PRE CONFERENCE 2
It is quite symbolic that ICEVI is holding its World Conference in India for the first time. It is also 9 years since ICEVI held a World Conference. India is fast developing and what better way to draw the attention of the world to the educational needs of all children with visual impairment, than to hold the Conference in a prestigious University-The Bab Saheb Ambedkar Open University, Ahmedabad, India.
ICEVI World Conference will be held at Ahmedabad from 14 to 16 November 2024. Experts from all over the world are congregating at Ahmedabad . We would like to make the best use the best brains in the world and learn from their experience and expertise. The World Conference may not be able to take up in depth exposure to a subject or give detailed and hands on practical tips to participants. We have thus decided to hold Pre-conference Workshops where Participants can have intensive experience sharing sessions.
From objects to drawings and spatial imagery: Facilitating inclusion and independence through tactile graphics.
Prof. Bogusław ‘Bob’ Marek, Ph.D. OBE
& Marcin MATYS
Bogusław Marek, Ph.D. OBE from Poland, better known in the VI world as ‘Bob’, is a retired professor of English and founder of ’Hungry Fingers’, a small organization developing resources for children with special needs. For the past thirty years he has focused on teaching English and on introducing tactile graphics to totally blind learners. With British qualifications in the area of visual impairment, he conducted workshops in Europe, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, India, Nepal, Samoa, Singapore, Palau, and Japan. In 2002 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II honoured Bob with the Order of the British Empire.
Who the workshop is for:
The workshop is intended for:
- teachers working with children and students with total blindness
- adult individuals with blindness who did not have a chance to discover tactile graphics during their school years but would like to try it out
- parents of visually challenged children, who would like to discover the importance and educational potential of books with tactile illustrations and of tactile drawings and diagrams
Workshop description:
The workshop focuses on challenges and solutions in introducing learners with total blindness to tactile graphics. Participants will get a chance for a hands-on experience with a range of educational resources which make a ‘Tactile graphics primer”, taking learners from drawings of lines and simple geometric shapes to more complex drawings of 3-D objects, diagrams and maps found in all school subjects.
Different technologies used for producing tactile graphics will be presented, as well as examples of children’s books with tactile illustrations. Participants will also be shown ways to engage children in exploring and in making their own tactile drawings.
One part of the workshop will be devoted to showing how tactile diagrams can change tablets into effective tools for developing blind children’s mental mapping skills and spatial imagery.
This workshop will be held at the Blind People’s Association from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM on Wednesday, 13th November 2024. The registration to this workshop is free. All participants will be offered tea/coffee, snacks lunch and conference material totally free of charge. We will be able to accommodate only 50 persons so we request all interested participants to sign up urgently.
A Certificate of participation will be jointly given by the ICEVI and the Host Committee