Equitable Access & Assistive Technologies
What is equitable access?
According to Michael Ribble's Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship, digital access is based on one essential truth: "All people should have fair access to technology no matter who they are."
Why is it important?
As a college student, your end goal is to prepare yourself for your future career. And from agricultural studies to advanced mathematics, your aptitude with digital technology will determine the level of success you attain. Whether it's staying fully connected via a smartphone, demonstrating concepts in a meeting on an iPad, or maintaining your company's web presence online, these are crucial skills you need to become a marketable employee or successful business owner. As such, it is your school's responsibility to ensure that all students get the experience they need with digital technology. A student's age, ethnic background, economic status, or disability should have no bearing on whether he or she receives access to the technology -- hardware (such as tablet, laptop, or desktop computers), software (such as word-processing, spreadsheet, or presentation software), and access to all the technological learning opportunities provided by fast, reliable Internet access.
According to Michael Ribble's Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship, digital access is based on one essential truth: "All people should have fair access to technology no matter who they are."
Why is it important?
As a college student, your end goal is to prepare yourself for your future career. And from agricultural studies to advanced mathematics, your aptitude with digital technology will determine the level of success you attain. Whether it's staying fully connected via a smartphone, demonstrating concepts in a meeting on an iPad, or maintaining your company's web presence online, these are crucial skills you need to become a marketable employee or successful business owner. As such, it is your school's responsibility to ensure that all students get the experience they need with digital technology. A student's age, ethnic background, economic status, or disability should have no bearing on whether he or she receives access to the technology -- hardware (such as tablet, laptop, or desktop computers), software (such as word-processing, spreadsheet, or presentation software), and access to all the technological learning opportunities provided by fast, reliable Internet access.
Access to Technology Survey: How does our campus compare?
I recently created a survey seeking responses from college professors and instructors at this campus. (You can read/take the full survey here. You can read a complete analysis and overview of the survey, in PDF format, here.) See for yourself how equitable technology access is viewed at our school.
Survey results:
Survey results:
- Only 22% of professors surveyed said they'd had students who complained about lack of high-speed Internet access, and 40% percent of respondents said they had never heard their students complain about it.
- 85% of survey respondents said they have encouraged students to use cloud-computing word processing and storage options such as Google Docs, Windows SkyDrive, and Dropbox.
- 76% said their students used these applications at least some of the time.
- 53% said that students without a home computer (laptop or desktop) tend to earn lower grades than students who do have home access to a computer.
- However, 75% said that the computer labs at the college offer a viable alternative to a home computer.
- Unsurprisingly, over 75% said that students from traditionally better-funded school districts had better computer skills that students from less well-funded schools.
- 53% of respondents agreed that effective assistive technology was available for students who needed it; 30% disagreed, at least partially, with this statement.
Assistive technology options for dyslexia
Students, teens, and adults with dyslexia now have more options than ever before to assist them with the challenges of dyslexia. See below for an overview of the main assistive technologies that can help eliminate the learning barriers that this learning challenge can present:
1. The Intel Reader allows users to take pictures of text and play the text back aloud. This eliminates the need for cutting and pasting text into traditional text-to-speech applications such as Read Please.
2. Voice-recognition software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking allows those with comprehension/recognition problems bypass typing altogether. These programs are also excellent solutions for those with mobility issues.
3. LiveScribe's SmartPens and Pencasts: The SmartPen is tool that catches audio while digitizing text written with it; Pencasts can create actual screencast presentations based on users' handwritten words and drawings.
2. Voice-recognition software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking allows those with comprehension/recognition problems bypass typing altogether. These programs are also excellent solutions for those with mobility issues.
3. LiveScribe's SmartPens and Pencasts: The SmartPen is tool that catches audio while digitizing text written with it; Pencasts can create actual screencast presentations based on users' handwritten words and drawings.
Additional resources: Dyslexia
Dyslexia Awareness & Resource Center: Non-profit organization devoted to promoting awareness and resources regarding dyslexia.
The Listening to Learn Guild: This website features many of the resources listed above, as well as many more resources for assistive learning tools for dyslexia.
Listening to Learn's "What is Assistive Technology?" This page offers a wealth of resources for working with dyslexia and an exhaustive overview of hardware and software options.
The Listening to Learn Guild: This website features many of the resources listed above, as well as many more resources for assistive learning tools for dyslexia.
Listening to Learn's "What is Assistive Technology?" This page offers a wealth of resources for working with dyslexia and an exhaustive overview of hardware and software options.