eCarroll Remote Technology Instruction

Remote Instruction and Support Topics

Can’t attend a training course face-to-face? Need instruction in a specific application on your phone or computer? eCarroll Remote Technology Instruction is the perfect solution for you.

eCarroll Remote Technology Instruction brings technology training directly to blind and visually impaired individuals in the comfort of any location, whether it be in the home, workplace, or school setting. We use Zoom Meeting, an easy-to-use and accessible video and web conferencing software accessed by a link in an email, to offer individualized instruction in a wide range of areas. All remote trainees will need a computer with Windows 10 and a built-in microphone, internet access, recent versions of JAWS (JAWS 18 and newer) or NVDA and Microsoft 2016 or Office 365 for those topics. Users should have at least beginner-level JAWS skills. If you do not already have a Zoom account, instructors will help you create an account and install the program on your computer. During the ongoing pandemic, our technology training staff has gained significant experience in conducting remote training. One of our staff members, Heather Thomas, has even recently written a book on the topic, entitled “Getting Started with Zoom Meetings: A Guide for JAWS, NVDA, and iPhone VoiceOver Users.”

eCarroll remote training courses range from several hours to several days. A sampling of short courses appears below:

Short Courses (3 hours)

FILE SHARING USING DROPBOX

Dropbox is one of the most popular programs for sharing files and folders and is the most accessible for screen reader and VoiceOver users. In this three-hour course, you will learn how to set up and navigate Dropbox on your laptop and iPhone.

You will learn how to do the three types of file sharing: between your own devices; with other people; and with popular apps on your iPhone.  To effectively participate, you should already have solid skills using a PC with Windows and VoiceOver on the iPhone.

ZOOM SHORT COURSE

This three -hour training course covers the basics of both hosting meetings and participating in meetings convened by others. It will be conducted using the Windows 10 PC platform with JAWS or NVDA. Although carried out remotely, use of the Zoom Screen Share feature ensures that the training is fully hands-on.

Specific tasks covered during the course will include:

  • Participating in meetings.
  • Zoom menu overview and changing important settings.
  • Hosting meetings, including; scheduling meetings, preparing invitations, and managing participants.
  • General feature overview, including; sharing screens, chatting, raising hands and recording meetings.
  • Using the iPhone Zoom app for joining and participating in meetings.
  • Starting and ending meetings.

Prerequisites: basic knowledge of JAWS or NVDA screen readers.

INTRODUCTION TO GOOGLE FORMS

Until very recently, software for creating questionnaires and surveys was inaccessible. However, that is no longer the case with Google Forms. Creating questionnaires, filling them out and downloading response data to a spreadsheet program are all fully accessible. If you want to create a registration form for an upcoming conference, a survey on a burning topic, or a school quiz, you will want to use Google Forms.

Specific topics covered during the Introduction to Google Forms course will include:

  • Review of JAWS keystrokes for navigating form fields on the web.
  • Zoom menu overview and changing important settings.
  • Previewing forms and filling them out.
  • Emailing forms to respondents.
  • Creating quizzes, including answer keys.
  • Downloading and viewing response data.

Prerequisites: intermediate or advanced knowledge of JAWS and web browsing; familiarity with Excel; must already have a Gmail account and know your password; JAWS 2020 or 2021; Google Chrome installed; and a Zoom Meeting account.

Full Day Courses

eCarroll full day courses start at 9:00 A.M. and go until 3:00 P.M. with a one hour lunch break.

WHEN ONE WEB BROWSER IS NOT ENOUGH

Diversifying your use of web browsers is an important strategy for successfully accessing the Internet. When you run into glitches on the web, you need to be able to easily switch between browsers to get the job done.

This course will introduce you to the most important keystrokes for web navigation, alternative ways to open web pages, menu structures of the different browsers, and key features of the programs. The course will focus primarily on Google Chrome, but also cover Microsoft Edge, Firefox and Internet Explorer. After the course, you will receive Carroll Center instructor David Kingsbury’s book “When One Web Browser Is Not Enough: A Guide for Windows Screen Reader Users” to serve as reference.

Prerequisites: basic knowledge of JAWS and web browsing with at least one browser.

FORMAT YOUR WORD DOCUMENT LIKE A PRO

JAWS has many powerful tools to help you to be more efficient and consistent in formatting and proofing your documents. Mastering these tools will allow you to produce more professional-looking documents than many of your sighted peers.

Among the topics we will cover are key parameters in the font and paragraph dialogue boxes; headings and styles; JAWS text analyzer; and JAWS speech and sounds schemes.

Prerequisites: basic knowledge of JAWS and Microsoft Word.

INTRODUCTION TO EXCEL

Excel is an essential tool for personal management, work and school. And with a few simple tools and a little practice, it can become very valuable for better organizing your everyday life.

As we build some simple, but practical spreadsheets, we will introduce you to Excel basics, including: data and formula entry; spreadsheet navigation; editing and cell formatting; and sorting.

Prerequisites: basic knowledge of JAWS

INTERMEDIATE EXCEL

Excel is a powerful and essential tool for work, school and personal management. Familiarity with some of its intermediate tools will open you up to new possibilities.

We will begin with review of basic concepts, as appropriate. We will then cover sorting and filtering data; printing strategies; creating and navigating multiple worksheets; constructing pivot tables; and accessible charts and graphs.

Prerequisites: basic knowledge of JAWS, some experience with Excel

INTRODUCTION TO POWERPOINT

Over the last several decades, PowerPoint has become ubiquitous in the workplace and classroom. Admittedly, it is a highly visual medium. But it is wrong to assume that you cannot effectively use it if you have a visual impairment.

In this course, we will cover: navigating and reading existing PowerPoint presentations; creating different slide types; the slide area, thumbnails and notes panes; inserting pictures with descriptive text; animations; slide formatting; and transitions. We will also discuss strategies for making presentations to a sighted audience.

Prerequisites: basic knowledge of JAWS.

JAWS: BEYOND THE BASICS

JAWS is such a powerful program that, once you know the basics, it can sometimes be daunting to know what to learn next. Yet JAWS has some great tools for customizing your screen reading experience, as well as boosting your productivity.

This course will cover: the most useful customizations in settings center and quick settings; downloading high quality voices and creating voice profiles; skim reading techniques; extended text selection and best ways to copy and paste text between applications; as well as several other tools, time permitting.

Prerequisites: some basic knowledge of JAWS.

MASTERING OUTLOOK

Email is a basic communication tool at work, in school and in everyday life. Outlook is the most commonly used email program, and the more comfortable you are with Outlook, the easier it will be to communicate.

This course will cover: creating and sending messages; attaching files; managing contacts and folders; sorting messages; and scheduling meetings in the calendar.

Prerequisites: basic knowledge of JAWS.

Multi-Day Courses

GOOGLE DRIVE, DOCS AND SHEETS

The Google Suite of products has increasingly become the preferred platform for some businesses and many educational institutions. Familiarity with some of its applications can give you a leg up in the workplace and in schools.

This two-day course will provide you the tools to get started, and will cover: accessibility settings for making the Google Suite work with JAWS; file and folder management with Google Drive including uploading from, and downloading to, your PC; document creation, editing, and formatting with Google Docs; spreadsheet creation, editing, and formatting with Google Sheets; and file and folder sharing with other people.

Prerequisites: Intermediate or advanced knowledge of JAWS and web browsing; must already have a Gmail account and know your password; familiarity with Word and Excel are a plus.

If you are in need of any type of individualized remote instruction or support, please reach out to us by phone at (617) 969-6200 or by email at info@carroll.org.

Out-of-state individuals who are registered with their local state blindness agency should make an inquiry to their case manager about eCarroll Remote Technology Instruction. Please contact Admissions for more information.

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