STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Voice-conferencing software
recently purchased by Mississippi State is
allowing university students with vision
impairments to participate in online learning
opportunities.
Enabling students to hear their instructors and
classroom peers via online chat rooms, Talking
Communities software was acquired by MSU's
Division of Continuing Education in
collaboration with the on-campus Rehabilitation
Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Blindness
and Low Vision.
The new online environment, which the division
has named "iDeclare," is helping allay a fear
that the traditional classroom becomes lost in
Internet courses, said Laura Crittenden, manager
of credit studies.
"With the advent of voice technology,
instructors and students will have one more tool
to help them develop more nurturing and positive
relationships with each other," she said.
Instructions for online access are available at
http://www.distance.msstate.edu/ideclare,
she added.
Frank Puckett, a faculty member using the
software this semester, describes it as "very
accommodating to people with visual
disabilities." An associate clinical professor
in the Department of Counselor Education,
Educational Psychology and Social Work, he works
with the RRTC.
"I'm using it frequently for conferencing with
the American Foundation for the Blind," Puckett
said.
Teaching online courses exclusively, Puckett
uses Talking Communities in a course on the
medical aspects of disability. "The software
promotes class discussion and enhances review of
the material," he said.
To use Talking Communities software, instructors
and students must have Windows Media Player 9
and a microphone. The equipment also enables
students who miss a chat session to record it
for later review or re-visit chat sessions for
study purposes.
Providing technical assistance in the new effort
are Franklin Johnson, RRTC access technology
specialist, and Jason Crittenden, technical
assistant for the continuing education division.
For more information about the Talking
Communities software or about distance learning
at MSU, telephone Crittenden at (662) 325-2677.
