The world runs on technology, and in our technology course, we seek to make that world more accessible. Learning how to use assistive technology will enable people with vision loss to attend college, retain their employment, or to find a new career. As you already know, the world runs on technology more and more every day. In our technology course, we seek to make that world accessible.

We explore in detail the basic parts of a computer and complete
tasks using assistive technology. In this course, students will develop the ability to compose properly formatted documents, prepare professional presentations, create and maintain a budget within the Microsoft Office suite, as well as manage the Outlook application
including email, calendar, tasks, and contacts. Students will be taught file management skills and basic software problem solving and use of the internet.

By the end of the course, students will have a full understanding of how to use the following:

• Screen Readers such as Jaws for Windows: including learning what to listen for, how to solicit spoken feedback for visual concepts, and other ear-training exercises.
• Magnifier Readers such as ZoomText: including learning to change visual enhancements such as magnification, color, pointer, and focus as well as reading commands.
• Microsoft Windows: including file manipulation and the Windows environment as a whole.
• The Office Suite: including lessons in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook including email, calendar appointments and meeting requests, task management, and creating and editing
• Internet and webmail: including web site navigation, and additional relevant concepts for daily living functions such as online banking, bill pay, shopping, college and university
• web sites and social media.
• Optical Character Recognition (OCR) using software such as OpenBook with the Pearl Camera/Scanner for use scanning and reading documents.
• SMART Phones such as iPhones or Androids: including email, time management, appointments, and contacts using accessible features such as Zoom, Magnifier, Voice-over, or Talkback
• Alternative Format Players such as the Victor Reader Stream: including use for college, employment, and leisure to record as well as listen to books and podcasts.

Students will be able to:

• Manage appointments and e-mail inbox.
• Research topics on the internet, fill out forms, and order products.
• Download digital book content.
• Navigate university and online class web interfaces or job-related sites.
• Create professional-looking documents which are well edited.

• Figure out how to problem solve, with many keystrokes to accomplish tasks in several different ways.
• use the internet to find answers for additional material and concepts students may encounter after completion of this course.

If recommended, students will be provided equipment, training, and materials tailored to their goals.