The Camner Center for Academic Resources at the University of Miami consists of many assets that contribute to the success of the entire University community and is accessible to all parents, staff, faculty and students. Most students know the Camner Center for their peer tutoring program—which offers assistance for students in countless classes across all seven colleges and all course levels. The peer tutoring system creates a bond between the tutor and tutee. Mykel Billups, assistant dean of students for support services at the Camner Center has seen countless relationships between students that have thrived in this environment. “It is not as obvious that students make friends and develop social networks by meeting students around a shared experience, like CHM 121. The Camner Center tutors and students are a community, where students can hang out, connect, and talk about academics,” adds Billups. The center’s goal is for all students to feel comfortable not only in their academics but in themselves, which comes in a lot of different ways.
This year, the Camner Center has developed an innovative program geared toward students who have visual impairments, implementing the new technology developed around Braille, the text used for in the blind community to help them read and write. Staff have been working to create a system to print and produce braille learning materials. “The process of creating Braille starts by creating a digital copy of the music. This is like taking a paper handout from a professor and recreating the document. We scan the document into an image and convert that into a PDF, then into a file type that can be edited. The scanned version often has errors from the conversion that need to be manually edited,” says Billups. The student employees get to take part in the manual computation from music notes to braille using a mix of the technology and research. From there, the braille is printed using a braille phonetics machine.
Kaden Jamid, a blind student in the College of Arts and Sciences, has greatly benefited from the new programming. He is able to use the Camner Center to complete his assignments using a braille processing keyboard and a proctor, helping him be able to see what the assignment says and complete it in braille. When he is complete, the system is able to translate it back to information his professors can understand to turn the assignment in. The technology used has been able to open a lot of doors for students like Kaden and print various information in braille like different languages, mathematics, science, and full textbooks.
Student, Kaden Jamid, uses the braille technology to complete his assignments alongside graduate student, Daija Boyd.
It is extraordinary the resources the Camner Center has to offer for students across the University that help drive success and confidence. Their willingness to learn and adapt new technologies and resources has only furthered the center and has allowed them to reach greater needs of the student body. To learn more about the Center and what they may offer that could help you, go visit their website here.
