Visual Impairment

[karldenton]

We are getting a pupil with VI in September. It has been requested that he has a screen or laptop in a lesson, and whatever is on the smartboard is displayed on his screen. Is this even possible ? He will be moving round classrooms

 

Thanks

[SteveBentley]

A listening VNC viewer on his laptop with a VNC server (not installed as a service) on the teacher PCs, with a batch file to start and stop it as appropriate, would probably do the trick, depending on how your VLANs are set up.

[SYNACK]

Here is an almost identical thread that may be a good starting point http://www.edugeek.net/forums/how-do-you-do/58263-showing-one-machine-another.html

[Rydra]

Hi Karl.

 

I am doing exactly the same thing here over the summer.

 

I am using Italc as the viewer/client, which is a little more secure than vnc IMO (since it is designed to only talk via linked keys and their own client). It also has classroom management built into it, and demostration tools etc.

 

Also, in a number of classrooms, we have a TFT monitor mounted on a Wal mounted-bracket, that sits just below/to the side of the whiteboard, where a VI child can sit on the floor and position accordingly, with a VGA splitter to drive the image to both projector and VI monitor.

 

My school has a dedicated VI department which covers several schools in the area, who I will be having a meeting with tomorrow to discuss what they would like me to do ICT wise for them. If you drop me a PM with any other questions you might have, I'll either tell you my answer/point of view, or get some responses from our VI team to pass onto you.

Edited July 5, 2010 by Rydra
Missed a bit!

[karldenton]

Thank you Rydra,

So with the TFT monitor, do you have 2 spliters ? We have at the moment a splitter driving the teacher screen and the projector. I suppose we could use the output of 1 as the input to another

I'll have a look at Italc

[jamesreedersmith]

Thank you Rydra,

So with the TFT monitor, do you have 2 spliters ? We have at the moment a splitter driving the teacher screen and the projector. I suppose we could use the output of 1 as the input to another

I'll have a look at Italc

 

Or just swap it for a two output (or more) splitter

[Flakes]

First off contact Your LEA they should be able to buy a laptop specially for this.

[Rydra]

We run all the classrooms from laptops, so the projector + VI screen is powered from the vga output of the laptop. The teacher has the laptop screen still.

 

If running off of desktops, it may be worth looking into getting a new graphics card with a dual output, which you can peak up a cheap/cheerful one for about £40 maybe less if you hunt around. YOu don't need anything super powerful for most classroom usage.

[penfold]

Why does the pupil need to have the board shown on their laptop? If the pupil is not able to see the board clearly then they are going to have problems in viewing something unless there is a magnifier on the laptop. If this is the case, the teacher is probably better providing the resources they are using electronically (either via a VLE or USB pen) where the pupil can load them locally in conjunction with any other assitive technology they have installed on their laptop.

 

I think it would be much easier to move the pupil to the front of the class to be able to see the board rather than trying to put a technical solution onto something that can probably be sovled by moving where people sit. Unless I've missed something completely?

[penfold]

Incidently who has put the request in? I would try to contact the school the pupil is currently in and ask how they currently work.

[Rydra]

Penfold, some of the VI children in my school literally have a focus point a few inches from their face. beyond that is just a blur of colours.

 

It is simply impossible for them to see a whiteboard, as even standing a foot away from it, the far edges of the board are too far for them to focus on.

[penfold]

Are the laptops also running some screen magnifier and/or other software which allows the pupil to navigate their laptop easier? Is it just a case that they need to be close before being able to focus or have they got additional needs such as changing the colour scheme and fonts used to make it easier to focus?

[Rydra]

The normal classrooms use a large-ish (about 20") tft for displaying the whiteboard to the VI student. The main ICT rooms have a lower screen resolution, with the XL themes applied for large text, mouse pointer etc.

[penfold]

Wont those themes be overridden by using something like VNC? Or do the teaches use similar themes for their display?

[Hightower]

Could the student not just sit at the teachers desk and view the presentation/whatever on their computer? If the teacher needs to change a slide they could use the interactive whiteboard, or a remote to save leaning over the student all the time. Would certainly be easier and cheaper that way, while still meeting the needs for this student.

[Rydra]

Wont those themes be overridden by using something like VNC? Or do the teaches use similar themes for their display?

 

Don't use VNC, and teachers tend to write things larger when they are up on projectors than on normal whiteboards anyway.

 

Could the student not just sit at the teachers desk and view the presentation/whatever on their computer? If the teacher needs to change a slide they could use the interactive whiteboard, or a remote to save leaning over the student all the time. Would certainly be easier and cheaper that way, while still meeting the needs for this student.

 

They could, but the student still needs to work somewher,e and so does the teacher. We've just invested in a set of the wireless presenters. Anyway, you've all seen teacher's desks; there's barely enough room for the teacher to sit, and frequently barely any room for the laptop itself. How then is a student supposed to work at it!

 

Also, we're a primary school; the teachers desk and chair are a little on the large side for some of the students! in fact, they are often bigger than the students!

[penfold]

Ah sorry Rydra, got confused between you and the OP. But my question was more along the lines of teachers needing to use a VI friendly theme or you may still have problems for pupils. But I see you work with a VI department so I expect you've already taken this into consideration.