Teachers of blind honored as pioneers

VANCOUVER, Wash. – When Robin Lowell’s husband’s job required the family to move to Snoqualmie, 170 miles from Vancouver, Washington State School for the Blind retained Lowell and sought a solution to make distance learning work.

Educators Robin Lowell and Sherry Hahn were handed a tough problem: teaching algebraic concepts to visually impaired kids 170 miles away. With the help of technology, they’ve solved the equation.

That’s why teachers at the Washington State School for the Blind in Vancouver recently stood in the 1,200-year-old Prague Castle in the Czech Republic as invited guests of Microsoft. They were among 21 educators honored worldwide by the software giant for using technology to bring innovation into classrooms. The Partners in Learning 2012 Global Forum in Prague, which ran from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, brought together 500 of the most innovative teachers, school leaders and government officials from 80 countries. The group had been narrowed from more than 250,000 teachers competing in national and regional forums.

Lowell and Hahn’s first-place finish at the American forum qualified them for the global competition in Prague, where they placed second in cutting-edge use of technology.

The WSSB educators were pioneers in using Microsoft Lync to connect teachers and visually impaired students miles apart. The videoconferencing tool hadn’t been used much in schools. The teachers used Lync to connect with technology that enables lectures, whiteboard displays and other class materials to be delivered in accessible formats such as Braille, large print and audio. Through Lync, students can share their work, ask for help or submit work to the teacher using desktop sharing, instant messaging and file transfer.

“Using Microsoft Lync, the teacher can instruct and correct, see all the students’ work and make corrections instantly,” said Hahn, WSSB digital research and curriculum development coordinator.