I have concerns about how one could effectively do math on the Monarch.
I haven’t received my Monarch yet, but I’ve been busy. I went through the hive training, the documentation and the snapshot videos.
I have an NLS eReader and Brailliant and have used Braille displays sinc 1995 so I feel pretty competent about my ability to master it quickly.
My first concern is that despite having multiple lines, they are only 32 cells wide. Most books have been transcribed with a 40-cell line length.
This doesn’t matter much when reading literary material, English, Spanish, history, civics, etc. As long as the same Braille reflow is implemented as is used in the eReader. (I saw nothing in the training about Braille reflow, but without it reading anything formatted for hardcopy embossing will not be pleasant.)
NLS BARD has several great books for helping us adults refresh our math skills so we can be better teachers for our students and children. They include:
Building basic skills in mathematics. BR11457
The only math book you’ll ever need. BR11659
Everyday math for dummies. BR14500
Solve your child’s math problems: quick and easy lessons for parents. BR10179
You can do the math: overcome your math phobia and make better financial decisions. BR16283
All the math you’ll ever need: a self-teaching guide. BR18082
Hot X: algebra exposed. BR21499
But as I look at these on my Brailliant, I realize that they won’t render correctly with only 32 cels. Many tables run across the page, for example. Equations are shown in columns which run also across the entire page.
So a student will still need to read most math textbooks in hardcopy Braille.
Of course, the Monarch can read both Math-ML and equations produced in Word’s equation editor. But as a paraprofessional at a community college, I haven’t found any textbooks formatted with either of these systems. I’m working on this, however, and if anyone has OER math textbooks that can be read on the Monarch, I’d like to know.
My second concern is there’s nothing in the training about copying and pasting between applications. Suppose you are reading exercises in a textbook. You will want to grab them out of the Victor Reader application and paste them in to the Braille editor so you can begin to work on them. But can the Monarch do that?
Also how easy is it to flip between your work and the textbook? I find this really challenging to do with my Brailliant. Multi-tasking on Windows and Mac is pretty effortless, but with these dedicated devices, the designers seem to have forgotten how crucial this is.
A sighted person would spread out multiple sheets of paper along with their textbook so they could have scratch paper to work out problems. And one paper might be for showing their work to the teacher while other paper is only for them to figure out how to solve the problems.
Using a Braille writer, the same experience would occur. The blind student would have the hardcopy textbook nearby and several sheets of paper for both working out the problem and producing results they feel confident about showing to the teacher.
So I think if the Monarch truly wants to revolutionize math study, it needs 40 cells or software that can competently convert 40-cell books to 32 cel-wide lines. It also needs efficient multi-tasking so flipping between apps, the reader, the editor and the calculator is quick and easy.
This might sound pesimistic: I’d love to be proven wrong! I need to refresh my math skills and have been working through these NLS books to ensure I am competent when assisting my students.
Hi Deborah,
These are really excellent points. The eBraille converter does reflow text from books originally created using 40 cells, but I think there are still going to be some issues with math texts, at least for now. I would also love to see a converter that can properly address these math formatting issues. You can help a lot with this if you will let us know when you see problems that can be specifically addressed with future converter updates.
Each of the apps on the Monarch uses a different file type. The word processor takes DOC, DOCX, RTF, and TXT files; the Braille Editor takes BRF and BRL; Tactile Viewer takes PDF; Victor Reader takes EPUB and Daisy. Not all of the apps have copy/paste functions yet, including the Victor Reader. So there are challenges with copying and pasting text between apps. As each app is equipped to accept more file types and the functions in the apps are expanded, this will improve.
The Monarch is an exceptional work in progress - every observation or suggestion or question from people like you who know what students and consumers really need helps.
This is an opinion, but I think that switching between “work stations” on the Monarch is pretty easy. One tap on the Recent Apps (square) button will open a list of open programs, and two taps will toggle between the two most recently used programs.
Although the Monarch is a large device, it is never a bad idea to encourage students to keep other equipment or texts close at hand for easy access and use as you described. Having multiple options, knowing what and where they are, and being able to switch between them quickly makes everyone’s lives better.
I think there will always be a necessary place for hardcopy braille. I hope we will never stop using it and that our students will always have access to people and equipment that produce it.
Jenny
Thanks for taking my post in the spirit in which it was intended!
I also am part of these tests to make it a better device.
The app switcher is going to truly help, because many Humanware devices don’t have that, so though apps stay open they close when Humanware wants them to, which means you never know what is open.
I am eager to play with Treasure Island and compare it to the books I get on BARD.
I also think one early eBraille book you should consider is something in STEM, maybe math or science for a fifth-grade reading level.
Because I work at the college level I’m ignorant when it comes to the Nimac and textbook distribution to blind kids in the K-12 system, but one trend we see in higher ed is OER textbooks: textbooks with a creative commons license. This means if you convert an OER textbook to either a Word doc with the equation editor, or html with Math-ML, you need not worry about who gets their hands on it and violating copyright.
I’m not sure if OER is a thing in the K12 system, but it sure is a trend for starving college students!
And if the book is in Word or HTML then it can appeal to those just learning Braille as well. So my vote is to convert some OER textbooks to a variety of formats and distribute them to us field testers.