating to me was the method in which he made these entries. Instead of writing them out by hand or typing them on a keyboard/typewriter he would hold a microphone dictate these entries directly into the computer. The memory of that still has a wow factor, despite the dated technology that was used, and old hand-held microphone and in old terminal with the green on black display,. As a matter of fact I think of those scenes every time I use voice recognition software today. And I think to myself "how cool is this?"

As a side note, today's entry into this blog was completely dictated using voice recognition technology and a wireless Bluetooth microphone. It's kind of cool to think that I am right now using fancier flashier technology then the writers dreamed of in that old sci-fi television show.