L.V. Rogers Secondary (LVR) teacher Jennifer Matosevic is keen to share her knowledge and practice of making classroom materials more accessible and inclusive for visually impaired students. She will represent LVR at the virtual British Columbia Regional Braille Challenge learning event, From Print to Digital – File Remediation for Braillists, Braille Transcribers and TSVIs (Teachers of the Visually Impaired) on February 25.

"I am excited to share how I change and modify documents and my teaching in order to successfully accommodate those students who are visually impaired,” said Jennifer, who has worked closely with Sofeya Devji, district teacher of students with visual impairments (TSVI) on the LVR approach to inclusive teaching and learning.

“My presentation covers a wide range of scenarios, each starting from a point that will be relevant to TSVIs and braillists/braille transcribers.”

Jennifer will include strategies for transforming inaccessible learning content into more accessible digital materials for students with visual impairments, including by using tools within Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, Adobe Creative Cloud and iOS apps to transform learning materials into more accessible digital content.

After representing LVR at the event and sharing her own knowledge about creating inclusive classrooms and programs for visually impaired and other students, Jennifer will bring that information and her own learnings from the event back to LVR to help SD8 staff become more inclusive and forward thinking when working with visually impaired students.

“I will share strategies I use to make my overall classroom more inclusive as well, to accommodate the needs of all students, including our complex and diverse learners," said Jennifer.

The Braille Challenge is an international braille reading and writing competition for students with visual impairments. Students compete individually or at regional events located across Canada and the United States. BC’s event is hosted by faculty in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education within the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia.