Introduction to Braille Transcription - Pass Christian University

Introduction to Braille Transcription Begin your path toward a rewarding career as a Braille transcriber by learning to write and read the tactual language of the blind. You'll learn the history of Braille, and different ways of producing the Braille English alphabet, Braille numbers, Braille punctuation, and more. This course will prepare you well for participating in the vigorous and challenging Braille transcribing course offered by the Library of Congress.

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Syllabus:

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Introduction to Braille

Friday - Lesson 02

Perky Duck Braille Software and Letters A-E

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Letters F-J and Capital Letters

Friday - Lesson 04

Numbers, Period, Comma, and Decimal Point

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Letters K-O, Hyphen, and Emphasizing Words

Friday - Lesson 06

Letters P-T and Money

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Letters U-Z, Question Mark, Exclamation Point, and Apostrophe

Friday - Lesson 08

Quotation Marks, Slash, Parentheses, Brackets, Colon, and Semicolon

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Accent Sign, Spacing, Paragraphing, and Alphabet Words

Friday - Lesson 10

Dash, Double Dash, and the Words 'And,' 'Of,' 'For,' 'The,' and 'With'

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

Time, Dates, Telephone Numbers, Roman Numerals, and Additional Punctuation

Friday - Lesson 12

Mathematical Symbols, Measurement, Degrees, and Computer Braille Code

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Dixie Mahaffie.

Dixie Mahaffie first became intrigued with Braille while attending elementary school. At sixteen, she became a Braille Transcriber for a metropolitan school district. In 1984, she received a Masters of Science Degree in Education with a Certification for Teaching the Visually Impaired, and she began work as a Braille instructor at a State Department of Services for the Blind. Mahaffie currently works as a Teacher of the Visually Impaired and an Orientation and Mobility Instructor. She conducts several accredited college-level Braille courses for sighted individuals and has helped many students achieve their goal of becoming Braille transcribers.

Requirements:

You will need to install and use Perky Duck software for Brailling on a standard computer keyboard. This software comes in Macintosh and Windows versions and can be downloaded free of charge from

http://www.duxburysystems.com/freeware.asp

Please be advised that Duxbury Systems, Inc. does not provide support for Macintosh users installing the Perky Duck software.

You will also need to download and install the SimBraille font on your computer. The file you need is free and located at:

http://duxburysystems.com/downloads/duxbrlf.exe

You will also need Internet access, e-mail, and a and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.

Finally, you will need a keyboard that responds to simultaneous six-key input, in other words, a keyboard that has been manufactured to the original IBM PC specification. If you're talking to a computer tech, you will want to ask for an "IBM PC down/up encoded keyboard with n-key rollover."

Be aware that many newer computer keyboards are NOT suitable. To determine if your keyboard will work, start a new document in any word processing program. Then press the keys sdf jkl all at the same time. Note what appears on the screen. A properly configured keyboard will generate all six letters (sdfjkl) on the screen--but not necessarily in that order.

Each time you press all six keys at once, you should see all six of the letters you pressed on the screen. If this occurs, your keyboard will be perfectly acceptable for braille entry.

If your keyboard generates only three or four letters instead of six, it will not work for Braille entry. Your instructor will be able to suggest affordable replacement keyboards that will meet your needs.

Student Reviews:

"Dixie presented the Introductory Braille material in an easy-to-understand format. I have never taken Braille before and now, I feel confident that I can continue into a more advanced course and learn what I need to know to become a Braille Transcriber. Thank you, Dixie!"

"Dixie, Whew! I'm so excited to have completed this challenging course. Your step-by-step instructions were always clear and kept my interest. You responded to my discussion questions/comments in a timely manner. I always looked forward to your replies."

"Excellent Course. I look forward to taking the second course."

"Great beginning course. I really found this helpful. I need to practice more to really get this down. It is like learning any other foreign language."

"I am so happy to have completed this course. The material was presented in a fun, nonstressful manner. I really enjoyed each and every lesson. This surprised me as I work at a computer every day at work. I tend to ignore my e-mail on my home computer as I am too tired to stare at another computer screen. I did look forward to coming home and working on these lessons, however. Dixie is an excellent instructor and it's a great teaching/learning format."

"I enjoyed this course very much and hope to pursue braille transcription."

"I have thoroughly enjoyed learning Braille and hope to continue with the advanced course."

"I just wanted to thank you for a wonderfully challenging class. I have found this course to be very interesting, as well as challenging. I still have a lot to learn, but know that I am capable of learning it. I look forward to Braille Transcription II. Thank you so much for offering these courses. You have done an excellent job."

"I very much enjoyed the course. It was much more comprehensive than I had expected."

"Thanks so much, Dixie, for this class. I really enjoyed it and hope to be able to take the Intermediate Braille course also. You have made it very interesting to learn Braille, and I enjoyed the puzzles and transcribing exercises."

"Thanks so much for this course, Ms.Mahaffie. I really enjoyed this and want to continue practicing what I've learned before attempting the Intermediate course. Thanks so much for creating this online course and for your knowledge and expertise in this area."

"Thank you for an AWESOME class. I loved every minute of it. I can't wait to start the second class."

"Thank you very much!I really,really ejoyed this course and the quick responses I received from the instructor!"

"The Braille course was not only interesting, but very informative. I look forward to going on with Braille Transcribing."

"This course made me work hard. I want to take the next one. thanks so much."

"This course was exactly how I needed it to be to begin brailling."

"This was an interesting, excitting, and fun course...would recommend it highly."

"This was a very interesting & informative course. Thank you!"

"Very good course and instructor. What could be dry, rote material was presented in a way that made it interesting to learn."

"Wow, did I get my money's worth! The teacher obviously taught braille before. I learned more than I dreamed possible. Will definately take the intermediate braille course. This was great; it stimulated my mind, gave six of my fingers a workout, and made me feel good about myself for learning something new. A new personal goal would be to transcribe, part time, at home. Thank you for this class, it was really a great experience!"

"Wow, did I get my money's worth! The teacher obviously taught braille before. I learned more than I dreamed possible. Will definitely take the intermediate braille course. This was great; it stimulated my mind, gave six of my fingers a workout, and made me feel good about myself for learning something new. A new personal goal would be to transcribe, part time, at home. Thank you for this class, it was really a great experience!"