Article
Calculus anyone?
Campbell's devices and tools used to successfully complete online calculus assignments.
Campbell Rutherford is studying Applied Mathematics at Harvard University. She is passionate about ensuring that blind individuals can access the technology necessary for them to succeed in school and the workplace, particularly in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Wonder how Campbell dealt with math in high school and what devices she used to access and complete her math assignments? Campbell’s mom provides a quick glimpse of how Campbell tackled her online college Calculus 2 class that she took in high school.
Written by Campbell’s mom:
Campbell sat in this spot outside and did calculus almost all day yesterday. Weirdly, she claims that she loved every minute of it. As I watched her work, we tallied up the cost of all of the technology she was using. $8,000 was our final estimate, not counting the cost of the training she has had over the years to learn to use each piece of technology. Sounds expensive, but my high school girl is doing an online college Calculus 2 class completely independently with no paper braille textbook. . . with a 97 grade average! We were told this wouldn’t be possible, even by people who should know better, so I’m especially grateful to have this view from my back porch.
Video of Campbell Rutherford sitting in a chair on the back porch, typing out calculus problems on her Perkins Brailler that’s sitting on a table beside her. She’s wearing noise cancelling headphones to hear her prof’s lectures and the screenreader voice (JAWS) on her laptop. She has a braille display (Focus 40 Blue) in front of her laptop keyboard (both sitting on a lapdesk) to read the assigned problems and enter her answers in Nemeth/LaTeX. She’s also using a talking TI-84 graphing calculator, her iPhone with Voiceover and an Apple Watch. Her backpack sits on the porch beside her and an orange and white cat sits on the footstool. At the end of the video, I zoomed in on the face of a striped Maine Coon who was sitting with me.
Resources
Other Paths to Technology posts about Campbell:
- The changing landscape of math education for learners with visual impairments webinar (Campbell is a panelist in this webinar)
- Understanding Desmos: Sonification lessons (Includes Desmos online graphing calculator with JAWS: Create and Explore a Graph video by Campbell)
- Braille Math Editor: Student video tutorial by Campbell
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