Group Work Activities and difficulties with Vision
Remember, disability is a highly individualised experience. People with the same disability may have very different capabilities and/or needs, so it is always best to discuss any adaptations to practice, the environment or equipment directly with the disabled person themselves rather than making assumptions about what adjustments may be suitable.
Group work is a form of cooperative learning which aims to develop students knowledge, generic skills, (e.g. communication skills, collaborative skills, critical thinking skills) and attitudes. The ability to participate effectively in group work or team work is seen as a desirable employability skill and should be considered part of every learner’s educational experience.
Many of the inclusive principles and practices for taught sessions also apply for students with visual impairment when engaged in group work.
Students with a range of impairments, including those with a visual impairment, may want to record information by taping or Brailing (remember, not all blind people use Braille!). It is good practice to provide students with a visual impairment/disturbance with a disk or hard copy of taught material, or copies of overheads. Students who are reliant on taping taught sessions as a way of receiving information will need a translation of visual material into an alternative format, for example, auditory form – and they will require the same sort of adjustment for group work. Their peers in the group will need to think about the best way of conveying information.
Taping information is not always an unqualified success unless the student develops a system for retrieving information from the tapes, perhaps by tone indexing the tapes, and keeping a record of the main ideas of the notes. Taking home tapes of the group work sessions for transcribing at a later stage can be very time-consuming, they will need to exercise discretion about what they should ‘write up’.
Students who have visual difficulties that affect their ability to access text may be excluded when there is some reading to do in group work . They may also experience difficulties with face to face communication if they are unable to read facial expressions or body language. It can take time for students to get used to the voices of other students in their seminar and it may be helpful for speakers to say their name prior to speaking. It is helpful to provide any textual material, in an accessible format, in advance of the meetings.
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