Personal Blogs

So, I regularly change font size, style and colour to make reading easier on the eye. I zoom in on documents and web pages to limit the number of lines of text visible at the same time, as my brain tends to jump through the lines quite easily and this helps me know where I am.

This past week, I began using the text to speech function. This was such a discovery! Reading my own work on screen for mistakes is very difficult, reading a long document in itself poses problems but trying to spot grammar, spelling and contextual mistakes is not something I find easy. So my default strategy is to print out the document, then read it out loud to myself correcting as I go along, then I ask my hubby to read the document out loud and I listen for any mistakes that I had missed the first time around. Very time-consuming. From now on I will be putting on my headphones and getting the computer to read to me. It was easy to use and learn and made much more enjoyable by downloading better voices.

However, I did not master using the speech recognition tools to navigate around the computer. I am sure this is an indispensable tool for individuals with fine motor issues or visual impairment, but the length of time to master the tool seems to be considerable. I view it as akin to training a puppy to respond to voice commands!

I gave my husband a fright when I enabled high contrast browsing in Chrome and it applied it to all my devices! He was busy making a resource for a film night we host and I all turned back and white. It was easy to install, enable and disable the app, but for me was not a useful tool. I was struck by the lack of accessibility apps that were available for Chrome.

It was simple enough to change all sorts of aspects of the mouse pointer, in-fact I have left mine bigger as I am always losing it!

This week I had to consider the challenges faced by disabled students in HE  So here are a few of my thoughts regarding the challenges dyslexia can bring in HE.

Common to all Education

1. Researching - accessing library system and using efficient and effective search terms, difficulties scrolling through digital library list, slower reading pace,a possible need to reread a paragraph several times to understand full meaning, difficulties reading and pronouncing new words.
2. Academic writing - a possible lack of organisational skills, inability to see errors especially concerned with grammar and spelling,difficulties in note taking impact on writing as student may have to go back to a source as their notes may not be coherent enough to use, inability to confidently use new technical or subject specific words.
3. Assessment - written assessment may be difficult and extra time may be needed to complete it, slower,messier writing may be a problem as well as difficulties with spelling and grammar.
4. Meeting with tutor and fellow students - See below.

Campus Based

1. Listening and note taking - compounded by the possible presence of a sensitivity to background noise and bright lights, slower note taking and reading, lack of organisational skills needed to produce coherent and usable notes, poor handwriting leading to incoherent notes and mental and physical exhaustion due to the demands of listening and note taking at the same time.  Less of a challenge with online modules where lectures are recorded, can be paused and transcripts are available to allow the student to select the relevant text rather than write it out.
2. Meeting with tutor and fellow students - .if organisational skills are a challenge then this will impact on meetings where the student needs to be there at a specific time,with certain resources or work completed, sight reading out loud within a group setting may not be possible or may cause a greater level of anxiety, following group readings may be difficult due to slow reading speed, it may be difficult to retain and follow a list of auditory directions, collaborative writing may be difficult due to slow speed, incoherent writing and difficulty organising their writing.

Online Based

1. Listening and note taking - particularly difficult during online tutorials where students need to listen and note take in real time, or where transcripts of video lectures etc are not available.
   
2. Academic writing - difficulties maybe compounded by the addition of online forums and blogs where participation is required, difficulties with writing that were largely unseen in campus based modules can become very visible. Due to a reduced level of verbal interaction between students the assimilation of new words maybe more difficult.
3. Since dyslexia is even less likely to be disclosed on an online module support for the challenges faced by the student may not be as easily available as for those completing the campus based module. 
4. Meeting with tutor and fellow students - the conversations between tutor and their fellow students may take on a more written format than verbal which can prove a barrier to the student really engaging  with the course.
   

This is by no means an exhaustive list and students may only have to face a small number of these challenges or they may have to face all of them. These challenges not only have a direct impact on their academic work but can also impact their confidence and self esteem levels, they may not be able to relate to peers due to feelings of inadequacy and isolation, they may experience higher levels of stress,anxiety and exhaustion and be locked into using study techniques that are not beneficial to them. Ensuring courses are prepared in such a way as to ease these challenges is essential for students to achieve their full potential.

I started studying the accessibility module last Saturday and I am trying to work out where the past seven days have gone! It's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride.

Approaching the first day I was nervous as to what to expect, it's been a long time since I completed my last OU course. Then I accessed the purely online module and nearly threw in the towel! Thankfully my husband and 12 year old son were on hand to calm me down, fetch me tea and chocolate and explain some of the online tools. "Blogging and forums, come on Mam that's the easy bit!" was the advise I got from my eldest and since I expect him to tackle new topics and tasks all the time in his learning then I had to face the challenge myself.

I think, the hardest aspect of the course so far has been reading off the screen. I am trying to resist the urge to print everything out and only print out the topic outlines. This weekend, I am commendeering one of the kids Kindles to see if I prefer reading the documents on there and if I do I may be investing in one so that I can read through stuff when I'm sitting watching the kids karate class, or waiting in the car for them to finish music lesson.

I have managed to post in the forums for the activities, but found it took me alot longer than writing an answer. I am convinced this is just because I am not used to typing my thoughts but using the good old pen and paper to record my thinking. So, I am making an effort to post and to write in my blog, practise makes perfect. Or at least a good deal better, hopefully!!

The first module tutorial has been completed and I did have a little waver before it started. "What am I doing?" "Am I really good enough?" "What was I thinking?" all bombarded me and made me feel a little apprehensive. A good talking to by hubby soon put me right, so I settled down in front of the computer, notepad in hand. And yes you guessed it, everything went fine, the thought of doing the tutorial was far worse than the actual act of attending.

My family have been fab all week, helping with chores, instructing me to study at every possible opportunity and going to bed on time so that I can get on. I don't even dream that it will last, the honeymoon period will end but they have given me the best start I could have hoped for. The rest is upto me!

A usual morning here goes something like this:

1. youngest son wake between 6-7am, once he's awake going back is not an option but he usually likes to get on with something quiet and not requiring much energy, so he will make his way up to my eldests bedroom (he is usually reading by this time and they quietly read stories, play lego until I am up and functioning at some useful level, I am not a morning person!!
2. depending on how well my husband slept, he has chronic pain that is especially bad at night and has breathing difficulties which affect my sleep, and how well my youngest has slept, he also has a lot of night time pain that often requires attention and assuming that my daughter has not had any dislocations or movement of joints during the night, I begin my day with a cuppa and a quick tidy round.
   
3. I then gauge everyones level of fatigue and pain and proceed from there.

This morning looked a little different!

Armed with note pad, pens, highlighters and my daughters computer (mine is at the repair shop, grrrr!) I spread the essential tools for my success across the dining room table before the kids woke up. One by one they appeared in the dinning room, looking on with curiosity "What on earth is my mother doing?". Gently I reminded them that for the next six month I will be studying my own course and that if they wanted me to continue taking them to evening clubs and helping them with their work then I would need time in the mornings to complete my assignments. Team work, I explain, was going to be essential if we are to all successed and be happy.

On hearing this my eldest son (12) goes to his work box, takes out his work folder, joins me at the table and methodically works his way through his latin, ICT and history study for the day. My daughter (10) grabs some tracing paper, she's the arty one, some drawing implements and my youngest son (5) and she proceeds to teach him how to trace. An hour and a half later and I feel happy that I have completed enough work, the kids have all been engaged in a useful activity and we are all ready to face the day!

A good first day of study!