a) An understanding of the constraints and benefits of different technologies
On arriving at UCL, I was faced with a serious learning curve. Firstly, I was now working in an ‘old’ University as opposed to a ‘new’ one, and so I had a different culture to understand, and secondly, the post was a newly created one, so I had nothing to base the role around.
Being in a new role, though, was also a blessing, as it meant I could mould the role around my own ideas. The first thing I tackled was the computer lab itself, which was old and tired, both in looks and technology. The struggle to start with was to find out where the funding would come from, and who to ask. Luckily, I have the kind of personality that enables me to talk to anyone and everyone, and I soon found some kind souls willing to point me in the right direction.
So I was allowed money for decoration, new computers, chairs, and software, which was a great start. I based my selection around research into what most students were given through the DSA (Disabled Student’s Allowance) (example of report section) and also the statistics of the disabilities for the university (UCL student disability statistics). At the time, there were about 1500 registered disabled students, most of whom were dyslexic, so I concentrated mostly on this, software-wise. I purchased Read and Write, Inspiration, Audio Notetaker, and Dragon Naturally Speaking. For the visually impaired, I purchased Zoomtext and JAWS, and persuaded the RNIB to sell me a discounted ex-display CCTV. I also bought scanners for all the PCs.
The reasoning behind all this was that if I went with non-standard software, this would mean students having to learn how to use it alongside the software they already use, which would add to the already-considerable stress of being at university. I needed to provide software that had been around for a while, was reliable, was well-tested, and wasn’t going to be discontinued unexpectedly. Another issue was the fact that we only had 7 computers, and a limited budget, so I had to work out what to put on each to give maximum access to a range of students’ needs, without creating conflicts from having software packages that did not work well together installed on the same machine. It took some convincing, each time we needed new machines to get a high enough spec to run such things as Dragon and JAWS, as they were, and still are, very memory-hungry.
I contacted the various areas I was expected to work with – the Student Disability Service, Occupational Health, Safety Services, and Information Services Division (who I was based with). It took some time to balance my time to start with, as I was supposed to work between supporting staff and students 50/50, but did not have the office for the whole week, as I had to vacate it two days a week for dyslexia tutors to work in there. This caused quite a lot of disruption to my working week, and looking back, it amazes me how I managed to do it all.
After setting up various systems in the lab, I realised we had no assistive technology on the network, and decided that would be my next mission. The problem was finding out who was responsible for funding and instigating this kind of project. The Disability Service informed me that they weren’t responsible financially, and I struggled to find out who in the university was. Eventually, I found the right area, but instead of their just taking my word for it, I was informed I had to make a bid for funding, and research and write a report. This was very different to my previous university, where a lot of decisions were made over meetings, and less paperwork was involved. Being dyslexic, this was a bit of a challenge to start with, but I persevered, and after two years of lobbying finally got the funding and the go-ahead.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the final hurdle. I then needed to persuade the team who created the desktop to package and deploy this software. This was a slow process, due to the fact that they had such a large workload of programs to work with, and didn’t know much about my area so didn’t understand the importance of it. This was one of the biggest hurdles, I found, as my role was placed within an IT department who had very little background – or understanding – of disabilities and the Equality Act as a whole.
The take up of my service increased considerably over the years and the following files show the data and graphs from 2008 – 2017.
The file below is a Word document with descriptions of the main points of the graphs and data.
Statistics and graphs of access to my service 2008 – 2017
The file below is an Excel spreadsheet of data on a category and month by month basis with yearly totals.
Accessible format of statistics of access to my service 2008 – 2017
Things I would have changed looking back
I would have taken more control of my calendar, as so many people were able to book things in there, so I often had no chance to have lunch and got rather exhausted. I also tended to have appointments booked all over the university, which ended up with me running about a lot. I tend now to try to do visits in the same areas if I can, so as not to waste time and shoe leather.
I would also have found out more about the hierarchy of the departments, to circumnavigate some of the systems and red tape.
b) Technical knowledge and ability in the use of learning technologies
I had 19 years in total of working with students in education, the early part of the time spent teaching computer-based skills on a variety of platforms, before moving into the disability and assistive technology field.
The experience I had was mostly with licenced software, as previously, in my old university, they were not happy loading freeware, as it was untested and unregulated, so I didn’t even consider that as an option at the time. Because of this, I had not carried out any research in this area, as it seemed rather pointless then, and my workload had been heavy enough.
On top of this, the DSA and Access to Work schemes only recommended licenced software (in those days the budget was more generous than it is today), so students and staff were used to a smaller range of software.
On arriving at UCL, I found the same situation, and so again concentrated on the best software combination I could afford to best benefit the users. Apart from teaching assistive technology in my previous roles, I was also a DSA assessor of the D/deaf, and later acting Access Centre Manager for a year. Because of this, I became familiar with the most common and effective packages used to support disabled users.
This knowledge lead me to choose the following packages:
Inspiration mind-mapping software. This was primarily designed for dyslexics who are not linear thinkers to plan essays, etc. visually. I have used this for other disabilities, and now also do general group training at the Institute of Education (IoE), as it can benefit anyone. I teach students a type of project- and time-management, and in one case helped a lady plan her home life as well as her studies, as she was a single mum with a young daughter (student mum’s mind map). I also helped a student plan his whole term (term mind map). I also use this myself and mapped my ideas for this website on it. It helps to maximise my output by taking the strain off from trying to force my thoughts in a linear fashion which is alien to me.
TextHelp Read and Write text-to-speech software, with study skills support. This program was again designed for dyslexics but works for many other disabilities, and also for those with English as a second language. It reads text while underlining the sentence in one colour, and the individual words in another colour as they are read. R&W 11 Certificate for training
This helps the dyslexic user proofread their work, because the multi-sensory system helps to understand the text as it is, and not what the user may think it says. This also works for reading documents and for revising, as this multi-sensory approach helps to hold the data in the user’s memory, as dyslexics often have problems with short-term memory. I also recommend the use of this for those who are on medication for mental health challenges, as many mental health problems tend to slow down thought processes, and make it hard to concentrate and retain data. People who suffer from eye-strain and headaches can also benefit from not having to stare at the screen. It can also be used to create sounds files that can be loaded onto phones or MP3 players to aid study or provide an alternative format for disabled users. I used this program to create a sound file for users to help set up their workstation and chair.
I teach one-to-one sessions in Read and Write and Inspiration, and also give general open access group training sessions at the Institute of Education.
JAWS screen-reader for the blind. This was usually recommended under DSA, but recently I have seen more overseas students using NVDA, which is free, so again I have had to rethink how the computers are set up.
I use JAWS to test websites, and packages for the University. This Camtasia film is just a snippet of testing of this site I carried out using JAWS screen-reader.
I also purchased the following, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Audio Notetaker and, ZoomText , but like all of the assistive technology programs, I show people what these programs do, and we discuss the best way (if any) with which they can use them. I tend to call assistive technology the ‘Marmite World’, as it is often a case of ‘you either love it or you hate it’.
This covered most of the disabilities that we had at the time. We had approximately 1500 registered disabled students at that time, the majority being dyslexic.
I had an in-depth knowledge of all the above packages (including having a trainer’s qualification in Read and Write), except for JAWS, which is a very complex package, and has to be used continuously to remember the majority of the keystrokes. I learned enough of this package, however, to be able to do basic accessibility testing.
There was a lab of 7 PCs, and at the time that was all I had access to, so I had to work out the best software distribution for the users based on the statistics at the time. I also had to take into consideration the conflicts of some of the software packages, such as ZoomText and Read and Write – which used the same voices as the default, and if you had both programs working at the same time, they would both fail and have to be uninstalled and reinstalled again. Similarly, ZoomText’s and JAWS’s older versions used to have a conflict, and thus could not be installed together.
It took some time to persuade the teams involved to allow me to have the access rights to load different software and configure the PCs.
Another area I developed was a disability resource website, to provide information for both staff and students, as I was expected to support both areas. It was very difficult to start with, as the departmental design separated the information for staff and student audiences, and so it meant a lot of complication and duplication. It was only much later that I was able to simplify this. It was problematic, as I had to carry out this work alongside a very full-time job, but over the years I managed to pull it together to provide useful and succinct information. Our system to start with was Dreamweaver, which I also had to learn, followed by the Silva content management system, which has so many bugs and problems I often wanted to (and still do) throw the PC out of the window. For example, you have to wait up to an hour for the changes to show, and sometimes they get lost completely in the ether somewhere, never to be seen again. Now we have migrated to Drupal so a different program to learn and a better one which is great. Some changes are needed to my site as the migration modified some aspects of the original.
I was invited to have a blog page in the Digital Education area and have started to add my AT news. I use this site to pass on information to the rest of the University about changes in the AT world, such as the discontinuation of Dragon for Mac (2018).
Over the years I have gained experience in creating Alternative formats scanned books, sound files, DAISY books, braille, and tactile diagrams. This example was part of a batch produced to help a colleague who asked for advice via the JISCMAIL email list which I am a part of. The response from them was
‘The diagrams arrived the day before I went on leave (they look brilliant!) so I sent them to our Learning Support office to look at and discuss with the student if they came in. We also have plans to start tactile printer shopping as this issue has really raised awareness of this, which is brilliant news. So thank you
You officially rock. I will pay your kindness forward in future :-)’
I believe in helping others when possible regardless of where they are from. The nice thing about the disability/assistive technology world is that many of us are the same that way and it keeps you feeling positive when the funding gets smaller and smaller.
The world of training has changed, and courses that were once only taught via face to face, now appear in a multitude of formats. Personally I find for me the best way is face to face, but even then some of the courses are not designed well for a dyslexic user with a short term memory problem. For example, the ITIL and Apple computer courses where you take a couple of days training followed by an exam. I find it takes much longer to take in the data needed for the exam than that time. I tend to study before the course on anything I can find but sometimes even that isn’t enough. I like to take my time and ask questions and read up and then ask more questions to understand the subject matter. the other thing I find is when you are given step by step instructions verbally. Unless I have time to write them down or can view them on a screen I tend to forget after about step three because of short term memory and sequencing issues.
Many do not conform to the Equality Act, nor the concept of Universal Design, where materials and courses should be usable by all and not just the few ‘average’ users.
( R&W 11 Certificate, Apple certificate plus Future Learn certificate)
I carry out testing for departments of software and websites. Below are some films and an accompanying document made for a department as part of a procurement process.
I have worked with many different groups over the time I have been at UCL and here is some of the feedback from the teams that I have worked with.
Now that I have a colleague to help me with this service (she arrived in Aug 2017) I have been able, after training her to have more time to be more able to plan my work and working strategy. It has enabled me more time for research and study (hence the CMALT and also the Women in Leadership Courses) but also to really develop my involvement in the strategic work. Such as the EU Directive 2018 where in Sept 2018 I was invited by the All Party Political Group (APPG) on Assistive Technology to take part in a discussion about the new EU Web Accessibility ‘The APPG works by holding events in Parliament, bringing experts and politicians together for roundtable discussions, symposia, and receptions; we use the findings from these policy events to develop briefings, term papers and research reports, to inform and influence Parliament, Government and the sector.’ The findings of the APPGAT discussion group.
c) Supporting the deployment of learning technology
The major challenge was being the sole provider of these services (up till Aug 2017) to a potential client base of 53,000 people, of both staff and students. It did to cause problems when trying to make plans for the service.
Due to cuts in DSA funding, and the constraints placed on educational establishments by the economic climate, I have had to look at other options to support staff and students.
Alongside Read and Write, and Inspiration, I have been instrumental in adding free assistive software to our system. As well as the cuts to the Disabled Student’s Allowance, there are a large number of non DSA overseas students who do not have money to purchase these sometimes expensive softwares. This way they can have access to software both via our network and to download to their personal computers. They can be downloaded from the links below.
Balabolka – text to speech
Orato – text to speech
Virtual Magnifying Glass – magnification software
XMind – mind mapping –free version
NVDA – screenreader for the visually impaired
I put in a bid in mid 2017 to purchase Quickscan dyslexia screening software for the whole University to access. (Quickscan email) The idea is for users to test themselves confidentially and then decide based on the answer what they wish to do next. It will provide information of help available and who to approach. It will also inform the user of their unique learning style.
This will save time and money where students and staff are concerned as there are a limited number of qualified staff available to carry out these screenings. This will leave the support staff more time to dedicate to the user’s needs.
Sadly this bid has taken over a year to come to fruition (it is now Jan 2019), what with changing staffing structures, I have had to restate my case several times over. This has had a detrimental effect on the service we had hoped to provide in the last year. Looking back, I think I should have chased it more frequently than I did, and minuted the meetings, instead of trusting others would remember what was discussed. Also keeping track of the changes of staff would have been helpful to the process.
Another service I deployed was the 121 Captions who provides live captioning for users via a Skype account and a URL which any attendee can access from their mobile device – again giving them anonymity. 121 also provides a transcript for anyone who wants it afterwards. They also use 1Fuzion which allows the tutor to run the captions across their presentation for all to see and for LectureCast to capture in the film. I used it recently to support the NADSN (National Association of Disabled Staff Networks – conference held at UCL in 2018) where I was the Assistive Technology Coordinator. Feedback on my involvement is given below.
‘Wow! What an absolutely awesome day we had on Friday! On behalf of NADSN, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to you all for all of your dedication, hard work, time, energy, enthusiasm and commitment to putting together such a successful event. You are all incredible! UCL have been an amazing host for the NADSN Conference and we have been overwhelmed by your thoughtfulness, warmth and generosity. Working with you all has been an utter privilege – you have redefined the meaning of teamwork! The volunteers were outstanding, especially Rex!’ H. Haroon – Chair of NADSN
‘Hi Michele,
I have been told by Stephen of your sterling efforts for this conference. Seems like you were the one who was holding the fort…Well done. Be very proud of what you have achieved.’ K. Parikh
This experience made me realise that I had more skills than I thought I had. I begun this project just organising assistive technology and ended up almost organising the whole event on the day; including providing first aid in one instance.
Another issue now is funding, and the changes, both internally to the university, and externally (DSA cuts). I have had, along with others, to look at free software to bridge the gap and offer different support. Juggling and haggling has now become the ‘thing’ of today. Having been successful in a bid for an automated book scanner, I sometimes offer other institutions the odd book or two scanned if they get stuck finding an alternative format, and have also shared resources in a couple of other ways.
I have also in conjunction with another colleague put together a guide on web accessibility that will be used to help our staff comply with the new EU Directive on Web accessibility.
I have already had positive feedback on my web accessibility guide from the Digital Education Team.