12:03:23 >> Susan Osterhaus: Hello. 12:03:28 And Venkatesh, why don't you tell them a little bit about yourself to begin with. 12:03:28 >> Venkatesh Chari: Sure. 12:03:52 Thank you, Susan. My name is Venkatesh Chari, and I serve at Orbit Research as CEO. I've been involved in assistive technology for over 25 years and have had the opportunity to work on many, many exciting and innovative projects, including braille displays, tactile graphic displays, currency identifiers. 12:04:06 And talking in graphing calculators, including the Orion TI-84 plus. 12:04:25 >> Susan Osterhaus: And I'm Susan Osterhaus, and I've been at TSBVI, ooh, I think 42 1/2 years, a long time. Maybe about 30 years as a secondary teacher of mathematics. And then I also taught in the short-term programs. And then I moved over to outreach programs 12:04:49 where I've been for now about 12, 12 1/2 years. So that's my background. And as a math teacher of the visually impaired, I have really been super interested, of course, in all of the technology that we can use in math. I'm very excited to be on this webinar today. 12:05:16 So our agenda for the day is that we're going to find out a little bit about how the Orion TI-84 + came to be and we're going to give you an overview of the calculator itself. We're going to talk about how students and teachers can learn to use the Orion TI-84 + and give you background on experiences that students and teachers have had in their perspectives. 12:05:24 And then we're going to really talk about what kind of support you can get from Orbit Research. 12:05:45 So how did the Orion TI-84+ evolve? Okay. What happened was way back when, I was trying to come up with a talking calculator that was accessible because at that time here in Texas at least, we were required to supply our students with graphing calculators. 12:06:09 But there were no accessible graphing calculators, so I thought, well, at least I can get the best talking scientific calculator that I can find. So my students and I researched. I managed to borrow all kinds of calculators. And we were about to give up. In fact, we were kind of going to say, okay, guess we'll go with this one particular one 12:06:31 that we really didn't like, but it was the best of the lot. And then Orbit Research contacted me and asked me if I would evaluate their first talking scientific calculator, which was the Orion TI-34. That's 34, not 84. And ah, my students and I got so excited about it. 12:06:44 We were just, like, oh, oh, this is wonderful! It was, like, we kept saying what we wanted, but there was nothing like that out there, and here comes in the mail one that is just exactly what we wanted. 12:07:03 So I gave feedback to Orbit, and believe it or not, they got all excited with my editing and asking for this and that, a few quirky changes and so forth, and they said we loved everything you said. We are going to make those changes. 12:07:18 If you will return the evaluation calculator to us, we're going to make those changes for you, software changes, and then we are going to give that back to you as our gift to you for giving us such great comments. 12:07:27 So I was really tickled. And of course, we ordered several more of these, and we were using them in the classroom for several years. 12:07:50 Still hoping that at some point we would get an accessible graphing calculator. Well, then -- and by the way, the picture that -- if you can see the picture, the first picture kind of in the middle and up on top, that is the original Orion TI-34. Well, then View Plus came out with not a hand-held calculator, 12:08:13 but software that we could put on our computers. So that was from View Plus. Actually, it was first called the accessible graphing calculator. And then they changed its name to audio graphing calculator, which is fine with me because I call it the AGC anyway. You see another picture on the right of my students graphing a parabola right there. 12:08:34 Well, I liked -- I really loved the AGC, and we connected it to our Tiger, and the students could print out or emboss all of their graph and so forth. But the scientific calculator portion had a few things to be desired. So I'm trying to remember if that's when we made the switch because at some point or other, 12:09:05 the Orion TI-34 -- excuse me, the TI-34, they stopped making that at Texas Instruments. So Orbit said we need to do a new calculator and we want you to be in the choosing process. I was so excited. Picked the one that had the most functions on it because I wanted the most for my students. So we went with the Orion TI-36x. And there's a picture of it in the middle toward the bottom. 12:09:24 So I used the TI-36x in addition to the audio graphing calculator. So the two together is what I used for many, many years with my students. But I was still, you know, I was still hoping that we'd get everything together in one -- you know, one unit, that everything would work smoothly and so forth. 12:09:38 I was getting lots of e-mails from teachers in high school and even college professors saying, is there an accessible TI-84 out there? That's what we need. 12:10:05 Well, okay. So I'm hearing all this. And I'm, like, hoping and I'm kind of like expressing my comments to people like the American Printing House and to Orbit Research. And then it was pretty incredible because I heard from both APH and Orbit Research, but I signed an NDA and each were telling me they wanted to come up with an accessible graphing calculator. 12:10:08 And I was, like, oh, my gosh. 12:10:12 I've got to get these two together because I think the combination would be great. 12:10:38 Well, after managing not to divulge anything under my NDA, I did get the conversations led to the development of the Orion TI-84+. Venkatesh, I know you probably thought I was crazy sometimes, the way I answered you about things. He would ask a question and I would say, you know what? I bet APH could give you that information, and then when APH would ask me a question, 12:10:46 I would say you need to talk about Orbit Research about that. 12:10:50 Venkatesh, do you want to talk about how it looked from your side? 12:11:14 >> Venkatesh Chari: Yes, you described it very well, Susan. Those were very exciting times where for some time, we were kind of operating in the dark, so to speak. But once we got -- once all of us got connected together with APH, it was a really, really great project. I think even to this day, one of the best projects that I and our team have worked on together 12:11:35 with Susan on one hand and with the APH team where right from the very start -- and most projects, most products don't necessarily have the opportunity to start with the right audience or the right people involved at the requirements level. 12:12:04 And in this case we did with Susan bringing in all of her experience and knowledge on teaching and on the use of the calculator. And APH, with their experience with access to -- and access to student-based people who could also test, and of course, with lots and lots of involvement from TSBVI. 12:12:41 So it was a really amazing project. And we went through several iterations of initially captioned requirements, then building prototypes, testing the prototypes in the field. And finally getting to a shippable product that was most remarkable for its resemblance and actually identical functionality to the standard TI-84 product. 12:13:03 And that had been one of the goals from the very start, as with our previous calculators, which was to make an accessible version of the standard product so that it could be used just as well by the visually impaired student as their peers, teachers, and parents. 12:13:04 >> Susan Osterhaus: Okay. 12:13:13 So if you're wondering about the Orion TI-84+ talking graphing calculator, and I always like to say, what comes in the box? 12:13:17 Because a lot of people want to be sure of exactly what they're getting. 12:13:41 So if you order it, what you will get is -- let me do my mouse to show you. You get the calculator itself, which looks like this. You get a lid. And believe me, you want that lid, and you want your student to be sure to put that on. In the early stages when we were doing the prototypes, the lid we used was just the original for the TI-84, and it only came up to right about here, 12:13:51 and all of these wonderful buttons at the top, which I call the Orion portion, were exposed. 12:14:07 Even as careful as I was, I needed to put it in a backpack and I would wrap it in bubble, but these buttons would still get pushed and I'd have to reset or recalibrate when I got where I was going. Again, you definitely want the lid. You need the charger cable. You need the charger itself. 12:14:26 And you need stereo earbuds or ear phones. I mean, it comes with the earbuds. And we'll talk more about -- in case you already have your Orion TI-84+, and you're just missing a part, we'll talk about that later. 12:14:27 This is what comes in the box. 12:14:44 What doesn't come in the box is this TI-connectivity cable. I'm going to let Venkatesh tell you a little bit more about that because I did need one of these very early on, you know, when the calculator -- when we were still working on the very beginning ones. 12:15:07 Now I'm going to ask Venkatesh to tell you a little bit more about whether you need this or not, it depends on what you're doing. So this is called a TI connectivity cable. And when I bought it, at least, I think it cost about $20. Okay, so Venkatesh, if you'll tell them more about that particular cable, I'd appreciate it. 12:15:09 >> Venkatesh Chari: Sure. 12:15:34 So this cable is known by a couple different names, including graph link and silver link. It is sort of a silver-colored cable, and it's got a USB connecter at one and a 2.5 millimeter audiojack at the other end. And this plugs into a socket on the Orion TI-84. It has two sockets. 12:15:40 One is actually for a headphone. 12:15:42 That's 3.5 millimeter socket. 12:15:46 And there's another one, 2.5 millimeter socket, which takes this cable. 12:16:10 The main use of this cable is to communicate from a computer to -- with the Orion TI-84. And you would do that mainly for transferring data, transferring files, and doing things like capturing screen shots. 12:16:25 So there is available from TI, software which is free of charge, that enables you to take screen shots from your display and pull it into a computer. 12:16:48 And then print it. And the really cool thing about this is that not only can you print it to a regular laser printer or inkjet, but you can also send it to an embosser. So if you have an embosser installed on your computer, the driver is installed for an embosser, you would simply print this as a file. And it embosses. 12:17:05 And if you have the Tiger embossers, which do ink and embossing, the results are really pretty amazing. You can feel the embossed graph or text or whatever else you have on the screen, and you can see it in ink as well. 12:17:26 So that's really the most common use of this cable. And then if you want to download programs to the calculator, so you can find lots and lots of programs online. So if you want to either download programs or upload programs to your computer, share it with others, you can do those things with this cable. 12:17:35 >> Susan Osterhaus: Thank you. And I know that Lowell has already put up a wonderful, you know, a link to our handout. 12:18:11 Our handout contains the PowerPoint, yes. But it also contains another little article that I wrote. It's called A Quick Introduction to the Orion TI-84+ talking graphing calculator and includes the Orion scientific talking calculator. That one, if we needed to go to that, and that is now replaced the Orion TI-36x. So I'm just letting you know that it has both in case you're wondering why does it have both? It's just when I was writing that particular article. 12:18:20 So again, Lowell, or Kate, or whoever, if you'd put that back in the chat again, so be sure that you look for that. That's in addition to the PowerPoint that's on there. Okay. 12:18:53 And now we just want to give you -- and that particular article talks about what's in the box and it gives a little more detail than we have up here on the PowerPoint. But anyway, this is a general orientation to the TI-84+ Portion. Okay. So it's about the bottom four fifths, starting about here. I have to say four-fifths because I'm a math person. This part, guys, it's JUT the 12:19:03 it's just the TI-84+. The function keys are directly right here underneath the display. 12:19:09 The basic keypad is just exactly the same. And you have -- 12:19:24 turning the calculator on, you turn it on here. And to turn it off, you do need to press the second button and the on button that turns it off. And again, I explain all that. There's a help mode you can tap on this second blue button three times and go into help mode. 12:19:43 Help mode, we have loved these on all of the Orion calculators because sometimes you just want to learn the keypad, especially at the very beginning. Or if you've forgotten where a key is because you hardly ever use it, you can go to the help mode and find the particular key you're looking for. 12:19:54 It won't interfere with your calculations. It will just let you go right to the particular key that you're trying to find and then you can go out of help mode and get right back to whatever you're calculating. 12:20:18 And that's what I say at the bottom. You just leave help and work your problems. Okay. Now, this is the general orientation and working with the Orion Portion. So I just kind of chopped the top off there and showing you the top here. The reason I'm showing you this is because -- here at the beginning is because I do it, I'm sure, differently than Venkatesh explains it and probably a lot of other people. 12:20:39 Well, my students noticed the six keys on the upper left portions formed like the six dots of a braille cell. That was my students and me. We just decided we were going to call them dot 1, dot 2, dot 3, dot 4, dot 5, and dot 6. I say dot 1 is the repeat button. 12:21:07 I'll just tell them press dot 1 instead of having to say all of the words that are coming after this on the slide. We have dot 1 repeat button. Dots 2 and 5 are increase and decrease volume. Dot 3 is the pause and control key. I'm going to slip over to dot 6 because it's next to the dot 3. That is our shift or mute key. And then we're going to zip up here, I think, to our dot 4, 12:21:17 which is our preference key, and the preference key is what gets you into all of these cute little keys on the right, the arrow keys and the home key. 12:21:18 That's your preference menu. 12:21:23 And by pushing all of those, you get all kinds of information. 12:21:35 The one I always tell the students to check first is battery status. Anyway, it gives you all kinds of information. Again, all of these details, I will tell you how to get those elsewhere. 12:21:56 Again, that little article that's in our handout will tell you a lot, but there's much more information through videos and so forth that I'll share in just a moment. Okay. Now I want to share other important things to know. As you heard me talk about the battery thing, first thing you want to be sure to do is fully charge the Orion battery. 12:22:18 Make sure you've got that battery, which we saw the cable that connected to the charger and so forth. Let me tell you something else that's very important. I got mine out in case I needed it for today's webinar. And of course, I turned it on, and it was working, but it was quiet. 12:22:21 Then it went off immediately. 12:22:45 And I thought uh-oh, I just charged the Orion battery. So I was, like, I know that's working. Well, there are other batteries, guys. You cannot forget. There are four AAA batteries in a TI-84+. That's the TI-84+ part. So sure enough, I replaced my four AAA batteries, and I was back in business. So be sure your student 12:23:11 checks their battery status, especially if they're about to go into a test. They don't want it to stop working because of the fact they didn't have the Orion portion charged and they hadn't put in and replaced their four AAA batteries also. Now, as you can see -- if you can see, we've got the top of the calculator, and we have the 3.5 millimeter stereo jack, 12:23:34 which is where you put your earbuds, and we have the mini B charger port, which is how we charge the Orion. Then we have the microAB USB host port and 2.5 millimeter serial data port, which Venkatesh was talking to you about a little earlier. 12:23:47 Venkatesh, will you talk to them a little more about when they're going to be using the microAB USB host port or the 2.5 millimeter serial data port, please? 12:23:49 >> Venkatesh Chari: Sure. 12:24:18 The 2.5 millimeter serial data port is where you might want to exchange files with a calculator and a computer. So to download program files, other types of files, or to upload programs or answers that you might have created on the Orion TI-84 and to send it back to the computer, share it with a teacher, et cetera. 12:25:00 So the 2.5 millimeter jack allows that and allows a computer to upload or transfer an image of the screen to take printoutstor send to an embosser. The micro-AB USB host port is basically for expandiblety. So this is essentially similar to the USB host port that you find on your computer. It's just that it's a smaller font factor because the other allowed a full-sized port conveniently. It's 12:25:30 it's a micro-AB port, which means you can connect peripherals to it. It just needs an adapter cable, which can be purchased from Amazon, from other places. That adapts the microUSB part to a standard USB A-type port which is typically what you would find in a computer. With this, you can connect peripherals to it. 12:26:01 So you could hookup a braille display. It works with a few different braille displays, including the braille displays that we manufacture, the Orbit Reader 20, the Orbit Reader 20 + and 40. When connected to a braille display, all of the textual output on the screen is also reflected on the braille display. It also allows you to choose 12:26:38 whether you want to see output in UV braille. And the speech also continues. If you have a graph on the screen, the speech will allow you to sonify the graph, and the braille display will show the numeric characters, equations, et cetera, that are visible on the screen. You can also connect -- 12:27:08 graphic -- if genesis was in the desire to make the graphical output from the Orion TI-84 visible and available in realtime to a student, and as I said earlier, you can transfer a picture of the screen to a computer, and then you can emboss it. But that doesn't give the student a realtime feel for what's happening on the screen. 12:27:12 So it's sort of a snapshot. 12:27:14 Actually, truly is a snapshot. 12:27:16 So it's much harder to interact. 12:27:48 Even though it's really nice, and you can see the graph in tactile form, you can't really interact with it. So the graffiti tactile graphic display is a realtime display composed of an array which mirrors the entire screen of the TI-84. So as you are plotting equations or moving your cursor along a curve, it will reflect those changes in realtime. So a student can see 12:28:00 multiple graphs. And the graffiti, with its ability to raise and lower the pins to different heights also allows a student to see multiple graphs at the same time. 12:28:24 So graph one could be a graph which is displayed at -- with the pins fully up. And another graph could be displayed at the same time but with the pins half down. And typically we display axes at a very low height so they're still visible but they're not kind of competing with the graph on the screen. 12:28:29 So there's a number of users that the port can be put to. 12:28:36 And these two are the primary ones. 12:28:37 >> Susan Osterhaus: Okay. 12:28:58 How are the students and educators going to learn about -- how are they doing that using the calculator? My thoughts are that there should be direct instruction from the TDIs for the Orion portion, because that is the accessible portion. That's the upper part that that upper one-fifth kind of. 12:29:10 And the direct instruction for the TI-84 portion should be actually from the math teachers, because the math teachers are very familiar with the TI-84+. 12:29:19 So some TVIs are saying I need instruction though first. So you can get this at various presentations and workshops. 12:29:40 I've certainly done several, and I know my colleague Sara Larkin in Iowa, who is a statewide mathematics consultant for Iowa, as I am the statewide mathematics consultant for Texas. And other people also are able to give the presentations and workshops. So that's available. Also a lot of times you just get the students started, 12:29:47 and they, by self-exploration, they're learning it and getting way ahead of us real quickly. 12:30:00 So just to let you know that. I do have some links here at the bottom. This first one, let me go and see if I can get there okay. I'm just thinking I'd like to show it to you if it's going to work for me here. 12:30:17 This particular -- as you're looking at this, just know that you can go here for a lot of other mathematics. But let me get down to where those are. So here we are. When you get down to calculators, Orion TI-84+ tutorials. 12:30:21 Basically, this is a quick introduction, very, very quick. 12:30:36 I think I did that for someone here who wanted to show it off real quickly. But the three major ones, graphing simple functions, plotting points of best fit, working with matrixes. 12:30:53 Those are step-by-step instructions where I go into great detail. It's basically me and the calculator and mostly the calculator that we're trying to show you step-by-step instructions on how to do relatively simple things that usually you have in algebra one. 12:31:15 Then it gives you the knowledge to continue on your own. But in addition to that, I went over to short-term programs and actually taught -- this was a middle school class and gave them somesome -- basically what I was doing up here, but what happens in a real classroom as I'm sure you all know is that's when things go wrong. 12:31:39 As we're going along, all of a sudden we find out that the screen is too small, too large, or whatever. Or the speed of the playback duration is all messed up and so forth. So what these are really good about, these actually have real students and then I'm helping them out of situations. So basically I'm doing the same thing that I'm doing up here in the step by step, but now we're 12:31:54 having problems that we have to solve and learn how to get out of and so forth. So that's their value. And again, many of these -- let me get back out of there and get back to the slide. 12:32:07 There's also similar-type videos. I think my videos are at the tech APH website as well and the manual is located there. 12:32:25 In a little while we'll show you how they're located at Orbit Research as well. The last thing is a generic YouTube link which you don't need to use but I want to remind you that YouTube -- there are tons -- I mean thousands. I don't know how many there are out there. 12:32:35 YouTube videos showing you how to solve particular problems using the TI-84+. Not the -- 12:32:53 they're not directed for the Orion. But they're directed for the TI-84+. And I've had so many TVIs e-mail me and say, Susan, my student needs to know how to do this. Can you give me all the steps? And here I am going, oh, my gosh. How long this is going to take me to sit down and e-mail her 12:33:01 all the steps for that particular problem, when there's a video right out there. So basically, that's how I answer. 12:33:11 I find the video on YouTube and I say go here, follow the video, and you'll learn it just like that. And they've got, you know, everything is just beautiful. 12:33:43 So again, I am so excited about that portion. It's things that I don't have to do. I do not have to write a separate lesson for every possible thing you could do on the Orion TI-84+ because it's already been down for the TI-84+. So be sure to look for the thousands of videos out there directed for the TI-84+ because they work just the same on your Orion TI-84+. 12:34:00 Okay. As far as experiencing the calculator and some of our teacher and student perspectives. At Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, all of our students are visually impaired, so we need to have several of them. 12:34:17 And I'll just be honest, it is much nicer if everybody in your class is using the same calculator. Not that we can't have variety, but it is certainly nice when you only have to give the instructions one time and everybody learns it, okay. 12:34:31 That's kind of the math teacher's dream. Okay. In standard public school, we typically maybe only have one visually impaired student. I did go somewhere they actually had three blind students. I was so excited. 12:34:49 Typically in public school, probably in a particular classroom, there will only be one student. But it is so nice if they are, again, just like I said for me, if the math teacher is able to use one calculator for everybody, it does make life nice. 12:35:18 I know that in some instances, I went to one school. I was going to train the student, the TVI, and the math teacher all at one else, and as soon as I got there, she said, well, we did switch to the TI-Inspire this year. She said no problem, I've been using the TI-84+ for ten years, I know it backwards and forwards. If this is going to let my student use that, I am all for it. 12:35:33 I am so excited. And I'm telling you, as soon as I showed them the Orion portion, the TVI, the teacher, and the student, were off and running on their own. So I have firsthand knowledge that this does work. 12:35:51 And portability is very important. It is just so nice that we have one hand-held instrument here that can do it all rather than for many years, like I said, I had to use something on the computer and I had to use a separate one for the scientific portion of the calculations that I did. 12:36:02 And as I mentioned, I'll mention one more time, it is the same calculator as many of their sighted peers. So that can be a really, really wonderful thing. 12:36:21 Now, as far as the calculator and the teacher and student perspective continued, if I haven't emphasized it, I will emphasize, students do need time to learn the calculator and get oriented. But they have to do that anyway. The sighted students, it takes them time to learn about the calculator as well. 12:36:46 It's just something that takes some time. But once you're oriented and you've got that help mode, which is so useful, and truthfully, when I've talked about this before with a colleague of mine named Malene Bird who teaches secondary mathematics at TSBVI, she is the one who added this to the PowerPoint. She loves my videos and said she felt that really 12:36:53 helped her learn to use the calculator. Again, this is the same link that I went to before. 12:37:04 Lots of those videos to help you get started. And I wanted to just tell you some personal stories, and these are really very personal because these are connected to TSBVI. 12:37:31 There is a gentleman we have teaching secondary mathematics now, Craig, and he had not been able to use the Orion TI-84+ until he came to teach at our school, and he said it was like finding gold to use for himself and his students. Sarai is our middle schoolteacher teaching our students math. 12:37:49 Prior to her coming to TSBVI, back when she was in public school, everybody was using the TI-84 +, and so she needed to use it, too, but she didn't have the Orion. She had the plain TI-84+. But Sarai is so smart. 12:38:01 She learned the entire keyboard without it talking to her, and she would do all of her calculations and then just ask someone to please read the answer or whatever off the screen for her. 12:38:19 And so she comes to TSBVI. She was still a student in high school at the time. And Malene pulls out the Orion TI-84+. She just was like, just so excited and so happy. She said, you mean you've got one that talks? 12:38:22 And she told her story about having to memorize all the keys. 12:38:30 Of course, Malene was impressed she had memorized everything. 12:38:51 Sarai was off and running because she was completely oriented to the calculator, and now it was talking and singing to her and she was very, very excited. We had another student, Edgar, Malene's student, and I got to meet Edgar later on. Edgar did very well at TSBVI. 12:39:08 He went on to graduate from Texas State University. He got a computer science and engineering degree in I believe May of 2018. And then his advisor said, hey, if you stay on another semester, you can get your electrical engineering degree, so he did that, too. 12:39:29 When I got to know Edgar a lot better was that he was hired as an intern by Pearson as a software developer to work on their equation editor. So Edgar is something else. And Edgar didn't get acquainted to the Orion TI-84+ until he was an adult, but he also loved it. 12:39:33 I'm just trying to tell you these stories, 12:40:06 that our students are doing so well in the STEM fields if that's their interest. Just a push to let you know that that our students can and are succeeding. I'm going to show you a video that is one of our students. This is Lillie, and this is Peter, who is from Texas Instruments, and I believe he's the president -- I'm not sure. 12:40:13 The educational portion of Texas Instruments. Anyway, he's a big shot. That's all I know. [video starts] >>Peggy Johnson Any time an instrument comes along that really just is it; that falls in line with something that they envisioned, it's pretty amazing. >>Lillie Pennington It really has made my life so much easier in the classroom and out of it when I'm doing homework. And now I'm able to be part of these advanced classes and be able to be part of the discussion equally. >>Teacher You'll need your calculators because we're running a couple simulations. And then you'll have the rest of the time to work on this. It's going to take today and tomorrow. >>Peggy Johnson It is her right hand in the process of her education, mathematically. It is what she needs exactly and wants. So not only is Lillie considering herself very fortunate that "I have this and I can use this, I have equal access then to what everybody else has." The other students are watching it going, "This is pretty cool." >>Tim Pennington Two or three years ago when we would look at high school classes and even college classes, what career she wanted go into, there were some that we just ruled out because we knew how-- not that she couldn't do the work, but whether the material would allow her to do it effectively, independently. And it was very frustrating that there was whole sections of classes in math-- higher math-- that-- and in science-- that we knew that just was not going to work out for her well. >>Peter Balyta The Orion TI-84+ Talking Graphing Calculator really puts students that are blind and visually impaired on an even playing field for success in advanced math and science courses. And what I find is really powerful today is that we're bringing the power of visualization to students that are blind or visually impaired, where they're able to listen, they're able to touch, and they're able to feel the mathematics. And that's just incredibly cool. >>Tim Pennington We were hoping to have it right before school began and when there was such a great demand for the device and we were delayed, the people at APH called me on a Saturday, knowing Lillie was starting classes on Tuesday. He took it right off his desk and drove it up to us. It was, you know, out of the box. No wrapper. Just gave us that at a fast food restaurant. We met him and by Tuesday she was using it in her algebra class to graph. >>Lillie Pennington This calculator has changed my life because it has helped me become more confident. I enjoy math now. I am able to get help from other students and my teacher, just like every other student. This calculator opened the door for me to do that, and I would not have been able to take this class if it would not have been for this calculator. [video ends] 12:43:46 >> Susan Osterhaus: So anyway, so it's not just at TSBVI. So that's what I wanted to show you that. And I don't know if you all noticed, but I mean, she was using her note taker. She had her braille lesson. She also had some wonderful tactile graphics. 12:44:02 So to me, this was very typical of what is going on in the best of classrooms for our students. 12:44:05 And I think, Venkatesh, we're going to have to speed up a bit. 12:44:07 Sorry. Go ahead. 12:44:34 >> Venkatesh Chari: That's quite all right. So yeah, the product, the Orion TI-84 Plus continues to be available for us. It's now been in production for nearly 8 years and can be purchased from our website or through phone using a credit card. And we also accept purchase orders from schools and other institutions. 12:44:40 The units are in stock, and they typically ship immediately. 12:45:13 Also want to take a moment to clarify that the calculator is in full production, and there are no plans to discontinue the model. Texas Instruments continues to manufacture and support the product, both the TI-84 Plus and the TI-30S scientific calculator, and we continue to manufacture and support the versions which are in partnership with APH. 12:45:28 We expect to continue to manufacture and support these for many years to come. And so there have been some concerns and doubts about continued availability. Just wanted to put those doubts to rest. 12:45:50 Here's some information about how to reach us. Our toll-free number is 888-606-7248. And our folks are available from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. eastern time Monday through Friday. The same number will also get you to technical support if you need support over the phone. 12:45:57 Or if you want to reach us over e-mail, you can do that as well. 12:46:19 And I will provide an address for that in a moment. There's a link here to go to our website and purchase it from there. And if you just have general inquiries or want to send a purchase order by e-mail, please e-mail us at sales@orbitresearch.com. 12:46:37 So here's the technical support information. Again, the phone number is the same. The technical support e-mail address is techsupport@orbitresearch.com. 12:46:53 And as Susan had pointed out earlier, we also have technical resources on our website. You can go to the support page for the Orion TI-84 Plus, and we have various tutorials, videos, including the ones that Susan had mentioned earlier. 12:47:24 And for calculator-related support, so if you have questions about the operation of the calculator itself, the TI-84, details can be found on the TI education website, w repairhich is also linked here from the slide. 12:47:50 for all repairs, please contact Orbit directly. We've always performed the repairs at Orbit anyway, but the interface for the user and customer was previously will you APH. Now it's directly through us, so please contact us at one of the phone numbers and e-mail addresses that we have listed in the previous slides. 12:48:11 Some of the replacement parts and accessories are available online through our website or over phone. So the parts that most commonly need to get replaced are the battery because just like any other rechargeable battery, it runs out after a couple years, usually about three to four years. 12:48:15 But it's easy enough to change. 12:48:25 You can send your calculator and we can change it or we can ship you a battery and you can change it yourself. Also replacement cables, chargers, as well as the sliding cover are available as well. 12:48:39 >> Susan Osterhaus: And Venkatesh, I receive several e-mails about people needing those extra parts and so forth and, you know, not finding the right one. So I have been sending them to your website. 12:48:51 Just you know how it is with students. Somehow that cable goes missing or the charger, or they just wear out. Things do wear out after a while. Okay. 12:48:55 >> Venkatesh Chari: Yes, indeed. 12:49:01 >> Susan Osterhaus: If you'll go ahead and give us a little bit of that last summary. 12:49:32 >> Venkatesh Chari: So in summary, Orbit Research partnered with Texas Instruments and APH to develop the version of the TI-84 Plus. What this doesn't mention is the incredible and critical role that Susan played in this development. So I want to thank Susan and the staff and the students at TSBVI for their amazing contributions to the development of this product. 12:49:57 It's been extremely successful in enabling many, many blind students to pursue STEM education in high school and beyond, where they were previously -- it was very, very difficult for them to pursue these fields because the TI-84 being a standard prescribed calculator was not previously accessible. 12:50:20 This accessible version has really become a staple for students and teachers since it works exactly the same as the standard product. And we are very proud and humble to have been awarded the AFB Access Award, together with Texas Instruments and APH in 2016. 12:50:34 Last but not least, the product is approved for use in standardized tests, including the SAT and the ACT. So I think with that, Susan, I believe it is -- 12:50:38 >> Susan Osterhaus: It's time for questions, right? 12:50:40 >> Venkatesh Chari: For questions. 12:50:59 >> Kate: This is Kate. We have one question so far. I'm so sorry. We have a couple. So the first one says, what is the difference between TI-84 and TI-30 XS? 12:51:06 >> Susan Osterhaus: Now, it was between the TI-84 Plus and the -- 12:51:11 >> Kate it says TI-84 and TI-30XS. 12:51:12 >> Susan Osterhaus: 12:51:15 Venkatesh, you go ahead. You go ahead and do that one. 12:51:17 >> Venkatesh Chari: Sure. 12:51:36 So the basic difference is that the TI-84 Plus is a graphing calculator. And whereas the TI-30XS multiview is a nongraphing calculator. It has a very large number of scientific functions built in. 12:51:56 But it is not a programming calculator, a programmable calculator. While the TI-84 is, so you can actually write programs. And overall, the kind of functionality as a result of that programmability, that is available in the TI-84, is quite a bit greater. 12:52:20 The TI-84 is perfect for use in high school and beyond. I see we have lots of students who use it at lower grades as well. But the scientific TI-30XS is primarily used in middle school and sometimes also into high school. But Susan, maybe you can add to that. 12:52:25 >> Susan Osterhaus: I was just going to say that the -- it just depends on what you need. 12:52:45 If you just need an excellent, you know, talking scientific calculator, you know, it's fine, the 30XS. But if you need a graphing calculator, you're going to need to go with the TI-84 Plus. And several middle schoolteachers that I know -- 12:53:06 let me put it this way, those who are math teachers and TVIs, they are really -- they're feeling -- they're wanting to already introduce the TI-84 Plus even if middle school because they say they want to get them acquainted with it so that they can do at least the calculations that they need then and then just have a very smooth transition into high school. 12:53:21 So again, I mean, it's up to you. But I certainly -- you know, I certainly loved my scientific -- talking scientific calculators that orbit made. 12:53:27 I've loved them all, but if you need the graphing portion, you need the TI-84 Plus. 12:53:39 >> Kate: A couple other questions. So regular TI-84 calculators need updates. Is there a way to do those same updates on TI-84 Plus? 12:53:41 >> Susan Osterhaus: That's for you, Venkatesh. 12:53:42 >> Venkatesh Chari: Yes. 12:54:03 So the simple answer is yes, it is possible to do updates. And for updates as well, you would use the cable that we talked about earlier known as the graph link or silver link cable. And the updates can be loaded, downloaded from a computer to the calculator. 12:54:17 Typically the updates are either to the operating system or by way of programs, and both updates can be performed through that. 12:54:35 >> Kate: Okay. And then we have just like maybe two more minutes for questions. So here is a couple of others that have come in. Pretty quick. Does TI-84 talk in other languages? 12:54:55 >> Venkatesh Chari: So at the moment, not. We did (audio cut out) support in other languages shortly after we developed it, but we found that there wasn't as much demand, so at the moment, it only works in English. 12:55:20 >> Kate: All right. And then probably the last one that we have time for. So Allison asks, the Orion portion on my TI-84 is not responding. The screen remains blank. I have been charging it for a few hours. Do you think it takes longer to fully charge? I just replaced the four AAA batteries, and the calculator portion is working. The screen displays the info. 12:55:28 May have just heard -- oh, may have just heard my answer. May need to order a battery. 12:55:46 >> Venkatesh Chari: Yes. I guess, you know, if your calculator is more than a few years old, more than, say, two or three years old, the battery is most likely the cause. After some time, just like your computer or phone battery, the batteries stop holding much charge. 12:56:10 So that's (audio cut out) if you could please contact us at (audio cut out) e-mail or phone, (audio cutting out). 12:56:15 >> Kate: Venkatesh, you are cutting out. 12:56:26 >> Susan Osterhaus: So I think he said to be sure to contact you either by phone or by e-mail. Is that right? 12:56:36 >> Venkatesh Chari: I'm not quite sure why that happened, but yes, please contact (audio cut out) with you over the phone and if necessary, bring it in and take a look. 12:56:43 >> Kate: Okay. Well, thank you so much, Susan Osterhaus and Venkatesh Chari. 12:57:02 We really appreciate you taking the time, giving us kind of this introduction to TI-84. I feel like it was a getting to know you party for the TI-84. Please make sure that you download those handouts. The information from the slides is all in the handout, as well as that article that Susan talked about. 12:57:10 It's got some great tips and tricks on it as well. So you're going to want to make sure that you have that information. 12:57:46 Okay. Let me give you the closing code, as well as some announcements. And you're going to want to stick around for those. All right. So the closing code is 012121. I'll give it again. 012121. And we'll make sure -- I'll put that in the chat here. Thank you, Lowell. Lowell has put that in the chat. So there will be no session on Monday. 12:58:12 Because of our special session on January 26th. So on Tuesday, January 26th, starting at 11:00 a.m. central time until 3:00 p.m. central time, so four hours, we are having a special session with David Brown. This is in partnership with the western Regional Early Intervention Conference. So we're really 12:58:41 lucky we get to spend time with him and there's no cost for you guys. Make sure to get registered. Again, Tuesday, January 26th. No session on Monday. David is going to be discussing availability for learning for children with multi-sensory impairment and what he calls being a perperceptive, reflective detective. He's a wonderful presenter. 12:59:02 On January 28th, we're going to have our voiceover intermediate level. The beginner level was super popular. She's going to do an intermediate level on Thursday, January 28th. You can find all of this information at TSBVI.edu/coffeehour for the registration info. 12:59:24 And that's where also, again, you'll find the Coffee Hour archives. So just one more time, to obtain your CEUs, you'll respond to the evaluation which enter the code, for the last time, 012121. I am going to in the chat very quickly put some information in. 12:59:49 We have the Mental Health Symposium for students who are deaf and DeafBlind happening April 22nd and 23rd. So I'm going to put the information, as well as the registration link in the chat. This is going to be really a fabulous time. It's very unique, kind of the first of its kind that we're doing. 12:59:59 And so if this is applicable to you or to any of your students or families, please make sure to send and share that information. 13:00:01 Okay, everyone. Thank you so much for being with us today. 13:00:15 We will see you not on Monday but on Tuesday for our time with David Brown. And thank you, again, to Susan and to Venkatesh. We really appreciate you guys coming and being with us. 13:00:24 Thanks, everyone.