Welcome to EDSE 643, Psychosocial Needs of Individuals with Visual Impairment, one of UNC's online courses for the Severe Needs: Vision program. I am very glad that you have chosen UNC for your graduate studies. You are in a way our "pioneers," because we have only been working online for three years. By taking this course in this format, you are helping us to evaluate the feasibility, quality, and effectiveness of our distance program. You are also helping to determine the future of the Severe Needs: Vision program. I, too, am a pioneer of sorts because I'm teaching this course from Salt Lake City, Utah, where I teach junior high students with visual impairments. However, please know that I'm not new to this course; I taught it several times during the 3 ½ years I was a member of UNC's Severe Needs: Vision faculty.

Let me take you on a tour of the course. First, you should probably read the Syllabus and the policies, as they will give you a rough outline of the course.

Next, look at the Schedule at a Glance. This page lets you know what you need to do and, sometimes, when you need to do it. More of the "when" information will be available during the next week or two as we finalize dates and times. For details on each week's reading, activities, and assignments, refer to the Detailed Schedule, which provides step-by-step your work for each week. From the Detailed Schedule page, you can link to the Study Guides, the Self-Directed Activities, and the Assignments.

Speaking of assignments: One of your first assignments is to find a mentor with background in the area of visual impairment who can help you choose a student to work with on self-esteem issues. This mentor must be found and must agree to do this by the end of the third week of the course (in this case, September 17), so you’ll probably want to start looking for him or her immediately. Let me know when you’ve found a mentor, and I’ll send you some expectations to clarify things for him or her.

Notice also that assignments are due no later than 11:59 pm, your time, each Monday (except for this first assignment which would be due Labor Day, September 3; so it will be due by 11:59 pm, your time, September 4). We will also schedule our chat sessions for Monday nights, 7:00-9:00 PM Greeley Time.

Readings listed on the Detailed Schedule are required. The “Suggested Readings” list included in the syllabus provides additional helpful background information. The UNC bookstore is preparing a digital packet of the required readings which can be purchased as soon as preparation is complete; we’ll let you know when that is. In the meantime you can buy the Tuttle & Tuttle (1996) book from the bookstore and start reading it so you won’t get too far behind. I know there is a lot of reading! Some weeks you will not be able to read everything, especially the suggested readings. That's fairly typical of graduate study. Pace yourself, do your best to keep up, and come back to read what you missed as you continue your program of study.

Resources provides links to many of the sources of information needed to complete course activities: Hadley Study Guide, reading list, case study documents, and other Web links. We will be adding to this throughout the course (you are required to contribute at least 4 resources dealing with psychosocial issues yourself), so be sure to check it often. Some materials posted on the Resources page are not linked to any of the lessons, but I think you will find them useful in your work.

The Assessment page gives information on each of the requirements, how much they count in the final grade, and the rubrics that indicate how your work will be evaluated.

Discussions will be a part of this course, just as they are in other UNC Internet courses, but they will not happen on the regular Discussion page. Aesthetic and informative as the threads are which indicate who's responding to whom, they do not enlighten those of us who use speech and/or braille displays to interact with computers. So we will carry on our discussions via the 643 listserv which Nate Lowell, our intrepid Webmaster, has created for us. It will be important to check this discussion listserv regularly for two reasons.First, I will post questions periodically (generally weekly) that I will expect everyone to respond to. Often these questions will come from the required readings, so keep up with them if you possibly can; in almost all cases there’s only one required reading per week, so it should be easier to keep up than last year when students were asked to read two or three per week! Second, since part of your grade is based on the quality and frequency of your contributions, as well as how you respond to your colleagues' ideas, you may want to visit this listserv every couple of days to see what's new.

(Note from Nate: Since the listserv will deliver the messages directly to your email account, make sure we have your current address and make sure you check that email account REGULARLY!)

The Standards page displays the course objectives and gives the underlying Colorado, NCATE, and AER standards that must be met by graduates in the Severe Needs: Vision program. We have identified these by course, although many are covered in multiple courses.

That is a quick overview of the EDSE 643 Website. We will request your feedback in the middle of the semester and again at the end of the semester. Be honest about what worked and what did not. Your evaluation of us (me, UNC, the Webmaster, other faculty) is what will make us better. We count on that, and you should, too.

My office hours will be 7-9 pm, Greeley time, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is when you’ll get the quickest answers to your email questions, though I’ll do my best to respond as quickly as possible regardless of when your email comes.

Finally, thanks for your patience as we struggle to make all the parts fit together in this distance education process. We are all learning as we go.

Best of luck in your journey to provide the best possible education for students with visual disabilities and their families. Your work is important.

Sandy Ruconich, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor
Division of Special Education