Dear NOMC: We are seeking your assistance with a project to help with training new graduate students who are matriculating through the O&M and Rehab programs at Louisiana Tech University. As part of their training during the Introduction to O&M class, students must watch cane travel instructors working with students in differing situations and environments. While it would be wonderful for our students to follow and observe each of you in your daily work, we realize that this is simply not realistic. And, while we believe that in-person, real-time observations will always be the gold standard, it is equally important for students to observe a diversity of instructors, students, and instructional environments. We here at Louisiana Tech University are seeking your assistance. We are looking to capture audio (and where possible) video of Structured Discovery instructors teaching primarily adult students. As noted, video would be great; however, what is critical to each Structured Discovery lesson is the dialogue and overall interactions between instructor and student. Given the myriad technological options available to us today, I believe this is possible for most of you. If you have a cell phone that can record during your lessons, a portable audio recorder, or any other device that is capable of capturing the instructional lesson, then we are seeking your assistance. Ideally, a small handheld or lapel microphone worn by both student and instructor would be optimum; however, the key is to be able to hear the lesson in progress. Of course, as with all cane travel lessons, the discussion of the route before the lesson and the debriefing at the end are also very critical aspects of the entire experience. We are looking for recordings of between one and two hours for each lesson in total, inclusive of pre and post lesson discussions. Obviously, this would require the verbal and/or written consent of any adult students with whom you work. Any/all consent would be managed between you, your student, and supervisor where appropriate. For this reason, we are not currently looking for recorded lessons of any minor under the age of 18. While we cannot offer financial compensation at this time, any and all work that you do towards this end may be counted towards your recertification with the NBPCB. While I cannot tell you the exact point value at this time, I can assist with proper documentation towards your CEU points. This work would fall under categories 2 and 3 of the current NBPCB recertification process. If you are interested in assisting us at Louisiana Tech University, please contact either myself or Kristen Sims at: Edward Bell ebell@latech.edu mailto:ebell@latech.edu Kristen Sims ksims@latech.edu mailto:ksims@latech.edu Thank you for your effort towards providing optimum training for the new generation of Structured Discovery professionals. Edward C. Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC, Director, Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness College of Education and Human Sciences Louisiana Tech University 600 Mayfield Ave / 210 Woodard Hall PO Box 3158 Ruston LA 71272 Office: 318.257.4554 Fax: 318.257.2259 mailto:ebell@latech.edu ebell@latech.edu http://www.pdrib.com/ www.pdrib.com ************* "I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." -- Stephen Jay Gould