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Availability of New Online College Curriculum
Availability of New Online College Curriculum
Legendary blind athlete Erik Weihenmayer unveiled the new Braille Textbook Transcriber curriculum at the American Association of Community Colleges annual conference in Long Beach, California.
The future of education for students who are blind or have vision loss is dramatically changing. Through the efforts of Northwest Vista College in San Antonio, TX, the Braille Textbook Transcriber online curriculum will be available to students everywhere in the Fall of 2006.
As new Braille Textbook Transcribers are trained and available for work, students who are blind or have vision loss will no longer wait months for textbooks to be transcribed, allowing them access to an education equal to that of their sighted peers.
"As our students and students across the nation evaluate career options, it is exceptional for Northwest Vista to have diverse, rewarding, flexible, lifelong career training like this," said Dr. Jackie Claunch, president of Northwest Vista College.
The Braille Textbook Transcriber curriculum will provide students with the necessary general education coursework, applicable workforce skills and transcribing experience to successfully transcribe textbooks and learning materials in a standardized format.
"Being faced with blindness in my teens, I quickly learned that braille literacy was critical to my future success⁸it allowed me to be academically competitive, complete college, become a teacher and now an author," said Erik Weihenmayer, Verizon Literacy Champion for the American Foundation for the Blind.
This curriculum is conducted entirely online in three multi-disciplinary semesters. Successful completion of the 36 credit hours results in a national Braille Textbook Transcriber Certificate.
This effort is the result of a four-year collaboration between AFB, Northwest Vista College, the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Verizon Communications, through the Verizon Foundation, and 48 of the leading national organizations and associations in education, literacy and service. Verizon Foundation has invested more than $800,000 to develop and promote the new Braille Textbook Transcriber.
REHACARE.de; Source: American Foundation for the Blind (afb)
- More information on afb at: www.afb.org
