I did the Startup Tutorial with a student today. She loved it! She kept saying, this is amazing! The point and click didn’t work consistently on the shapes. She was very surprised by the ending butterfly pattern. I did notice that the protective shield moved a bit under the hands today.
So Glow for the tutorial–Grow for smoothing out the point and click. She also found it awkward to have one finger on the screen to activate the point and click as she reads with both hands–that was a learning curve!
Glow- The student I am using the Monarch with really enjoys writing. He says it gives him lots of room to write, and he likes to feel all his writing, not just line by line.
Grow—My student does not really enjoy reading from the Monarch yet. I am not sure if it is because it feels different from the Chameleon or because there is so much space. We are going to keep working on reading over the summer and see if it is just something he needs to get used to.
When I first arrived back from the training in February my student that I completed the field test with wasn’t very excited to pick back up with the Monarch. We continued to focus on the Chameleon and get distracted by school breaks, test prep, and other upheavals to our schedule and time together. I has the Monarch there, and would mention it from time to time. Now with only 15 days left she finally requested it again!!! I wanted it to be her initiating our “reintroduction” to the Monarch. I am so excited that she is in a more stable place and has the confidence to ask for something that she is excited but nervous about. Now we get to pour our remaining days into the Monarch!
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Glows-
One glow I have encountered has been with a high school student who just began learning Braille this year. He is not overly thrilled about learning Braille, but the Monarch has made him a little less resistant to the idea. Instead of using a Perkins to practice typing the alphabet, he likes doing it on the Monarch so that he can get speech confirmation that he typed the letters correctly. He has also learned all of the alphabetic words signs independently just by hearing the Monarch say the contraction after typing a letter. He also loved exploring the tactile diagrams, so the Monarch has definitely helped make learning Braille a little more fun for him!
A Grow we have encountered this year has been with my honors Algebra 2 high school student. This student usually uses a BrailleNote Touch in her math class. When she tried using the Monarch instead, she struggled with keeping up with the fast pace of this class because she could not quickly move the cursor to where it needed to be with point and click. She is used to using the cursor router keys on the BrailleNote, which allow for quicker editing. Hopefully the point and click will be more reliable in the future which will allow her to use the Monarch in math at the same speed as with the cursor router keys.
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I have been playing with the Monarch Chess game since my school year ended. I am very impressed with this game. I can see that a lot of thought and planning went into developing this game. The developers have given us our first tactile computer chess game, a dream I have harbored for the last forty years or so. I enjoy playing chess against the computer and look forward to a day when I can play against a remote human opponent. Monarch Chess is definitely a “glow” area for the Monarch.
Monarch Chess is so well done, that it gives me a lot of hope for some of the other areas, which I would still consider “grow” areas. The equation graphing function still have very thick graph lines, so it is impossible to generate precise graphs with it. (The polar graphing feature doesn’t work at all yet.) But all the system needs to make those areas “glow” areas is a software update, to make the graph lines thinner and make more precise graphing possible. I hope to see this in a future update, before the Monarch is released to the general market.
Hello Everyone. I participated in the April Training in Chicago. I’m a braille transcriber and Special Education Paraprofessional for a school district. I was very honored to be selected for the training. Even though I received the Monarch towards the end of the school year, I have encountered some Glows and Grows. I will most likely encounter many more once I work on my follow-up activities and once school gets back in session.
GLOW: When the TVI and and myself presented the Monarch to our student, it was so amazing to see our student’s excitement. He wanted to dig his hands right in and learn about the Monarch. He was learning about Native Americans in his ELA class and was so excited to be able to explore what a bison was and a canoe. He was able to explore the canoe from different viewpoints, which he really enjoyed.
The TVI, myself, and the student also made a video explaining the Monarch and the importance of keeping governmental funding for students with blindness and low vision in the forefront. We forwarded this video to Mr. Schroeder at APH, Ms. Karen Anderson at NFB, Wisconsin State Senator Tammy Baldwin, and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. We were so proud of our student being an advocate for students with Blindness and Low Vision.
GROW: This summer, my goal is to learn more about making tactile graphics and presenting them on the Monarch. This will be a personal GROW for me this summer. While school was in session, I could not figure out if there was a way to easily send documents or assignments to my student to be used on the Monarch. I was hoping to just email them to him. I have been using a memory stick to transfer work from my computer to the Monarch. Again, I will be exploring this more this summer, so I’m ready when school starts.
I love that idea of writing jokes for your student to find! It makes me think about making a “scavenger hunt” on the Monarch for my student. My student also is a little hesitant about using the point and click, so this may be some motivation for him!! Thank you for the idea!
My Glow would be all the times I have had the opportunity to share the Monarch with students and teachers over the year that I’ve had one. Whether it’s been high school students at GenCyber or a group of adults wokring on their TVI certification. or teachers and students in schools during the course of trainings on other devices, sharing the excitement of this revolutionary device is extremely rewarding. My Grow would be seeing how far the device has come since Ihave been involved with the project. The imrpovemnts to Bookshare, the additional math support, the new tutorial and chess game, and the new casde are just a few things that come to mind. I can’t wait to soar along with teh Monarch into the future!
There is so much to unpack here…lots going on in my head, so I’m going to try to get it out in the most effective way I can.
Glow: I love how the user can point and click! I’m absolutely fascinated by this ability…I mean, I know there are TONS of great things about this device, but I seriously can’t get past this one. There are so many possibilities that the user can apply this to conceptually.
Grow: I tried SO hard to make a tactile graphic…I spent FOREVER and it never came out right on the Monarch. I used the template, I used the correct font, all the things, but the cells just would not line up! I’m not sure if it’s a “me thing” or a “Monarch thing” but I’m hoping a future update will help.
Amy, we have to get this working for you! 
I would be glad to meet with you anytime and see what’s happening with your software and hardware. Let me know at jwheeler@aph.org what might be best for you.
A “Glow” is the KeyMath in conjunction with the Desmos tactile graphing feature. My secondary level braille students already use Desmos and the ability to have the graphic on demand is exciting!
A “Grow” is learning the shortcut key combination options when using the braille input. I use a Qwerty style keyboard and just have to get my fingers muscle memory adjusted.
The biggest “glow” I have had with the Monarch is the ability to pull up tactile graphics that match what the other children are seeing in the classroom. For example, my student was learning about Native Americans and the teacher (and book) referred to buffalo hunting, reservations, canoes, etc. I was able to help my student search for these terms in the tactile graphics library on the Monarch and he was very excited to understand these terms much more fully. The fact that we could do it so quickly allowed him to keep pace with his classmates, which can be so difficult. The grow, for both my student and myself, is becoming more fluent (quicker) at being able to use the math program on the device so that I can be able to support him for efficiently in the classroom next school year. That is my summer goal!
Hello,
Yes, I think that it would be excciting and imperative if we could download otehr apps onto the Monarch. It would definitely be able to put Google Classroom, Google Slides, and other resourceful that are used most often by students onto the Monarch. Just like the Braille Note Plus, you are also able to download apps from the Google Play store onto the Braille sense 6, so it would make sense if we could download otehr apps onto the Monarch.
I am working on this skill - having my student own her education in finding items that supplement/explain further what she is learning. I think it would be beneficial to be able to share graphics we make with others to create a nice repository for tactile graphics. We can do this on Tactile View but I am uncertain how to do that with the Monarch … yet.
Great to read everyone’s Glow and Grows; this product has so much potential!
Glow: My student also is thrilled at the idea of being able to access multiple lines of text instantly, and to examine diagrams more “in the moment” than previewing or reviewing. She is an avid reader, and VERY tactually curious, so the large display is right up her alley!
Grow: yes, app access and I think there was discussion of a browser being added? Can’t wait for that to be added, it will be another game-changer!
I can only imagine the depth of your feelings in reflecting on your own experiences as a student, and the realization of the potential that lies ahead for Gavin with this device. As a TVI/O&M who is not visually impaired, your perspective as both a visually impaired user and parent is key to helping all of us focus on the ultimate goal: equal access, in time, on time. Thank you for sharing your reflection!
I’ve noticed that my students in middle school tend to shy away from their devices so that they blend in as well. That’s wonderful that the Monarch has been a game changer for your student and has increased your student’s desire to utilize technology as well as engage with peers! It is also great because he can work at the same pace as his peers and both his teacher and peers can view his work/steps.
I agree that it would helpful to have a strap. My student shared the same concerns and does not want to damage this piece of equipment. He has needed to purchase a larger backpack every year to hold all of his belongings.
Today I showed the Monarch to a young man who is a rising Junior in high school. He has been studying braille for 5 years in high school. He only knows the alphabet by dot positions, the braille writer and is now working on learning to feel the letters. I had the opportunity to show him the Monarch today at our 4 week program for teenagers. He was so excited to see it. It was so exciting to see his joy when I showed him the Monarch today. He loves art. He is able to draw. In TGIL he wanted to feel the flowers. I showed him how to “Point and Click”. It was such a pleasure to see the smiles and excitement on his face when he enlarged one of the flowers with the Point and Click. What a wonderful feature. He studied the flowers, leaves and stamens.
I have also shown the Monarch to three other teenagers during this program.
I am a horrible chess player. However, I am starting on the tutorial and planning on practicing for the rest of August so I can introduce chess to my student this fall. I am glad to hear that you as an experienced chess player find the Monarch chess app really well done. It gives me hope that my student and I will find a level of success!
Hi, I have not had success with my own tactile graphics either. I am very optimistic that APH will have a monarch graphic class soon.