What Do Educators Have to Say about the Monarch?

Educators are the experts! They have the experience and knowledge necessary to understand what tools will give their students the best opportunities to succeed. That’s why we’ve involved educators who work with students who are blind or have low vision in field testing, trainings, webinars, and more throughout the Monarch’s creation. We believe that the Monarch is revolutionary, innovative, and will empower students, but don’t just take our word for it—read on to find out what educators who’ve had a chance to get hands-on with the device.

• “Showing the Monarch to my students, especially the ones that do not like doing work in braille was a great means of encouragement. When they saw that they had access to a tactile graph and could feel and explore the pictures on a neat electronic device, it really changed their attitude towards learning. The students also loved how this was like a braille tablet.”
• “As a blind person myself, I would have loved something like this [the Monarch] for math. I would be able to vertically set up a problem, understand carrying, borrowing…and not have to carry a Perkins around.”
• “The students were amazed studying the 50 states map. They were excited to get the map so quickly and further grasp where each state was located. Some students were excited to read Alice in Wonderland with ten lines of braille showing.”
• “One student was able to write double what they would normally write, and they were able to transition to braille much faster. The student came eager to learn. This student was a resistant braille user and now comes to class engaged and ready to learn. Another third-grade student mentioned that ‘It is so much easier to navigate, fix mistakes, and likes that it speaks.’ It increases their ability to express themselves as compared to a braille writer.”
• “It is extremely nice to have one keystroke to memorize and to know you can fall back on accessing them through the context menu. I am a huge fan of context sensitive help and context sensitive menu’s being the best way forward to provide that additional functionality.”
• “My students who are proficient in braille note takers absolutely love the Monarch. They love to explore and play with the device. It is fun for me to see how they show one another after they learn how to navigate the Monarch.”
• “They were all excited at the change and difference it would be to carry only one device compared to all of the books. They loved the idea that they would be exposed to graphs and were using an android device.”
• “This was such a wonderful activity [exploring the United States map]. My student talked about road trips she has taken with family and traced the lines of the states. She talked about where she is from and other states she has been to. She was so excited to explore everything in this way!
• “This device is going to make our students active learners, not passive learners.”
• “Every time I show KeyMath to a student and have them enter a simple graphable equation such as x = y, it blows their mind when it appears in real-time on the display. I have been introducing a few students to the Monarch, but I have to do KeyMath last because they want to spend the rest of the time putting in equations and feeling them.”
• “My students have loved being able to write and edit on the Monarch. If they’re writing in a file and they need to go edit and hop around, they like it double-spaced so they can find their cursor more easily.”
• “My students love the graphing function! We have been completing trigonometric equations with sine and cosine – and it shows them in real-time instead of me taking 10 minutes to complete a graphic – it makes my life easier, and I can focus on providing instruction and not making the graphic as the instruction has already passed! I could also see the joy in the students face to finally be able to participate fully in his learning and be an active learner using this device in pre-calculus class.”