UCD Access & Lifelong Learning has an Assistive Technology (AT) Specialist who provides technology and training to students who avail of disability support. The Assitive Technology Specialist undertakes needs assessment with students to ascertain what AT the student requires and if they require a Personal Assistant which they will organise
Academic integration/belongingTraining | Online tool | Online program | On campus | Online & in person (hybrid) | Live and recorded
Time lineWhat is the main idea or gist?
What does this initiative/support/project look like?
Assistive Technology Support
UCD Access & Lifelong Learning has an Assistive Technology (AT) Specialist who provides technology and training to students who avail of disability support. The Assitive Technology Specialist undertakes needs assessment with students to ascertain what AT the student requires and if they require a Personal Assistant which they will organise. From there, they may be referred to an Occupational Therapist or for Learning Support for more specific support.
Assistive Technology (AT) is a range of tools that may benefit students’ learning. This includes, for example, software that helps with reading, spelling and grammar, tools to help with organisation and apps for recording. We are endeavouring to make accessible digital tools available to all UCD students. These include SensusAccess and Ally which has been integrated with Brightspace (UCD’s Virtual Learning Environment) and allows students to access their class materials in alternative formats such as MP3 audio, BeeLine Reader colour contrast, braille and eBooks. There are many assistive technology supports available free of charge to all students from different sources. The AHEAD AT HIVE is a brilliant resource to explore if you are interested in learning more about assistive technology for Note Taking, Reading, Writing, Organising and many other key areas of academic life.
Examples of Assistive Technology Available
Grammarly
Grammarly is an easy to use advanced spelling and grammar checker. It detects grammar, spelling and punctuation errors. It can give feedback on word choice and writing style mistakes in your writing. A free version is available on the Grammarly Website.
Google Speech Recognition.
Google Docs is available to all UCD Students as part of the G Suite. Google docs contains a free dictation tool, allowing users to create a document using their microphone when using Google Docs on a Chrome Browser. It allows users to create documents in Google Docs by using their microphone. Simply speak, and Google Docs types the words you speak. For a free tool, this application is very good at what it does. However, with all these tools, there may be some limitations. Very strong accents may not be detected accurately, and the tool uses Google Translate, with an internet connection to understand words. Response times will depend on your own internet connection.
For more information, and how to install the application, please click here.
Immersive Reader
Immersive Reader is a reading support tool that is a part of Office 365 and Ally in Brightspace. It can read text aloud and increase the readability of written text. You can increase the spacing between words which can make the information easier to read. There is also the option to add a line focus tool allowing the reader to focus on a sentence without the distraction of other sentences. A guide to Immersive Reader can be found here.
Mind 42
Mind42 is a web-based mind mapping tool that supports brainstorming, collaboration and organising ideas. Its features include collapsible branches that allow for focus, and the ability to export your mind map into a structured document.
Cogi
Cogi is a free voice recording app that is available for both Android and Apple iOS. Its intuitive interface allows you to bookmark important information in meetings or lectures that you can listen back to later.
Ally for Brightspace
Ally is a new Brightspace (UCD’s Virtual Learning Environment) feature that allows students to download course materials in the format which best meets their needs. Below is information on the file formats offered by Ally:
This format is particularly well-suited to use with assistive technology, particularly if students use text-to-speech software such as Read&Write, or a screen reader, such as JAWS.
This is a really helpful option if students are viewing class notes on their tablet or their phone and do not have the specific app for that filetype eg. PowerPoint. By converting to HTML you can view the file in your preferred browser.
This is the file format for an eBook. This means you can read your notes as a book on your tablet, or e-reader of choice. Kindles support .mobi files, so students would need to convert downloaded files.
With Ally students can download notes as a Braille Ready file (BRF) to use with a Refreshable Braille Display, another braille reading device or braille reading software.
This option converts files into an MP3 format which students can then listen to on their computer, or transfer it to their mobile device and listen to it on the go.
This is a reading app designed to make onscreen reading quicker and easier by using custom colour gradients to guide your eyes. If students have a Specific Learning Difficulty such as dyslexia, suffer from eyestrain, or have concentration difficulties such as ADD or ADHD, this could be a good tool.
SensusAccess is a file conversion tool which uses a simple webform. SensusAccess allows students to convert files into the format which is most accessible and useful for them. This might be lecture notes into an mp3 to listen to on the go, scanned book pages into searchable PDFs to be used with text to speech software, or lecture slides into text to be read and adjusted on an E-Reader. SensusAccess supports text in multiple languages and can be a great resource for language learning.
Background information/Underlying construct
Length, timing
Part/no part curriculum
Target group, group size
Who organizes, is involved
What are the goals?
All students with a disability or significant ongoing illness in UCD have the opportunity to receive relevant reasonable accommodations or supports, including the necessary assistive technology.
How are students involved?
What underlying constructs or ideas inspired the design?
Assistive Technology is offered through the UCD Disability Service to ensure equitable access for all. There was a lot of research undertaken by the Disability Advisors Working Network (DAWN) on best practices in Disability Services which fed into the development of the current model that is in place across Ireland.
What the success criteria and the points of attention?
The service is successful when we see students being empowered to be independent learners as a result of getting the necessary accommodations, classroom supports and assistive technology.
In addition to that, when we see staff implementing change and ensuring digital accessibility in the information they provide.
This service model works very well within its context. It would be something that could be easily transferred to another setting and has been in the past. Like all services there is room for improvement but unfortunately, we are limited by resources and systems/structures that are out of our control, so we provide the best service within these limitations.
(How) does the effectiveness get tracked?
Yes the UCD Disability Service’s effectiveness is tracked
strongly agree
(How) is this initiative/support/project evaluated?
The Assistive Technology Service would be evaluated as part of the broader UCD Disability Service.
In terms of evaluation
How is it communicated and advertised?
What is the current and ideal timing and duration?
The principle of the service is to focus support on first years in the first instance, with the idea being that they will become more autonomous as they progress through the university system. It is recommended that students arrange supports as early as possible as some accommodations can take time to organise. It is recommended to contact the disability team as early as possible so that support can be put in place without delay, however, students can reach out to the Disability team for support any time during the academic year. In addition, if a student has had a needs assessment and wants to review the support in place, they can do so at any time by meeting with a member of the team.
During regular ‘school’ hours.
What resources are needed to run this initiative?
Other helpful resources on Accessibility:
Tips for Brightspace Accessibility
There are more video tips available on our YouTube Channel
Guidelines for Accessible Documents
It is vital that all of the material published by UCD is accessible. This includes reports, documents, teaching materials, websites and any other communication materials. Below are some guidelines and instructions on how to ensure that content is accessible. The creation of accessible content follows three core principles:
Available in Microsoft Office 2010 and above as standard, just like the spelling checker tells you about possible spelling errors, Accessibility Checker in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint tells you about possible accessibility issues in your Office file so you can fix these issues so someone with a disability can read and get to your content.
Learn how to access the Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Office here.
A uniform heading structure is often the most important accessibility consideration in Word documents.
All images contained in a Word document must have alternative text. It is needed in Word documents to provide a non-visual means of representing the content or function of an image.
Select your version of Word for specific recommendations:
PDF files are usually created in another program and converted to PDF. You can create accessible PDF files using Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Adobe tools such as InDesign.
To create accessible PDFs with Word and Powerpoint, you must first make sure the file you wish to convert to PDF is accessible.
Guide to making accessible documents with Microsoft Word
Guide to making accessible slides with Microsoft Powerpoint
Once your document is accessible, you can convert it to an accessible PDF.
Guide to creating accessible PDFs from MS Office
Adobe InDesign
Guide to making accessible PDFs with Adobe InDesign
Check if your PDF document is accessible
You can check if your PDF is accessible here.
These three principles have the greatest impact for improving the accessibility of your website. They can be easily and quickly implemented.
Headings, lists, and other structural elements provide meaning and structure to web pages.
Users with disabilities need these structural elements to navigate websites.
Guidelines on Using Headings for Structure
Write links that make sense out of context. Use descriptive link text detailing the destination; not just “click here,” or other similar phrasing.
Every link should make sense if the link text is read by itself.
Guidelines on Using Descriptive Link Text
Create your content with the maximum clarity possible.
Well-designed content illuminates concepts rather than obfuscates them.
Guidelines on Writing Clearly and Simply
Introduction to Web Accessibility
Infographic on Web Accessibility
WAVE is a tool to help web developers make their web content more accessible. WAVE cannot tell you if your web content is accessible. Only a human can determine true accessibility. But, WAVE can help you evaluate the accessibility of your web content.
Is it easily transferrable to other contexts or groups?
We think it is easily transferable to other contexts or groups.
Yes, introducing assistive technology support is something that could be easily adopted by other universities. There would just need to be an interest in driving it and staff with expertise in this area. Most universities have the microsoft suite which has lots of built- in AT like immersive reader / dictation and now a more powerful AI writing assistant. There is also lots of open source AT.