We have the Technology... we just need to learn how to use it.

Do you have to read government publications online where the text is in columns and you keep having to scroll up and across and down the page to follow the paragraph - frustrating  isn't it!

Help is at hand

As part of the work we are doing on the Enhancement of Learning Support Project I was at a regional event recently and saw  a presentation from Alistair McNaught at JISC TECHDIS. Amongst many other brilliant  things Alistair demonstrated a very clever way of reformatting the page so that you can read it down..... in one column.

Obviously  the purpose of the presentation was not to help me with my IT issues. Alistair was also able to provide a whole host of tips and techniques that can be used to adapt everyday software to make them more effective and accessible for disabled learners, as well as demonstrate more bespoke tools from JISC TECHDIS.

It really was a revelation and demonstrates that even in these difficult economic times you can make a huge difference with simple  changes to everyday tools - it does not always require an expensive piece of software or  hardware to create a solution that works

All of Alistair's insights are available at 

http://www.techdis.ac.uk/development/ELS/

You will also find Alistair's presentation from the day 

"Wolf in Sheep's Clothing the Disruptive Potential of Learning Support Staff"

which is well worth a look

What it really showed was that sometimes,with best intentions, we often over complicate our response when  a simple solution is just as effective.