This picture is of a woman and a man sharing a moment in time on a bench while the woman is reading braille. I chose this photo for a number of reasons, but mainly because text in this form has opened doors for many people that would not have had access otherwise. I see technology in the same way, that it opens doors for students in ways that we may not have imagined previously. Who knows what impact this has on our students down the road. Who knows where they would be without this opportunity.
My name is Tyler Sherwood and I am originally from the province of New Brunswick (Fredericton and Moncton/Riverview) but have been living overseas and working in international schools for about 10 years now. I am currently principal of an international IB PYP primary school in Singapore and have been working to implement a solid technology integration plan here for the past couple of years. My wife and I are expecting our first child in November so I’ll be fading in and out around that time during the course!
I’m looking forward to working with all of you and learning a great deal from your experiences.
Tyler,
Good to see you here again. Congratulations on the pending birth of your first! Very exciting times – all the best!
This is a neat photo. I find it interesting how both of the people are focused on the text. Even with Braille, designed for the blind who have no need to actually look at the page, the text or page commands our attention. I can imagine that for myself, I would be looking off, more upwards and outwards as I often do when thinking, but here, they are bound together by the mutual focus of the page, highlighting a togetherness brought about by the book.
Braille intrigues me. Blessed with enough sight that it is still correctable, I cannot imagine ever being able to master it. For sighted people, the progression of the book is the e-reader, online books, websites and such (though O’Donnell and Engell seem assured the book is safe), but it is still the printed letter we are familiar with. Braille cannot move into this forum, but audio can. I wonder if there is a sense of necessity to preserve amongst the Braille-literate, in the way Postman suggests we should when our ways are threatened.
Vicki
References
O’Donnell, J., and Engell, J. (1999). From papyrus to cyberspace. Cambridge Forum. Accessed via ETEC 540 course notes. http://media.elearning.ubc.ca/det/etec540/etec540-audio.html>
Postman, N. (). The judgement of Thamus. Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York: Vintage Books. Accessed online via ETEC 540 course notes. https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/RelativeResourceManager/Template/Imported_Resources/etec540demo_det_course_20070517151759/pdfs/postman-thamus.pdf