November 2003
The articles published in the ALERT represent the opinions of the authors and are not an endorsement by the Association or necessarily representative of the views of the Association.
— From the President's
Desk
— From the Editor
From the AHEAD Office
— AHEAD Conference 2004
— Professional Development
— Disability Services Resources
— SIG and Affiliates Update
— AHEAD Student Scholarships
— Meet the Staff
Features
— Disability in Veterinary Education
— Outcome Study Results
— Disability Simulation: An Opinion
— A New Alternative to Readers
From the President's Desk
Grady Landrum, Wichita State University
WOW this presidency thing is quite the work?
I became President on October 1, at noon Eastern Time and not
a day goes by that I have not had contact with someone about AHEAD
business.
Amicus briefs, friend of the court requests, questions
about the Miami Conference (which is looking pretty amazing --
make sure to mark your calendar for July 13 - 17, 2004), preparing
for my first board meeting, and
holding the Board of Directors meeting in Boston October 23-26,
all this has kept me quite busy but it has also been a great deal
of fun.
Board of Directors Meeting 10/23-26
What a great group of people you have elected
for this Board. Everyone in attendance had good ideas to add to
the discussions and some good planning for the future of the organization
took place over those three days. The BOD had the opportunity
to visit the AHEAD office and meet all the staff. If you get a
chance to visit the office please do so, the staff would love
to meet you and it is always good to put a face and name together.
We had a nice BBQ lunch at the office and were able to visit with
the staff for about 1 1/2 hours.
Transition Year for Elections and Board
Offices
Take note everyone this is a transition year
for the Board. My term as President will only last for nine months
because of the new Bylaw changes last year. Another aspect about
this being a transition year is the timing of our elections. If
you recall new Board members will take office at the end of the
international conference each year. This means elections must
be held and completed no later than May 31 of each calendar year.
What this means for you as member is to be watching closely for announcements of when you can nominate people for board positions and when you need to vote for new officers in the Spring of 2004. Look for more details in future ALERTs and start thinking now of who might be good candidates for board positions.
Since Jim Kessler won the President Elect position during the last election it was my duty to appoint someone to Jim’s previous position of Director of Membership. I have appointed Mike Shuttic from Oklahoma State University to fill this position and he has accepted this position for the next 9 months.
I look forward to serving you these next nine months. Look for more news in future ALERTs
From the Editor
Hello Everyone,
Our fall rush is finally over. Although it is a challenging time, it is also very invigorating. I truly enjoy the energy of students returning to campus and starting new courses. This issue of the ALERT represents not just the beginning of a new season, but also a new publishing schedule: it is the first time we're publishing it bi-monthly instead of quarterly. In keeping with the new theme, the ALERT has information on new studies, new initiatives, new technology, and even a letter from a new AHEAD President. Enjoy!
Please keep sending me articles and event information to include in future issues. I hope you continue to enjoy the ALERT, and if you have any suggestions or comments, please be sure to contact me at kejones@ucdavis.edu.
Sincerely,
Keltie Jones
From the AHEAD Office
AHEAD Conference 2004 Update
Thank you to all who submitted proposals to
the AHEAD Conference 2004 Call for Programs! The pool of applications
is far-reaching and impressive - the Review Committee will be
working hard for the next few weeks.
Your response shows your commitment to AHEAD and your desire for a high quality conference in Miami next year. Plan ahead! As the leaves turn and the cooler winds blow, check out the conference venue for 2004 at the Fountainebleau Hotel in Miami.
See you in Miami!
Professional Development
Take advantage of these upcoming events,
conferences, and other opportunities to increase and share your
knowledge.
Calls for Presentations and Articles:
The University of Connecticut's Center on Postsecondary
Education and Disability announces the Call for Proposals for
the 16th Annual Postsecondary Disability Training Institute (PTI),
June 8 - June 12, 2004 to be held at the Grand Summit Resort Hotel
at Mt. Snow (West Dover), Vermont. Details of the Call for Proposals
can be found at vm.uconn.edu/~wwwcped/call04.htm. Submit your
proposal as soon as possible, but no later than November 30, 2003.
For information about the program contact Dr. Stan Shaw (sfshaw@uconn.edu).
Join us in the beautiful Austrian Alps! The Fifth International Conference on Higher Education and Disability. Innsbruck, Austria: July 27-30, 2004 Call for Proposals. Proposals due by December 15, 2003. Theme: Scanning the Horizon: Global Perspectives on Higher Education and Disability. More information is available through the Innsbruck Proposal Guidelines
ALERT submission and publication dates:
The ALERT is now being published every other
month. Here is the schedule for submissions:
Submissions Due: Publication Date:
- December 1, 2003 December 19, 2003
- January 30, 2004 February 27, 2004
- April 2, 2004 April 30, 2004
- June 4, 2004 June 25, 2004
Please keep those articles coming!
Upcoming Conferences and Expositions:
Check out these offerings from our colleagues
in the fields of disability and higher education:
"Accessing Higher Ground": Assistive Technology & Accessible Media In Higher Education, November 11-14, 2003, University of Colorado, Boulder.
The keynote speaker for the conference, Beth Finke, is a National Public Radio commentator and recent author of "Long Time, No See," a memoir of her struggle with juvenile diabetes, blindness and raising a multiply disabled child. Finke is also a freelance writer and public speaker. Her commentaries on NPR's "Morning Edition" and other talks and writings address topics such as writing, disabilities, assistive technology, service dogs and special education, among others.
Program coordinators at the CU-Boulder AT Lab and Disability Services are bringing together national leaders in the field of assistive technology and media to educate students, staff, faculty and the community on the availability and potential benefits of assistive technology in education. More than 35 workshops will be presented throughout the conference, several by people with disabilities, on topics including the Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, legal and policy issues and accommodations for students with learning disabilities, visual impairments and physical disabilities. Over 25 hours of hands-on labs will also be presented throughout the four days of the conference.
Special events include a mini institute focusing on access to distance learning, particularly commercial courseware management systems. This collaborative effort between CU-Boulder and Equal Access to Software Information, a provider of online training on accessible information technology for people with disabilities, will include representatives from Blackboard, WebCT and eCollege.
For a complete agenda, workshop listing and registration
form, visit the conference Web site at www.Colorado.EDU/ATconference
or contact Disability Services at (303) 492-8671 (Voice/TTY).
Partial scholarships are also available for CU-Boulder students,
faculty and staff.
2003 Business Leadership Network (BLN) Summit: The California
BLN will host the 2003 Summit in San Francisco from November 5-7,
2003, in San Francisco. For information, contact the CABLN at
sanderso@edd.ca.gov.
Paul Orfalea, founder and chairperson emeritus of Kinko's, Inc. will speak at Babson College, a business school outside of Boston, on Friday, November 7, 2003 from 3:30-5:00 in the Sorenson theatre. A reception from 5:00-5:30 will follow his talk. The presentation is entitled, "Anyone Else Can Do It Better," focusing on Orfalea's experience dealing with ADD and dyslexia, along with his passion for entrepreneurship and philanthropy.
The 2003 National Higher Education Law and Policy Institute: Trends and Strategies for Universities and Community Colleges, November 16-18 in San Diego, California at Loews Coronado Bay Resort. Co-sponsored by: The American Council on Education, San Diego State University, The San Diego Community College District, and The League for Innovation in the Community College. Nationally recognized speakers will present workshops on FERPA , ADA compliance, terrorism, student conduct and other topics related to legal issues in higher education. For details and registration information, please check the conference web site at: www.sa.sdsu.edu/lawandpolicy2003/
DisAbility in Education Conference 2003 - The Way Ahead, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, Sunday 7 December - Wednesday 10 December 2003. For more information, e-mail disabilities@canterbury.ac.nz. This is national conference that is held every two years to promote new initiatives in inclusive education for students with disabilities in tertiary education. Details of the conference are available on the website: www.canterbury.ac.nz/disability/disconf/index.htm
CSUN's 19th Annual International Conference "Technology and Persons with Disabilities" March 15-20, 2004 ~ Los Angeles, CA. CSUN's 19th Annual International Conference, "Technology and Persons with Disabilities" will be held at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport and Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotels, March 15-20, 2004. A Preregistration brochure with complete information about the conference will be available in early January 2004. Check their website for conference information updates at: www.csun.edu/cod.
PEPNet Announces the PEPNet 2004 Conference, "Planning for Success: Initiatives for Positive Outcomes" Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 21-24, 2004. The Postsecondary Education Programs Network (PEPNet) will hold its biennial conference April 21-24, 2004, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This conference will provide opportunities for further professional development as well as for networking with peers who provide similar services. In addition to the full conference, several pre-conference half-day workshops will be scheduled. Check www.pepnet.org for more information.
The 16th Annual Postsecondary Disability Training Institute (PTI), June 8 - June 12, 2004 will be held at the Grand Summit Resort Hotel at Mt. Snow (West Dover), Vermont. The objective of this Training Institute is to assist concerned professionals to meet the unique needs of college students with disabilities. Participants can select from a variety of Strands and Single Sessions taught by experts in the field that provide participants with in-depth information and adequate time for questions and follow-up activities. Check our web site for Institute information and updates at vm.uconn.edu/~wwwcped/04pti.htm.
Other Professional Development Opportunities:
Graduate Assistantships are available in postsecondary
education and disability at the Center on Postsecondary Education
and Disability at the University of Connecticut. The Center typically
has six to ten full-time Graduate Assistantships (GA's) available
to support Master's/Sixth-Year and Doctoral students. Full-time
Graduate Assistants work 20 hours per week during the academic
year and receive a stipend of approximately $16,556 - $19,368,
tuition remission, and full medical benefits. For more information,
including course offerings and requirements, visit our website
at www.cped.uconn.edu (scroll down to Graduate Programs with an
Emphasis on Postsecondary Services for Students with Disabilities).
For additional information about these programs, contact Dr. Joan
McGuire (mcguire@uconn.edu) or Dr. Stan Shaw (sfshaw@uconn.edu).
Disability Services Resources
This is a new section in the ALERT for announcements
of books, services, and other resources that could be of use to
AHEAD members. Please note that inclusion in the ALERT does not
signify an endorsement by AHEAD.
Services:
Dots Plus. The Technical Braille Center at
Computers to Help People, Inc. is ready to accept more orders
for science, math, Engineering and other technical books to be
translated into Braille, "DotsPlus" a special form of
electronic text called "Verbal Math". We also transcribe
music into braille. This is also a good time for students or their
colleges or universities to place orders for the fall semester.
Those who place their orders early will get higher priority, so
that more of the book will be available when classes start. You
can learn more about us at our website: www.chpi.org. To learn
more please e-mail Braille Operations Manager, Dee Dee Collette,
at techbrl@chpi.org or call 608-257-5917.
Listservs:
Universal Instructional Design (UID) is an
approach to designing and offering courses so that they are more
accessible and fair to all learners, including those with disabilities.
A listserv called "UID-Forum" has been founded at the
University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) to explore the principles
of UID and to find ways to implement them. For further information
please contact palmerj@uoguelph.ca or go to www.uid.ca.
Other Resources:
In honor of November 17-21 being International
Education Week, National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange
(NCDE) encourages organizations to focus a staff training session
on an international education topic. Please contact the NCDE for
resource information that would be helpful. NCDE has information
on international volunteering, disability accommodations in other
countries, traveling with a service dog, specific country disability
culture and attitudes and more at www.miusa.org/ncde, or e-mail
Pam Houston at: phouston@miusa.org.
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic® (RFB&D), in collaboration with faculty at Johns Hopkins University, recently completed a study assessing the effects of audio texts on secondary content acquisition by students with mild disabilities. The results indicate that students in the groups using the audio text performed significantly higher on content area assessments than students in the control condition. The study examined the effects of a CD-ROM audio textbook, alone and combined with a complementary strategy on the academic performance of secondary students in content rich history classes. Students were assigned to one of three conditions: audio textbook combined with the strategy, the audio textbook alone, or a control condition. It was concluded that the use of RFB&D's AudioPlusTM books on CD was an effective way of making content accessible for students with mild cognitive disabilities. If you are interested in receiving a complimentary reprint of the study, or information about RFB&D's Learning Through Listening program, please contact cdowling@rfbd.org with your mailing information.
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D) is a national nonprofit organization with nearly 30 locations across the U.S. RFB&D's Learning Through ListeningTM programs offer access to more than 90,000 recorded titles to people with print disabilities, such as a learning disability, visual impairment or other physical disability. Audiobooks are available in a broad range of subjects, from Harry Potter to Organic Chemistry, at all educational levels, from kindergarten through adult. RFB&D recently introduced RFB&D's AudioPlusTM digital books on CD, offering unprecedented audiobook navigation. If you are interested in more information, click on www.rfbd.org
SIG and Affiliate Updates
The AHEAD Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and
regional Affiliates are member groups vital to AHEAD. At the recent
Board of Directors meeting, Ruth Warick, the Constituent Relations
Director - International, and Jean Ashmore, the Constituent Relations
Director - US members, discussed how best to liaison and forward
the needs of the SIGs and Affiliates. We agreed that Ruth would
continue her focus with the SIGs, as well as international member
matters, and Jean would concentrate with the AHEAD Affiliates.
There are currently 13 active SIGs and 17 Affiliates representing
a large number of members and their concerns, and we felt this
division would best serve everyone for the coming year.
In the growing list of AHEAD Affiliates, the Board of Directors is pleased to announce that New Mexico AHEAD was approved for affiliation at the October board meeting.
Two SIGs recently established AHEAD supported listservs. They are the SIG for Psychiatric Disabilities (pd_sig@lists.ahead.org) and the SIG for Independent Colleges and Universities (icu_sig@lists.ahead.org). These are in addition to the listservs for the International (intl_sig@lists.ahead.org), Career Planning and Placement SIGs (career_sig@lists.ahead.org) and the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, & Deaf Blind SIG (dhohdb@lists.ahead.org). This represents an expanded use of AHEAD based computer resources for members. For more information on Special Interest Groups and these listservs, go to the AHEAD website of www.ahead.org/resources and click on to Special Interest Groups.
For information or questions about SIGs and International concerns contact Ruth Warick at ruth.warick@ubc.ca and for Affiliate concerns contact Jean Ashmore at adarice@rice.edu.
AHEAD Student Scholarships
AHEAD announces scholarship competition for
2003-04.
AHEAD is pleased to announce its Student Scholarship competition for 2003-2004. The Silent Auction, held during the annual conference, funds this scholarship. Our thanks to the Silent Auction coordinators, donors and all of you who bid and bought for making this scholarship possible.
Scholarship information and nomination/application forms are available in the members-only section of the AHEAD Website.
www.ahead.org/resources
Criteria for selection include disability-related leadership and service, academic achievement and well-articulated goals. Students with disabilities who are enrolled in post-secondary institutions for at least 6 credit hours, have a minimum 3.00 cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale) and are nominated by an AHEAD member are eligible to apply. The deadline for applications is Nov. 15. Two $1,000 scholarships will be awarded: one to an undergraduate student and one to a graduate student.
Please consider nominating a student from your institution. If you have additional questions, please contact:
Carol Funckes
AHEAD Treasurer
University of Arizona
carolf@u.arizona.edu
(520) 621-3274 V/TTY
(520) 626-5500 FAX
Meet the Staff: Wendy Harbour
A profile of the newest AHEAD Staff Member,
a Research Intern from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Boundless enthusiasm and dedication to the field of disability services are the hallmarks of AHEAD's newest staff member, Wendy Harbour.
Wendy is a doctoral student at Harvard University studying Educational Administration and has begun working as a Research Intern in the AHEAD central office.
She comes to us with a strong focus in how disability services fits within the larger social and academic systems of our campuses. The practical application of disability theory to DSS work drives her academic and career interests.
Wendy has an MA in Higher Education Administration from the University of Minnesota where she also worked as a Disability Specialist and Research Assistant for seven years, and led the Institute on Disability and Leadership for four years. She is a frequent presenter at AHEAD and PEPNet, and is a national trainer for Mobility International USA. She was most recently employed by CAST as a project manager.
In addition to other research and training activities at AHEAD, Wendy will be conducting a comprehensive research project that will gather and analyze much-needed data on the demographics and administrative structure of disability support services. Look for this survey to come out soon.
We are thrilled to have Wendy on board; please help us in welcoming her to the AHEAD office!
Wendy can be reached by e-mail at: Wendy@ahead.org.
Features
DIVERSE: Disability in Veterinary Education
- Resources for Sustainable Enhancement
Ruth Warwick shares information about an
innovative new program in the UK.
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What is the DIVERSE project?
DIVERSE is the largest project to be funded
within the 2003-2005 HEFCE special funding programme: Improving
provision for disabled students. Twenty-three projects were awarded
funding to develop and disseminate resources relating to the learning
and teaching of disabled students. All projects are expected to
have a sector-wide impact; the DIVERSE project includes work reaching
out to other professions including medicine and dentistry.
Which institutions are involved in this
collaborative project?
The Royal Veterinary College, University of
London, is leading the project, working in collaboration with
the other 3 English veterinary schools at the Universities of
Bristol, Cambridge and Liverpool. Anne Tynan, the project Director,
is based at The Royal Veterinary College. The two Scottish veterinary
schools at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow are also
providing support and assistance to the project. The project is
also supported by LTSN-01 (Learning and Teaching Support Network
subject centre for Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine
and by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS).
What are the aims of the project?
The DIVERSE project will produce a range of
resources for two key areas of teaching and learning and link
the essential competences for veterinary surgeons currently being
developed by the RCVS with the coping strategies of students with
different disabilities, to ensure that the appropriate accommodations
are made whilst students are at veterinary school
analyze the accessibility of Extramural Studies (EMS) placements,
so as to assist placement providers and veterinary school staff
and students to identify the most suitable placement for each
student with a disability
The project will also reach out to other professions including
medicine and dentistry, with colleagues from both disciplines
included on the steering group. "The introduction of the
Disability Discrimination Act means that both the veterinary schools
and the wider profession need to face up to their responsibilities
towards people with disabilities. Until now we have not had the
wherewithal to do that. This exciting and innovative project will
develop knowledge and skills that will assist not only students
with disabilities but also the many practicing vets who have disabling
illnesses or injuries," said Professor Mac Johnston, Senior
Clinical Tutor and Chair of the Practical Clinical Studies Committee
at The Royal Veterinary College.
Contact for more information: Anne Tynan at atynan@rvc.ac.uk
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| Anne Tynan |
Outcomes Study Results
Adaptech Research Network releases Canadian
Study on the Academic Outcomes of College Students with Disabilities.
Prepared by Jennison Asuncion, Catherine Fichten, Shirley Jorgensen,
Alice Havel, Daniel Lamb, Crystal James, Maria Barile, Dawson
College, Montreal, October 2003.
The Adaptech Research Network has recently expanded its research interests to include looking at the factors that help or hinder the academic success of postsecondary students with disabilities. Case-in-point is our newest research report entitled, "Students with Disabilities at Dawson College: Success and Outcomes" (adaptech.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/pubs/PAREA_2k3.pdf). For this report, we conducted a twelve-year archival study which examined the student records of 653 students with and 41,357 students without disabilities. We looked at first-time registrants who attended Dawson College between 1990 and 2002. Dawson College is the largest English-language junior/community college in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It receives recognition for funding by the Quebec provincial government as one of three main centers providing disability-related services to students. For our research, we defined a student with a disability as someone who registered with the college's Services For Students With Disabilities. This required documentation of the disability and entitled the student to disability-related support services from the college.
We examined four success outcome criteria: graduation rates, average grades in the first semester, course pass rates (percent of courses taken that were passed), and course success rates (percentage of students passing 100% of the courses they registered in). The results show that students with both physical and learning disabilities had graduation rates that were virtually identical to those of non-disabled students, although students with disabilities took approximately one semester longer to graduate. When average grades and course pass rates were examined, students with disabilities generally did at least as well, and in some cases significantly better than their non-disabled peers. The overall trend for grades and course pass rates was for students with learning disabilities/attention deficit disorder (ADD) to have similar or slightly poorer outcomes than the non-disabled sample, and for students with all other disabilities to have similar or slightly superior outcomes. Males had poorer results than females with respect to all indicators. This was true for students both with and without disabilities.
Visit our web site at (www.adaptech.org) to download either the entire report or the executive summary in English or in French in a variety of formats. For more information about the study, contact Catherine Fichten, Ph.D. via e-mail at catherine.fichten@mcgill.ca, or by phone at 514-931-8731 #1546.
Disability Simulation: An Opinion
Randy Borst shares his perspective on disability
simulation activities.
Well, it's October again and time for the low-vision goggles, blindfolds, earplugs, and wheelchair obstacle courses. Time for the annual and seemingly eternal debate between advocates and opponents of disability simulation exercises. Here is my view, one of an opponent.
Disability simulation cannot simulate disability, because the incidental limitations imposed by disability are not the primary experience of disability. The primary experience has two components: personal adjustment to the functional loss and the profound influence on social connectivity. This has far more to do with meeting life's challenges with a disability than with acquiring merely compensatory skills. If, for example, you have no visual impairment and you put on a pair of vision-impairing goggles for a moment, perhaps even try to read a page or walk around a little -- you have done no more than satisfy your curiosity for a brief moment. You have not approached in any meaningful way what it is like to live with a visual impairment. Even to remind you of this fact may call up fear and dread of how terrible it must be to have a visual impairment when -- in truth -- visual impairment would be little more than an occasionally-annoying inconvenience, if opportunity in society were indeed equal. But whether you choose to feel scared or reassured by wearing the goggles and hearing my words, you will have to conclude that what I say about having a visual impairment is correct or not correct or is partially correct, according to your experience with and without the goggles. After all, since I have a lifetime visual impairment, I cannot possibly compare it to not having one, for purposes of your simulation experience, or for any other purpose for that matter. In the end, nothing in a disability simulation or anything I can tell you about it can possibly answer the question that you inevitably must ask yourself: "what would it be like, for me, to acquire a visual impairment?"
Wearing visually-impairing goggles will not tell you how your friends and family and employer and teachers will react to you if you have a visual impairment. It won't prepare you for crossing the street, reading a book, shopping, caring for your daily living needs, meeting a stranger, or going to an art museum. And if the social fabric of life is what you are not most concerned with when wondering about what it would be like to have a visual impairment, it should be, because in the end we define our lives and Judge our accomplishments in terms of where we fit in with other people -- what influences we have had, what purposes we have advanced, and whether what we have accomplished was worth having a life. Disability simulation will not help with that question. Nor are the goggles themselves any more than a designer's rendering of what a visual impairment might be like, not what one is like.
A New Alternative to Readers
Keltie Jones and Christine O'Dell describe
UC Davis' experience with a new assistive technology for students
with learning disabilities.
In the early 70's the University of California, Davis began providing disability-based academic accommodations to students with disabilities. Many students with reading-related disabilities received readers or books on tape. While publishers are required by state law to make textbooks available to students via e-text, many have made this a difficult and lengthy process, or have skirted the issue altogether by claiming their material was not a "textbook." Additionally, they have required strict certification of students to qualify.
Approximately one year ago the University of California, Davis acquired six ScanRead systems for students with learning disabilities. ScanRead is an easy-to-use device that allows a book to be scanned, text recognized, and read back to the user - automatically - with a single click of the mouse. ScanRead includes a small, portable, flatbed scanner (USB interface), ScanRead software which integrates optical character recognition (OCR) and text-to-speech software.
Advantages of ScanRead include:
- Users can increase reading speed and comprehension, by combining visual with auditory processing.
- ScanRead utilizes a realistic sounding human voice that allows the user to easily control the pitch and speed to suit individual needs.
- ScanRead is convenient and portable when used with a laptop and headphones
- Everything is in one package and installs with a single mouse click - no lengthy installation software.
- Support and training is provided directly by the company - which is more convenient for disability centers that need to learn multiple devices.
- ScanRead actually costs less than hiring a reader and has an excellent return on investment.
In times of budget cuts ScanRead is an excellent way to reduce expenses and actually provide better accommodations, and to more students. At UC Davis, readers are paid $6.75 per hour. When you multiply that by 8 hours per week for a 4-unit class by 10 weeks, that translates into approximately $500 per class - or up to $2,000 per quarter. ScanRead retails of $1,295 and pays for itself in less than six months. Moreover, ScanRead gives students greater independence because they no longer have to recruit and manage readers.
The University has invested in similar technology in the past but it is not as accessible or as easy to use as ScanRead and is significantly under-utilized as it sits in a center in the main library. On the other hand, ScanRead is currently being used by our students at all levels- professional/graduate and undergraduate. They are all reporting improved reading comprehension, rate, retention and recall of written information. Their self- reports may be due, in part, to the accessibility and ease ScanRead provides. Portable and easy to use, ScanRead helps foster confidence through greater comprehension, allowing students the opportunity to keep pace with the reading demands of a highly competitive university environment. While it cannot guarantee students success, those students who are currently utilizing this technology appropriately appear to demonstrate an increased chance to be successful academically and in their future careers.
For more information, please check out their home page at www.scanread.com.
