&edu_cs_1=eBeam Enables Vision-impaired Student to Engage in Interactive Math Class Cheri Trumbo, a middle school teacher in White House, Tennessee, about 30 miles north of Nashville, understands. Trumbo, who holds a Master’s in Education degree, is one of two special education teachers in her school. She supervises the activities of all special education students in grades six through eight while teaching four mainstream classes in math, reading and language arts. “We service all disabilities,” Trumbo states, “although we have no students who are really low functioning. The children I work with mostly have learning disabilities.” The school provides all the technology and services students need. This includes pull-out resource classes, consultations and a lab where kids with learning disabilities can get tutoring. Trumbo makes herself available for them each morning.” Putting technology to work. Trumbo has one visually impaired student who is blind in one eye and barely sees out of the other. “She’s a wonderful girl,” Trumbo exclaims. “She takes all mainstream classes, but I occasionally work with her one-on-one to make sure she gets everything she needs.” Those needs include a variety of equipment that must be kept working. Trumbo works with consultants from Vanderbilt University in Nashville who come to the school to assist her student. Vanderbilt has provided a monocular—a short telescope that the student uses for seeing distances. “It’s a big help,” Trumbo advises, “but the field of vision is limited. She can only see one or two things on the board.” Trumbo’s student has also been given a magnifier with which to read sheets of paper. And she makes use of a CCTV, which looks like a microfiche machine. A teacher places a book on it, and magnified pages appear on a screen. The CCTV, which the student has nicknamed Fred, can be wheeled from one classroom to another. Additionally, hard-copy materials can be scanned into her PC and PowerPoint files downloaded. A special PC function allows the student to magnify words and images beyond the capability of ordinary PC applications. But interactive work on a whiteboard proves a problem. Nowhere does that prove more critical than in math. Trumbo’s student can participate only passively because her monocular’s field of vision is so restrictive. Everything for her math class had to be prepared or copied before hand. Or information had to be limited if she was writing it down. The student can’t use the monocular and write at the same time, so she would trail behind other students. eBeam changed all that. A powerful yet affordable solution. The school’s technology department purchased eBeam with its visually impaired student in mind. “Setting up eBeam was simple,” says Trumbo. “It took no more than 20 to 30 minutes. That was pretty quick considering that we’d never seen one before. Set-up is even quicker now.” Thanks to eBeam, Trumbo’s student follows interactive work on a whiteboard in math or any class. A teacher or student who comes to the board writes with a standard dry marker held in a special eBeam pen. The eBeam receiver captures any work done in an area eight feet by four feet. Math calculations, science diagrams, social studies notes and other written or drawn images appear on the student’s laptop screen, which she magnifies to see unaided. A technology love affair. eBeam has proven a big hit. “Our visually impaired student loves eBeam,” Trumbo relates. “Now she can keep up with all the activities in each of her classes.” Her family is extremely pleased with the support their daughter has gotten. Teachers and students love eBeam, because classes can move forward without leaving anyone behind. The children are comfortable with having a student with disabilities, Trumbo points out, so she fits right in. Trumbo is delighted as well. “My caseload is heavy, and eBeam helps lighten it. eBeam is portable—very small and light—so we can easily take it from one classroom to another. And it’s low-maintenance. That’s critical, because we can’t spend more money than we have to. eBeam takes a lot of pressure off me.” Of course, eBeam has other uses as well. By capturing notes, diagrams and annotations made on projected images, eBeam provides a permanent record that can be filed on a server and made available via print-outs, emails or Internet access. Trumbo plans to investigate these uses for other classroom needs. “I think we’ll use eBeam in the science room next year,” she comments. Moreover, two eBeam Projection receivers in separate locations—along with phone conferencing—enable administrative groups or academic departments to hold low-cost Web meetings. As to helping her visually impaired student fit in the classroom, Trumbo is very enthusiastic. “eBeam is a wonderful tool. It has made a big difference to enhance instruction in any subject with a lot of interactive work on a whiteboard. In fact, I can see where eBeam would be great in the workplace, too.”