November 11, 2008 at 2:48 pm | All Posts
- Posted by margaret |
Our counterparts in the JISC Regional Support Centre in 
Yorkshire and Humber (YH) have been running a major project looking at inclusivity. This has resulted in the completion of an great resource called ‘The Excellence in Inclusivity Portal’ which has been developed to help promote best practice and share knowledge to support enhanced inclusivity.
The portal provides a simple route to accessing a range of case studies which show how inclusivity has been enhanced through the use of appropriate technology. Options include exploring the case studies by learner need, technology used or by organisation involved.
Follow this link to go to the RSC YH Excellence in inclusivity portal
October 29, 2008 at 3:22 pm | All Posts
- Posted by Craig |
The eagerly anticipated release of the HMIe report ‘Education for learners with dyslexia’ was finally published yesterday. Although the main focus is on schools there is much which is relevant to FE and HE. One of the recommendations of the report is the adoption of a new definition of dyslexia. Current dyslexia ‘definitions’ tend to be based around a medical model of a diagnosis and a prognosis that assumes young people with dyslexia need different strategies from learners in relation to literacy and language acquisition, particularly younger learners.
The aim is to replace this with a wider perspective, for example dyslexia is now seen widely as part of a continuum of needs that relate to approaches to developing language and literacy skills. Moreover it should be recognised that dyslexia does not always come unaccompanied. Learners often face a range of other challenges to various degrees of severity.
The report also draws on research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which suggests that dyslexia does not exist to the same extent in every culture, language and education system.
You can download the report by selecting this link (in PDF format).
Alternatively you can read the report in HTML by selecting this link.
October 27, 2008 at 4:37 pm | Alternative and Augmentative Technologies, Video Case Studies
- Posted by margaret |
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) are the words used to 
describe extra ways of helping people who find it hard to communicate by speech or writing. AAC helps them to communicate more easily. AAC refers to ways (other than speech) that are used to send a message from one person to another.
Anyone who finds it very difficult to communicate by just speech may be helped by using AAC. Lots of different AAC methods are used by people of all ages, with physical or learning difficulties. Some people use AAC just to communicate. Other people use AAC to help them understand what is being said to them.
The problem however is that often people make judgements about a persons intellectual ability because they see them using AAC technologies!
Some people need to use AAC because of something that happened when they were born – people with cerebral palsy or learning disabilities. Other people start to use AAC when they are older. This can be because they have had a stoke or a brain injury or a disease. 
So what about students in your institution who need or who use AAC technologies? Find out more about the issues by watching a webcast created by student Beth Anne Luciani and academic staff from California University of Pennsylvania who describes the benefits and the challenges of academic life for individuals who use AAC
AAC and College Life: Just Do It!
October 21, 2008 at 11:06 am | All Posts
- Posted by Craig |
It will probably take some time before colleges move over to Windows Vista operating system. However, when they do eventually upgrade there are some great benefits for learners with additional support needs.
The Ease of Access Centre is Microsoft’s revamped version of Accessibility Options and is a big improvement on the previous. Accessibility is now a core element of Vista and provides a one-stop place to customise almost every element of the desktop. One of the most impressive features of Vista is Voice Recognition, a powerful speech-to-text program which provides accurate dictation and control of a computer by voice alone.
New step-by-step colourful Vista Guides are now available to download from the Access and Inclusion blog. To find out more select the ‘Vista Guides’ tab at the top of the page.
September 19, 2008 at 11:14 am | All Posts
- Posted by margaret |
I was privileged to be invited to join Felix Gilfedder Head of Supported Learning and Mary Jane Bird Senior Lecturer, Learning Plus from Reid Kerr College in their participation in the Grundtvig Partnership on a visit to educational and rehab centres for young adults and children with disabilities in Sinop, a province of Northern Turkey.
This initiative serves to share experience and knowledge at European level about the social inclusion of people with disabilities through vocational rehabilitation, the use of technologies, sport, leisure and cultural activities all according to objectives of the year 2007 European Year Of Equal Opportunities For All.
During this visit we were able to collaborate with social workers, support for learning teachers, psychologists and therapists involved in rehab and educational support for young people and adults with disabilities in this part of Turkey.
In addition to the important contribution of Reid Kerr College, other partners involved in this initiative included projects from Romania supporting disabled people in web and graphic design skill and projects from Northern Italy promoting sport and leisure as a tool for social inclusion.
I was able to introduce the European partners to the work of the RSCs and TechDis and in particular, the Scottish RSCs AccessApps initiative exploring the possibilities of using free and portable assistive technologies to encourage access to technology based learning in promoting social inclusion and parity of learning experiences.
The European partners will be visiting Reid Kerr College in April of 2009 and we hope to be able to showcase good practice across our sector as well as promote the beauty and hospitality of Scotland. Maybe the sun will even shine for us!
Want to Find Out More About Grundtvig Partnership Funding?
The Grundtvig programme offers many different opportunities for adult education organisations to get involved in European working.
Find out how you can benefit from transnational partnerships, European study visits, work shadowing and much more at by following this link.
September 8, 2008 at 1:43 pm | All Posts
- Posted by Craig |
A new resource which features a range of short video clips highlighting the support which assistive technologies can bring to learners with additonal support needs can now be viewed on YouTube.
If you are unfamiliar with technologies such as DAISY or would like to know how to support someone with motor difficulties to access a keyboard and mouse - then look no further.
The resource also contains some of the new features in Microsoft Word 2007 to support learners with spelling and literacy difficulties.
To find out more and view the video clips select this link
Yorkshire and Humber (YH) have been running a major project looking at inclusivity. This has resulted in the completion of an great resource called ‘The Excellence in Inclusivity Portal’ which has been developed to help promote best practice and share knowledge to support enhanced inclusivity. 
