Monarch is Making a Difference: Jennifer Wenzel’s Story

New technology can be intimidating. Between new navigation, revolutionary capabilities, and having an entire new world of braille technology at your fingertips, Monarch can seem daunting to new users. Jennifer Wenzel, Technology Product Specialist at APH, has seen first-hand the unforgettable experience of moving from skepticism to confidence with a Monarch in hand.  

Wenzel’s job requires a lot of traveling with Monarch. From large conferences to small classrooms, she brings Monarch into spaces to show off its capabilities to new audiences. “There are some people who have never experienced it at all. Maybe they’ve heard of it, but they’ve never gotten their hands on it,” said Wenzel. “My goal is to have them leave excited.”  

Across conferences specifically, people have heard of Monarch but have rarely gotten the chance to explore all that the device has to offer. Wenzel spends time with people who come in excited about the Monarch, and those who aren’t confident in using such a new piece of tech. “There’s a lot of excitement, but it’s also interesting because some people come with intimidation. And once I start showing them some of the things that are similar to displays they’ve used in the past, that makes them kind of relax and understand what it can do,” said Wenzel. “It shows them that this doesn’t have to be a scary thing.”  

Primarily, new Monarch users get really excited about one thing: tactile graphic capabilities. Wenzel demonstrates to audiences how to navigate the Tactile Graphic Image Library, as well as the navigation and zoom capabilities for individual graphics. “I’ve showed blind or low vision people and sighted people the tactile library, and both get excited. Just the interactive nature, like being able to move around on a map, change the view, or rotate an image is interesting to people,” said Wenzel. Along with the image library, new Monarch users are thrilled at the possibilities available with the WingIt app. “I show people the application, and their drawings, and they get excited as they feel how it raises. They start to dream about the potential of that for students,” said Wenzel. During her demonstrations, Wenzel has heard countless possible applications for WingIt from users who weren’t so sure about Monarch. The same people who began the demonstration questioning its importance began to dream of its application: learning handwriting, signatures, drawing individual maps, and more.  

Students have continued to be excited for the device and all the ways they can use Monarch in their classroom and daily life. “Students are ready to dive in. They love point and click, and they get it really fast. They see Monarch as something fun and new, and more like what their peers are using. Something really kind of cool and high tech,” said Wenzel. Students loved individual learning on the Monarch like reading and searching on the internet, but really gravitated toward opportunities for classroom collaboration. “A few second graders were just excited to write back and forth to one another. For some it is playing chess, graphing math equations, or reading multiple pages of a book alongside their classmates,” said Wenzel. Monarch and apps like WingIt give teachers and students a brand-new opportunity for instant feedback. It allows students who are blind or low vision to have the same level of classroom participation as their peers around them.  

“I think bringing Monarch to people helps them understand its potential. They really start understanding all the different things that are possible with it, the different apps, and how important it can be for a student. It’s exciting when a teacher may see a student react to something, or a family member sees their child get excited at a conference. It’s important to get people exposure. There’s nothing like it,” said Wenzel. “I love being able to do that. I love being able to get people excited about the potential and the future with the Monarch.”