SSC Webinar 6: Teaching braille reading and writing

Course evaluation summary

Number of Participants: 76
Number of Respondents: 15

Overall Assessment:

Will you do anything differently as a result of today's training?

Have a better understanding of the teaching of braille.
I have some new ideas to try for early tactile development and concept of braille.
I have significant experience in this field therefore there was nothing 'new'. It is however always good to listen to how others approach the various challenges. Every child is unique and although you may not need that information for the pupils you are currently working with that seed has been planted. The information may well be required at a later date and would inform your teaching.
I will put more emphasis on how I teach tracking before I approach teaching the braille letters - more emphasis on both hands and how to use them.
I would attend webinars in the future as I think the content was really good and it would be great to connect with other professionals, my access via my technology was very limited and so dampened the experience.
Add braille to more things around the school when I can.
Not sure, reading the comments from other participants was what was providing input but they were a little quick on the screen to catch when more than one person was responding.
It has made me aware that we can adapt resources. Our VI link is in very infrequently and she has never been in the classroom setting.
I will re-evaluate some of my current approaches.
Have no previous experience of teaching a young child who was blind but this discussion provided some excellent ideas for pre-braille skills and introducing books and reading.
I will use the good practise from the webinar and use the resources recommended.
The discussion wasn’t particularly relevant to the age and stage of children/young people that I work with but it did enhance my understanding and appreciation of the subject.

What was best about the course/event?

Lots of different ideas from VI teachers all over Scotland.
Being able to share practice with so many people.
Sharing ideas and researching the links provided.
Having the opportunity to hear more experienced VI teachers talk about the subject.
The opportunity to share good practise within our field.
Hearing ideas from different places and different teachers.
Seeing that there was a considerable interest in the topic, being part of the collaboration and listening and reading the interaction.
Hearing other people's working practice.
Varied and interesting points of views shared.
Chance to gain knowledge from VI teachers who have had experience of teaching things which I have not done so far due to the needs of the children we are currently supporting.
The discussion.
Seeing other people’s comments.
Feedback from other teachers.
The sharing of practical ideas/solutions practitioners had used.
Collaborating with so many other professionals.

What, if anything, could have been improved about the course?

More time.
Personally, I would have liked less input about general literacy immersion at the beginning and more about the actual problems people may be having teaching the actual braille (such as tips for similar letters, ways to help the children remember letters/rules. The ways I taught myself to remember things were very visual - i.e. I remembered them as pictures - for example, 'WH' is like a star above Dr WHo's tardis, or the degree symbol is like a petri dish for science. What do experienced teachers do to help the children learn all the different braille signs?)
I feel any low score I have given is nothing to do with delivery or content, it was all technology access that caused the issues.
To have seen more active examples, the video watched prior to webinar was predominantly spoken too.
There were over 80 attending maybe it was too many people.
Longer time to discuss items.

How did you hear about this course?

Course Info Email from SSC: 8
Colleague: 6
GTCS Website: 1

What other CPD training would you like the SSC to provide?

Developing pre-braille tactile skills, especially for older learners with acquired sight loss.
Everything that is rolling out just now is very appropriate. Every week I see the emails and think, "Oh, yes, that will be interesting!"
Screen readers for blind students.
Unsure at present.
Maybe more about children who have some sight.
Braille considerations for children in mainstream schools that are 'struggling'.
Accessible technology for Braille Users.
A webinar tailored to Heads of Service - Discussion around effective service delivery.

Technical Feedback

How was your experience of accessing the course via Collaborate? 4.2/5

How would you rate the webinar technology? 3.7/5

Any comments on the technical aspects

As the larger number of participants led to greater use of the chat feature; things could get lost. There is a slight delay when connecting to contribute by speech which occasionally confused things.
The sound quality was very patchy this week. Maybe it was because so many people were taking part - I don't know, just a guess!
I am not sure if it was my work laptop but I had no sound and no visuals just the chat bar at the side.
Sometimes sound was breaking up.
Not currently as this was first one.
Sometimes it was hard to hear people were signing on and off.
Unfair to be critical as this is a new way of working and will take time for everyone to become used to using technology in this way. Also participants may not have up to date technology and wifi connections will vary.
I couldn’t access Collaborate via authority-managed iPad but it did work well on my phone.