Hello!
First of all, thank you to our incredible partners and trainers for making the Monarch a reality for students with visual impairments.
This is the first day that I have had the opportunity to work with this remarkable piece of technology, and the possibilities seem endless! In thinking towards the future, I’d like to ask if students who read braille may be able to use this equipment for statewide testing.
Thank you!
Best,
Rosa Tu
Teacher of the Visually Impaired
This is a great question. Considering many state exams are now available online, I too wonder if this is a possibility. I wonder if it would have to be in a PDF file? That way diagrams could also come up.
I’m also curious how a text books with diagrams will work. Would the need to click on an image icon to open an image up from text?
Hi Rosa,
This is a great question! And the answer is absolutely yes - that is exactly what we want for our students and are working toward making a reality. Though it is continually being improved, the Monarch and its web browser are already accessible with many features of some testing sites; a good example is NWEA (nwea.org for the main page and Test Player for the practice tests - use “grow” for both the username and the password). There is a lot more work to be done but we are getting closer every day.
I’m so happy that you are excited about the Monarch! This is a great place for sharing your thoughts and questions and I look forward to hearing more from you.
Jenny
Hi Chelsea!
This is a great question too. Right now as you know all graphics are read using the Monarch’s Tactile Viewer, which will take PDF, JPG, and PNG files, but we are anticipating that with the new eBraille format the graphics will be embedded inside the braille documents themselves. This may take the form of a link inside the document that goes straight to the Tactile Viewer where the image is opened, or a seamless integration of the text and graphics in the same window space. It is still under development but rapidly advancing and we are excited to see its real applications with our students.
I look forward to hearing from you again!
Jenny
Thanks for your response, Jenny!
In addition to statewide testing, I’m hoping that one day the Monarch may be used for diagnostic and progress monitoring with assessments such as iReady. Currently my understanding is that an accommodation is the screen reader and possibly some refreshable braille displays.
If you have a sample assessment page that I can look at for iReady, I can give it a test to see what’s currently possible.
Hi, Jenny!
Thanks for replying. I’m not sure how I could show you the assessment page as I would have to log on as my student’s credentials.
If you do find a way, I would be very glad to test it for you. 
Thank you, Jenny! =)