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CSUS professor's innovations aid deaf, blind, other students - Education - Modbee.com
It started with a deaf student in Professor Horacio Ferriz's geology class.
The student had an interpreter, and Ferriz, who does a lot of writing on an overhead projector during his lectures, noticed the student missed what he was doing while watching the hands. And he wasn't sure how concepts such as equations translated.
So he worked with information technology staff at California State University, Stanislaus, to record his lectures, then got a fast-typing student to provide captions. The deaf student could watch the lecture, read what Ferriz said and not miss the equations and other visual cues.
"It was a brave effort," Ferriz said. "But it took a lot of time."
Still, the result yielded something surprising: Students who could hear just fine watched the lecture, available through the university's computer network, as well.
"It was a great way to review," Ferriz said.
Ferriz, with help from Director of Learning Services Brian Duggan, started looking into more ways to reach students. He has developed a variety of tools to combine with old-fashioned teaching to help all his students and demonstrated some of them to his colleagues last week.
"Brian has been feeding me little toys," Ferriz said. With an iPod, he could put his lectures on a podcast. A camera in the classroom added video.
Ferriz got another challenge with a blind student. He wasn't sure how to make the maps he uses — and draws during class — available to her.
Touch and go process
Experiments with Silly Putty and puffy paint didn't work well. So Ferriz got a Braille board, a simple wooden frame with a mesh interior.
He took a photo of the map with a digital camera, put it into the computer and used a program to invert it, then printed the reverse image. He put it on the board, traced it and "little bumps record the image," he said. Within a few minutes, he had produced a map she could use.
Ferriz took the idea further, exploring ways to bring more resources to campus. For instance, he would like to put together an online hydrology program. "But I'm the only one here who can teach it," he said.
For $700 — a $300 computer, a $300 software program and a $100 camera — he can get a professor at another university to record his or her lectures and send them back.
"You could have a student in Indiana listening to a great lecture by the expert, who happens to be in New Orleans," he said.
University officials said three classrooms are equipped with video cameras; a remote unit also is available. They are hoping to use more technology and looking into getting software licenses so professors don't have to buy it on their own.
Student Molly Thompson got to demonstrate the technology, taking a test with Ferriz live via Webcam Thursday afternoon. She answered questions about aquifers and the water levels in the Central Valley as Ferriz scored her on a form.
The test took Thompson 15 minutes. With 20 students, that's a five-hour time commitment. Ferriz said he spends that much time grading paper tests. And the oral exam is a great way to make sure students aren't having anyone else taking their tests.
Thompson passed, though Ferriz did not offer her extra credit for taking the test in front of a room full of people.
With Skype technology, Ferriz added five students to a conversation about faults and water tables.
The students later said they like having access to the lectures when checking their notes or reviewing for an exam.
"Sometimes in class, we go over complex topics," Chris Hammond said. "This helps us review exactly what we were doing."
Angelica Barrera said the technology helps ensure the information they have is accurate. Though she is among many students who bring laptops to class, those who don't have them can access the same information from home later.
Extra time worth outcome
Ferriz said he's not challenged by the idea that technology could replace him.
"To me, the professor is there to recognize what the students are thinking," he said. "If I see their little faces of puzzlement, I will explain again. This is not an automatic thing that anybody can see and learn it."
The extra preparation to put the lectures together is worthwhile when students can review the information when they need it, he said.
And he's learned one other thing: "You have to be a little bit of a ham."
It started with a deaf student in Professor Horacio Ferriz's geology class.
The student had an interpreter, and Ferriz, who does a lot of writing on an overhead projector during his lectures, noticed the student missed what he was doing while watching the hands. And he wasn't sure how concepts such as equations translated.
So he worked with information technology staff at California State University, Stanislaus, to record his lectures, then got a fast-typing student to provide captions. The deaf student could watch the lecture, read what Ferriz said and not miss the equations and other visual cues.
"It was a brave effort," Ferriz said. "But it took a lot of time."
Still, the result yielded something surprising: Students who could hear just fine watched the lecture, available through the university's computer network, as well.
"It was a great way to review," Ferriz said.
Ferriz, with help from Director of Learning Services Brian Duggan, started looking into more ways to reach students. He has developed a variety of tools to combine with old-fashioned teaching to help all his students and demonstrated some of them to his colleagues last week.
"Brian has been feeding me little toys," Ferriz said. With an iPod, he could put his lectures on a podcast. A camera in the classroom added video.
Ferriz got another challenge with a blind student. He wasn't sure how to make the maps he uses — and draws during class — available to her.
Touch and go process
Experiments with Silly Putty and puffy paint didn't work well. So Ferriz got a Braille board, a simple wooden frame with a mesh interior.
He took a photo of the map with a digital camera, put it into the computer and used a program to invert it, then printed the reverse image. He put it on the board, traced it and "little bumps record the image," he said. Within a few minutes, he had produced a map she could use.
Ferriz took the idea further, exploring ways to bring more resources to campus. For instance, he would like to put together an online hydrology program. "But I'm the only one here who can teach it," he said.
For $700 — a $300 computer, a $300 software program and a $100 camera — he can get a professor at another university to record his or her lectures and send them back.
"You could have a student in Indiana listening to a great lecture by the expert, who happens to be in New Orleans," he said.
University officials said three classrooms are equipped with video cameras; a remote unit also is available. They are hoping to use more technology and looking into getting software licenses so professors don't have to buy it on their own.
Student Molly Thompson got to demonstrate the technology, taking a test with Ferriz live via Webcam Thursday afternoon. She answered questions about aquifers and the water levels in the Central Valley as Ferriz scored her on a form.
The test took Thompson 15 minutes. With 20 students, that's a five-hour time commitment. Ferriz said he spends that much time grading paper tests. And the oral exam is a great way to make sure students aren't having anyone else taking their tests.
Thompson passed, though Ferriz did not offer her extra credit for taking the test in front of a room full of people.
With Skype technology, Ferriz added five students to a conversation about faults and water tables.
The students later said they like having access to the lectures when checking their notes or reviewing for an exam.
"Sometimes in class, we go over complex topics," Chris Hammond said. "This helps us review exactly what we were doing."
Angelica Barrera said the technology helps ensure the information they have is accurate. Though she is among many students who bring laptops to class, those who don't have them can access the same information from home later.
Extra time worth outcome
Ferriz said he's not challenged by the idea that technology could replace him.
"To me, the professor is there to recognize what the students are thinking," he said. "If I see their little faces of puzzlement, I will explain again. This is not an automatic thing that anybody can see and learn it."
The extra preparation to put the lectures together is worthwhile when students can review the information when they need it, he said.
And he's learned one other thing: "You have to be a little bit of a ham."