Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Questions & Answers (Part II)

A Blogger's Insight: 

Questions & Answers (Part II)




We are going to continue on some questions about communication and computer accessibility. This post I am going to focus on the second principle of UDL that I really haven't spoken about thus far; flexibility in use.  This principle states that the design for learning should facilitate a wide range of individual preferences and abilities. 





Q: How can you facilitate and achieve this?

A: Provide choices in methods of use, accommodate right- and left-handed access and use, facilitate the user's accuracy and precision, and provide adaptability to the user's pace.  To do this a teacher could do something as simple as providing scissors designed for right- or left-handed users.  Computers can also facilitate individual preferences, providing the students with opportunities to access the computer much more including enlarging the text on the screen, making the curser slower/faster, utilizing the speech-to-text feature enabling the computer to speak to you.  



 I went into my computer settings and manipulated many aspects about the computer.  The one feature I LOVED was that I was able to tell the computer my limitations, whether it being visual, speech, motor or hearing, and the computer provided recommendation for how to adapt the computer to meet my needs.  To do this, go into your CONTROL PANEL and click on EASE OF ACCESS.  Once there, click on EASE OF ACCESS CENTER.  On that page, there is a light bulb that is offering the computer to make recommendations,< CLICK IT and GO>


Q: Who can benefit from the access center?

A: - Optimize accessibility for individuals with blindness or visual handicaps. 
     - Provides alternatives for students with fine motor skill difficulties by eliminating the
       required use of the mouse/keyboard. 
     - Provides alternatives for students with hearing difficulties or disabilities with the 
        use of closed captioning. 
     - Removes background images to reduce distractions for students with cognitive or 
       learning disabilities. 
     - Ignores/slows down repeat key strokes and adjusts keyboard repeat rates for 
       students with motor limitations or impairments. 
     - use of number pad to move the mouse around 
     - speech-to-text and text-to-speech software for students with dyslexia and
       learning disabilities or writing difficulties. 

References: 

What is Universal Design- Principles of UD. (n.d.). North Carolina State University. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.ncsu.edu/project/design-projects/sites/cud/content/principles/principles.html

1 comment:

  1. I love the ease of access center in both Windows and Apple products. Being able to have the computer recommend adaptations based on your limitations is fantastic. I haven't been able to find this particular function on my Mac but I will continue to play around with it and see what develops. The only downside to changing each computer based on a student's limitations is that it may be time consuming if you need to do it every time a new student accesses the computer. I wonder if there is a way to save each student's individual settings so that the computer will automatically be set up for them when they sign in. Again, looks like I'll have to explore this a bit further.

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