SprintPlus

Main idea

Outline

SprintPlus is software that helps people read, write and study. Thanks to the reading voice, people can hear what they are writing so that they can notice mistakes more quickly. SprintPlus can work with Microsoft Word, but it’s also possible to open a PDF file, including the digital textbooks, immediately in SprintPlus. In addition to the reading features, the software includes a range of additional tools such as homophonic help, phonetic reading, highlighters… that helps people to write better and study more efficiently. The program can also be used in English, French and German.

SprintPlus is offered for free in primary and secondary education by the Belgian government to help people with learning disabilities. The personal use of this software is no longer free once these students graduate high school. Artevelde University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) makes sure these students can continue benefiting from this tool by offering it free of charge. SprintPlus is available on all of AUAS’ publicly available computers. Thus, every media library and computer classroom is equipped with SprintPlus. Students can also talk to a diversity coach to have it installed on their personal laptop.

Many students using SprintPlus are used to working with the software from a young age. For the students who only start using it in higher education, it can be a steep learning curve. There’s a PowerPoint with voiceover on AUAS’ online platform (Dinar) to help these students on their way.

Target groups

In the past, AUAS only offered SprintPlus to students with dyslexia, but currently, it’s available to all students with specific needs who might benefit from it. It is still mostly used by students with dyslexia, though.

Who organizes, is involved?

Students talk to their diversity coach about special accommodations including SprintPlus and this request is either denied or accepted by the Office of Tailor-made Guidance.

Timing

From the moment it’s installed, students can use SprintPlus throughout their entire time at AUAS. Students who need it, can also take their exams on a computer with SprintPlus.

Goals

Supporting students with reading, writing and studying.

Obstacles targetted:

• Disability
• Educational difficulties

Success criteria

• The staff who are in charge of granting access to SprintPlus make sure they communicate in a way that makes them as accessible as possible to students. They are available to answer questions and to help students where needed.
• SprintPlus is valuable for students who know how to use it.
• The predictive writing function is helpful because it is specifically tailored to the mistakes people with dyslexia tend to make.
• SprintPlus helps students process their learning material.
• SprintPlus is also used in primary and secondary schools, so it’s practical for these students that they can continue using the same software.

Points of attention

• It can take a while for students who are not used to working with SprintPlus to get the hang of it. This can discourage students from using it. This also means that SprintPlus is less suitable as a tool during examinations for students who haven’t used it in the past. If a student were to use SprintPlus for the first time during an exam, they would lose a lot of time and it would cause too much stress.
• Each campus has a different approach when it comes to using SprintPlus during exams, which can be difficult to navigate.
• There are a lot of free software programs that have similar functions to SprintPlus (e.g. MS Word spelling checker), so it’s getting more difficult to explain the added value of using this specific program.
• SprintPlus isn’t really compatible with how exams are currently organized on Canvas, because they focus on developing their software for primary and secondary education. It takes a lot of effort to make it work.
• Many students who might benefit from using the program, didn’t know it existed. Thus, it’s important to create more awareness about the opportunity to use SprintPlus.
• Currently, students find out about SprintPlus while applying for reasonable accommodations. Some study programs at AUAS are implementing changes based on Universal Design by making some of these accommodations available to all. These changes mean that students will be less likely to apply for reasonable accommodations and less likely to find out about software like SprintPlus. This means that it’s become more important to think about how AUAS can reach students more effectively. Ideally, SprintPlus would be available to all students without all the steps that students are currently required to take before gaining access to the program.

Do you feel you can effectively provide the support that students require?

Would you recommend this to other institutions?

somewhat disagree

Evaluation

SprintPlus has been evaluated by students.

Results

• Students mostly use the program for reading, spelling and predictive writing.
• Many students who might benefit from using the program, didn’t know it existed. Thus, it’s important to create more awareness about the opportunity to use SprintPlus.

Adaptations

• SprintPlus used to only be available to students with dyslexia, but now it’s available to all students with specific needs who might benefit from it.
• There used to be sessions explaining the use of SprintPlus, but the attendance was rather low. These sessions were replaced by a PowerPoint presentation with a voiceover on AUAS’ online platform (Dinar) and a step-by-step explanation with print-screens.
• There was a flowchart developed to help staff make decisions on who can use SprintPlus at what times, to prevent students who are not used to working with SprintPlus from losing time during exams.

Communication

• The majority of students using SprintPlus, know it exists because they used it during primary or secondary school.
• Students find out about the possibility of using SprintPlus in higher education through a diversity coach while applying for reasonable accommodations.
• The option to use SprintPlus is mentioned on AUAS’ online platform (Dinar)
• AUAS’ offers a session on studying with dyslexia in which this tool is mentioned.

Timing

Students can apply to use SprintPlus in the beginning of the academic year and are allowed to use it throughout that year.

Resources

• The license to use SprintPlus costs money
• Computers
• Guidance staff who talk to students about the software
• Staff members granting the software licenses
• IT staff for the technical side

Extra information

• SprintPlus

Transferability

We think it is somewhat transferable to other contexts or groups.

It’s easy to use in general, but it’s more difficult if you want to offer students the opportunity to use SprintPlus during their exams. It all depends on how you organize your evaluations (e.g., it’s hard to combine with online exam tools like LockDown Browser).

Universal design

The software is not designed based on the principles of Universal Design. It was developed to help a specific target group.

Context

SprintPlus is offered for free in primary and secondary education by the Belgian government to help people with learning disabilities. The personal use of this software is no longer free once these students graduate high school. AUAS makes sure these students can continue benefiting from this tool by offering it free of charge.