eLearning Accessibility & Inclusion

You can now download the complete guide of Ease of Access Centre. 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.

Although it will probably take some time before colleges move over to Windows Vista operating system, there are some great benefits for learners with additional support needs when they eventually do.

You can download the complete guide from the links below or select the ‘Vista Guides’ tab at the top of the page to download individual sections.

To download the guide in Microsoft Word format select this link

To download the guide in PDF format select this link

To download the guide in large print select this link

To download the guide in DAISY format select this link (compressed/zipped folder)

To download the guide in MP3 select this link (compressed/zipped folder)

To dowload the giude in Braille select this link (requires Braille embosser)

A new video guide which shows you how to make the most of Dolphin’s EasyConverter (software for converting documents into alternative formats) can now be viewed from the Dolphin website.

To view the 5 minute guide select this link

The winter edition of e-Quality, a bumper 20 page newsletter dedicated to promoting accessible and inclusive e-learning, is now available to download.

The newsletter includes a review on the latest accessibility features in Windows Vista (Ease of Access Centre), an update on AccessApps (portable assistive technology on a USB stick) as well as a range of assistive technology related features.

Martin Hawksey’s article on Netbooks is well worth a read and the tutorial on creating drop-down word bars in Microsoft Word provides an innovative way of supporting students with literacy difficulties. You can also find out what’s new in Assistive Technology and discover some useful websites.

To download the lastest edition of the newsletter in a format of your choice select this link

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

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.

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!