I have just left Kalamazoo Michigan where 13 orientation and mobility
instructors are in the midst of a 3 day course on the BrailleNote GPS. I
flew out to help get the equipment ready for the class. What a job updating
13 BrailleNotes with Keysoft 6.1, GPS 3.1, maps and POIs. Just charging 13
BrailleNotes and 13 receivers is a challenge.
It was pretty exciting when the instructors arrived yesterday from around
the country and we hit the streets. We actually had 16 BrailleNotes
chattering down the street at the same time. Three of us were circulating
around answering questions, carrying our own BrailleNotes. Everything
worked and our students got the hang of the equipment pretty quickly.
All of the students were sighted and only a few had some experience with
the BrailleNote. It always amuses me to see sighted folks using a Braille
keyboard, not to mention figuring out synthesized speech. They did great.
This course is being taught by Paul Ponchillia, chairman of the department
and by a graduate student Catherine Emerson. It began at 5 PM on Friday and
ends Sunday at noon. University credit is provided.
Since Western cranks out a lot of the O&M and Rehab graduates, it is
wonderful to see state of the art technology being taught at university
level. It is very gratifying for me, who is usually the teacher, to be the
observer for a change and to know that modern wayfinding technology has
become part of one university's curricula.
Mike
Michael G. May
CEO Sendero Group
MikeMay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.SenderoGroup.com
(1-888-757-6810, Fax (530) 757-6830, Mobile (530) 304-0007 Sendero Group, LLC 1118 Maple Lane, Davis, CA 95616-1723, USA
Latitude, 38 33 9.239 North Longitude, 121 45 40.145 West