Quorum Day: Help blind and visually impaired students participate in robotics.

Quorum Today seeks to expand the use of the QUORUM programming language to allow blind and visually impaired students to participate in competitive robotics by encouraging manufacturers to allow QUORUM to be used as an accessible coding language.

Quorum Day Events

Gina Fugate

Gina, Lego Engineering & Technology Teacher for Maryland School for the Blind, summarizes her years of experience and education into a must watch overview of the issue. Read More About Gina Here.

Help! Here’s The Problem!

We need your help! The LEGO EV3 set has been retired. The new robot, SPIKE, is not accessible AND it does not allow us to use Quorum. We are advocating for Quorum and accessible experiences in First Lego League that can help everyone. Help curriculum providers and manufacturers of educational tools realize inclusion matters. We need accessible tools that everyone can use.

Get Involved

As many of you know, the Maryland School for the Blind has two FLL teams, the DOT5UDOGS and 180 Optimum. The robotics team experience is both celebrated and treasured by many of our students as well as our staff.

On May 4th we are inviting everyone to try out Quorum and celebrate it as a programming language and IDE that is accessible for everyone. What is made accessible for the blind and visually impaired can benefit many people. It’s not just for blind people, so join us regardless of your visual acuity and see what it’s like to use a programming language that is evidence-based and has an accessible IDE.

We would also appreciate support in advocating with us so that we can use Quorum on Lego’s Spike and also just have accessible opportunities.

pdfDOWNLOAD A PDF OF THESE DOCUMENTS. 

Here’s a link to info about Quorum Lego Robotics:

https://quorumlanguage.com/lessons/robotics.html

If you are local or would like to collaborate with us to learn more about accessibility and celebrate QDay with us, please email me (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or the DOT5UDOGS (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Thanks for your support!

Sincerely,

Gina Fugate
Lego Engineering & Technology Teacher
Maryland School for the Blind
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Marco Ciavolino

Marco is the creator of https://RobotMats.com and https://EmpowerMats.com. He has worked closely with Gina Fugate over the past few years. to create more awareness of the need to consider accessibility in the design of curriculum and equipment. You can learn more about Marco's daily work here:  https://enktesis.com 

A Call To Action

May the 4th, #QDay, is a day to celebrate all things Quorum, which is an evidence-based programming language that includes an accessible IDE via Quorum Studio or Quorum online. The Quorum Team is dedicated to accessibility.

Quorum helped make First Lego League robotics an accessible experience for the #DOT5UDOGS and #180Optimum, two teams sponsored by The Maryland School for the Blind. How cool is that? Quorum can be used for 2D and 3D gaming as well as all sorts of things!

How Can You Help?

Equality and equity are talked about A LOT. We are asking you to go beyond hopes and inspirations by taking action! This is your chance to help make equality and equity a reality.

YOU can help by doing the following:

  • Try Quorum for yourself at quorumlanguage.com Scroll down or navigate by heading to “Try Quorum online!”       Use the drop down menu to experience different coding examples.
  • Compare Quorum to another programming language.
  • To do a loop in Quorum is much simpler and doesn’t involve unnecessary punctuation or symbols. Syntax of a language is important as persons using screen readers need to listen to all of those details and may also access them on a tool called a braille display. Other programming languages, like Python, have spacing and other types of punctuation in comparison to Quorum.
  • Try using your favorite coding experience with a screen reader like NVDA or JAWS. What if you or someone you know needed a screen reader to access coding opportunities? Drag and drop block-based programming does not traditionally work with screen readers, which leaves out a lot of people. Learning about accessibility and inclusive design is an important need that applies to curriculum providers, educational robotics, and all kinds of opportunities.
  • Post your support for Quorum and Quorum Lego Robotics on social media! Use #QDay and any of our other hashtags!
    • #Quorum, #DOT5UDOGS #180Optimum #A11Y

  • CodeWithMSB. Quorum makes sense for everyone, not just people who are blind or visually impaired! Help us by posting a message of support!

Encourage others to share your post! Be sure to consider adjusting your settings (i.e. public, friends, etc.) to reach as many people as possible!

Gina Fugate
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Lego Engineering & Technology Teacher
Maryland School for the Blind
CSTA Equity Fellowship 2021-2022

Project Lead:
XCORP2014 / Enktesis LLC
http://enktesis.com
410-838-8264
*enktesis, LLC assists clients in a range of web technology solutions, marketing communications, business development, and communications research efforts

In cooperation with:
Robot Mats
https://robotmats.com
Build the skills of your current team with our universal training mats. They provide every scenario required to teach all the fundamentals programming and similar robotics systems.
Empower Mats
https://empowermats.com 
Tools to empower visually impaired students to participate in competitive robotics programs.

In cooperation with:
Geyer Instructional
https://www.geyerinstructional.com
Geyer is the exclusive marketer, manufacturers, and distribution partner for Robot Mats and Empower Mats. Build the skills of your current team with the universal training mats. They provide every scenario required to teach all the fundamentals programming and similar robotics systems.

In cooperation with:
Quorum
https://quorumlanguage.com
Quorum is a full-featured, robost programning environment that enables blind and visuall impaired students to program robots and other technologies.

In cooperation with:
Maryland School for the Blind
https://www.marylandschoolfortheblind.org
The Maryland School for the Blind provides outreach, educational, and residential programs to children from birth to 21 years old who are blind or low vision including those with multiple disabilities.

This project is being funded through a generous grant from the Vision Advancement Foundation (VAF) of Oklahoma. The VAF exists to provide excellence in eyecare, especially among those with distinctive needs.

This website is developed and maintained by Enktesis at https://enktesis.com

Copyright Quorum Today and Enktesis LLC. Resources may be freely shared with attribution.