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Online class reaches out to disabled via the Web

He remembers the moment vividly and with mixed emotions.

Jack Wilde transferred to Northern Illinois University in DeKalb as a junior with dreams of becoming a musician.

"I wanted to become a music major, but I realized [in class] that I had no talent," he recalled somberly. "I knew I couldn’t do it anymore. I was devastated."

ALEX L. GOLDFAYN

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0404030116apr03,1,5773748.story?coll=chi-business-hed

On the day he gave up on music, Wilde cried as he walked across campus. He walked past the university’s speech clinic and then walked in.

"There were children with all kinds of physical disabilities–and clinicians working with them. At that moment I knew this is where I want to be."

Wilde went on to become a speech pathologist and earn a PhD in education from Southern Illinois University. He has been working with the disabled ever since.

Today Wilde is a counselor at the department of disabilities at the City College of San Francisco, which has about 2,500 students with disabilities.

He also teaches a course called "Perspectives on Disability," helping students with disabilities gain awareness of their rights and opportunities.

For years, he taught the course in a classroom to about 10 students. He currently has 70 students.

The difference?

He took the class online.

"Isn’t that neat?" he asked. "It makes the class accessible to a larger number of students. There are people who can’t get out."

Indeed, students "attend" Wilde’s class on any computer with an Internet connection. They log in through the City College of San Francisco’s Web site (http://www.ccsf.edu).

"You don’t have to come to school. You can stay home in your pajamas."

Using a Web-based e-learning tool called WebCT (http://www.webct .com), Wilde lectures via live chat rooms and slide shows and gives his students weekly exercises to complete. Students can e-mail each other as well as Wilde through the interface, and a test tool is used to give students weekly quizzes.

"The course is personable," said Wilde. "You have conversations with your students. But at 1 a.m. if you want."

When the class was held in a classroom, Wilde had to put up fliers and make appearances to recruit students to attend. Today, he does none of that.

"Every day, more and more students sign up. It’s all because the class is online."

Wilde recently used another tech tool to help him reach his audience of disabled individuals.

He used the digital, on-demand printing service of iUniverse (http://www.iuniverse.com) to publish his new book, called "The Disability Journey: A Bridge From Awareness to Action."

The $699 iUniverse publication fee includes editing, printing and distribution of his book. And he receives 20 percent of the price of every book sold–significantly higher than if he went with a major publisher.

The first sales statement comes in May. "They’ve given me all kinds of support," Wilde said.

Just as he has given to the disabled.

Good thing music didn’t work out.

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