The most compelling life stories are often ones that allow us to connect with the storyteller and for many, the pursuit of academic opportunities form the basis of their narrative With this in mind, how do educational institutions enable Deaf/Deafblind to pursue their story- underpinned by equality of access in their educational journey? In our […]
Category: Student support
Caroline Mathiasen is a hearing impaired graduate student in the UK, in this blog she talks to Margaret McKay about her experience using assistive technologies to support her during her education. About me I lost part of my hearing when I was a young baby. Around sixty per cent of my hearing, to be more […]
The negative effects of technology on young peoples mental health are often written about. Education has become more technology focused, more remote and less personal. But is technology always bad news? Julia Taylor focuses on some of the ways that technology could support better student mental health. Why should we worry? Universities and colleges have a […]
It seems tautological to write a blog post on open access and accessibility. Surely if something is open access then it is open to anyone and therefore accessible to anyone? Alistair McNaught argues that the link between open access and accessibility is more nuanced than you might expect. Authors and institutions need simple guidelines to […]
A hectic new term. You come up to breathe. Alistair McNaught explores a new support service from Jisc and how it might help you better meet the needs of your disabled students. The new term begins. You have a new cohort of disabled students to work with. In many organisations, the support staff will be […]
Risk, regulation, success and policy – the Universities UK’s case for making mental health a priority. Technology has a clear role to play in supporting student mental health. Julia Taylor considers the issues. How big is the problem? With 1 in 8 graduates saying they have a Mental Health condition, costs and demand for support with […]
As the start of the academic year is just around the corner we’ve pulled together some quick reminders and quick wins for you to consider when creating accessible resources, information and/or learning material. How do you make sure your Word documents are accessible? I use inbuilt heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2 etc.) to structure […]
Hot on the heels of University Mental Health Day which took place on 2nd March 2017, Margaret McKay asked Sandy MacLean Inclusion Advisor at College Development Network to share some thoughts on the role of mindfulness in our digital world….. Mindfulness is a particular way of paying attention. It is the mental faculty of purposefully bringing […]
Text to speech is great but not everyone gets on with it. What other ways can we deliver words to eyes more efficiently? What about people who want to read with their eyes but have visual or other difficulties that make scanning normal pages tiring or inefficient? What about those who need bigger fonts but […]
Funding changes in Scottish FE sector prompt Margaret McKay to reflect on the wider opportunities for colleges to embrace digital inclusion in widenening participation… A review of funding to support disabled students in FE colleges in Scotland was undertaken last academic year (2015-2016). Engaging with a wide range of stakeholder groups, the Scottish Funding Council […]