The Significance of Remote and Hybrid Education

Remote and Hybrid Education. A little girl is sitting in fron t of a computer screen and her teacher is on screen teaching.

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Remote and hybrid education represents the most significant positive technological innovation for blind students in the last 20 years.

When contemplating the most influential innovations to impact society in the last 20 years, many people instinctively think of mobile phones, social media, or virtual reality. While these have indeed been impactful, for blind individuals, the evolution hasn’t been as beneficial. Mobile phones have lost buttons, making them cumbersome to use; social media has complicated the development of deep relationships; and most virtual reality applications remain inaccessible to the blind. However, the transition to remote education and work has profoundly enhanced the opportunities available for blind individuals.

The Beginning of Hybrid Education

Hybrid Learning. A young woman is engaged as she looks at her computer screen while listening to headphones.

Reflecting on my K-12 education in the early 2000s, I recall students frequently receiving paper assignments. In my remote town, teachers for the blind were scarce, and I was the only student in my school who brought a laptop to class. Yes, it was bulky, with kilobytes of RAM and a short battery life.

In schools that have adopted a digital-first workflow, all students receive their digital assignments simultaneously. Most digital modules, quizzes, and assignments on common learning management systems, such as Blackboard and Canvas, are inherently accessible to blind users. I earned a master’s degree from a remote university without ever needing to use disability services. With good practices in place, such as avoiding PDFs and prioritizing inclusion, creating accessible content is neither expensive nor difficult. If your LMS has a comprehensive accessibility conformance report, you can trust that your assignments will be accessible. Had my middle school teachers used Canvas for my assignments, I wouldn’t have needed to complete them two weeks after everyone else, which was the norm.

SBES is changing the game!

There were periods when I went two or three weeks without seeing a teacher for the blind. This was due to the teacher being overworked, the absence of a teacher, or the teacher lacking the necessary skills to teach me. While districts still grapple with overworking issues, companies like SBES prioritize ensuring teachers are not overworked and their mental health is optimal, enabling them to provide the best service to their students. Thanks to hybrid teaching, there’s no need for a TVI to live near the student. The TVI can live anywhere, and the student can live wherever their family resides. This flexibility means that even if a family lives in an area without TVIs, the student can still receive services as often as their IEP requires. I could have had twice as many TVI visits growing up, which might have significantly improved my braille skills. When I needed to learn Nemeth and braille music, the TVI available to me didn’t know how to teach me these skills. With hybrid and remote services, students aren’t limited to the one teacher living nearby; they can collaborate with someone across the country who can help them develop the skills they need to succeed in class.

Remote and hybrid education has leveled the playing field

Remote and hybrid education has leveled the playing field for blind students, eliminating the need to rely on numerous variables aligning perfectly in their lives, such as professors sending materials to be transcribed two weeks in advance or living in an area with a TVI. The technological and remote education skills blind students acquire will also be invaluable when they enter the workforce and start their remote jobs.

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