Using a Digital Camera to Teach Physically Challenged Students

Abstract

Kim, a student who cannot lift a camera to see through viewfinder, learned basic photography by using a digital camera. She parked her batterypowered wheelchair in my office door, and asked if I would be willing to modify some assignments to enable her to take my Graphics of Journalism course. This course includes projects that require students to use computers, cameras and other graphic arts tools such as an X-acto knife, a proportion scale, and a linen tester. No problem, I told her. In past, I have modified or substituted assignments to accommodate students with special needs. Kim's physical challenges would not prevent her from a productive semester in my class. Kim enrolled in course following semester. This article describes one way to adapt new technology to classroom. Kim cannot use her hands or arms because she has no muscles that connect her joints. Kim has Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita (AMC), which is characterized by a non-hereditary hypomobility of multiple joints due to fibrous ankylosis. The disease affects Kim's fingers, hands, elbows, and shoulders. She relies on her dextrous feet to handle almost anything -- including a pen, keyboard, and computer mouse. In Kim's case, no computer assignments had to be modified. In fact, no assignments were changed. She turned in her designs as computer printouts instead of mounting them on conventional presentation boards. The basic photography project presented a challenge, however. Because Kim could not hold a camera to look through viewfinder and take pictures at same time, she expected a substitute assignment. Resisting this simple alternative, I struggled with what ifs? What if Kim has a photographic eye but never gets a chance to find out? What if she has an innate sense of photographic balance, composition and framing? What if she has ability to a decisive moment like CartierBresson? At first, I had no solution. How could I offer the photographic to this student? An idea came to me while watching a hockey game on television. I remembered that advertised a camcorder with an adjustable lens and a large preview screen, holding it at arm's length close to ice to his son on video. I considered using this video camera. Kim could shoot a full-motion video, review it, capture or grab individual frames, print them, and submit them as photographs. Technically, I had found a solution. But this would have offered Kim experience of a photo editor, not that of a photographer. We needed a still-frame camera with that Wayne Gretzky interface, but with a preview screen instead of a viewfinder. It could be mounted on her wheelchair so Kim could frame photo and click shutter with her toes. Fortunately, Casio had recently released such a camera. I arranged for Kim to use one. For first time in her life, Kim took a picture. With that one assignment, she discovered an interest and talent for photography. She proved to be a natural. Through my experience with Kim, I discovered that an innovative application of new technology in classroom not only accommodates physically challenged students but empowers them to fully participate in learning process. In turn, this experience allows them to discover and develop talents and skills that may lead to career opportunities never-before-imagined. Photographic study After lectures on photography, photo composition, digital imaging, and picture editing, students were instructed to complete a photographic line study. This is a basic photography assignment that requires students to shoot an aesthetically pleasing picture involving a dominant line. A study is a classic assignment in photography because occurrence of a is often considered one of most powerful design elements in photographic composition. …