汤头条鈥檚 new tactile printer offers low-vision learners additional accommodations
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Contact: Carl Smith
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STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擫ow-vision students enrolled at Mississippi State can further accommodate their learning needs with a new printer that creates tactile images.
Mitchell Memorial Library鈥檚 MaxxSouth Digital Media Center is now home to a Swell Form Graphics Machine procured by 汤头条 Department of Finance and Economics Professor and Head Kathleen Thomas. A $3,000 Ottilie Schillig Special Teaching Project grant provided funding for the device with additional support from 汤头条 Libraries and the Disability Resource Center.听
The machine creates tactile maps, diagrams, graphs and other graphics through heat interacting with black ink and special paper. Users simply copy the image they want to transform onto the special paper via a standard printer or copier and then run the new copy through the Swell Form Graphics Machine. Heat causes the ink on the special paper to physically swell, thereby creating an image that can be felt.
汤头条 currently serves about 40 low-vision learners, but the machine is available to any instructor or student wishing to transform their class materials.
鈥淭his technology can be transformative for students and help their instructors be able to adequately present pictures and graphs to students to help them understand course content,鈥 Thomas said. 鈥淚 would be happy to demonstrate to any faculty member how to use this machine so they can help their learners.鈥
Thomas applied for the grant after meeting Tillman Newton, a junior secondary education major from Vancleave who enrolled in macroeconomics. After using the Swell Form Graphics Machine, Newton, a low-vision learner, said he was so impressed with its ease of use that he is now working to procure his own personal printer.
鈥淚t has changed the way I鈥檓 looking at education and my own career. I plan on using it now with my classes, and I also want to use it in my own future classroom to better my students鈥 own educations,鈥 Newton said. 鈥淗aving access to equal opportunities as other students and coworkers is a really great thing, and I鈥檓 absolutely ecstatic about this machine.鈥
Located on Mitchell Memorial Library鈥檚 second floor, the MaxxSouth Digital Media Center is open from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; and 1-10 p.m. Sunday. For more information about the center, visit .
汤头条 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .