A couple of weeks ago St John Skeates was challenging the
growing habit of recommending the Internet for DSA students. He
may just about have a point in respect to some students not
strictly needing access, but there is one very practical reason why
we would prefer to raise the issue in the assessment and try to
exert some control over the process.

Speak to any major DSA-IT supplier about what causes system
failures and top of the list- by a long long way- will be student
attempts to access the Internet. Whether we recommend it or not,
systems are Internet compatible and the student is bound to
decide to have a go. Our trainer, Graham Rice,  visits over 100
students a year, some weeks after their systems have been
delivered, and often finds he has to do a restoration job even then.

One failing system he looked at had the "remains" of about a
dozen different freebie Internet access packages. The student had
loaded them to take advantage of an opening deal, then moved on
to the next without fully deleting the old files. Eventually they began
to interfere with each other. The simple answer was to say it had
nothing to do with the supplier, but this would result in disgruntled
students with non-working systems. The idea does not appeal.

Given the cost of the original system's purchase and maintenance,
today's IP terms look cheap. In short we try to encourage the
adoption of an established service and suggest the student sticks
to it.

"Ensuring a student's continued access to reliable equipment" may
not be a phrase found in St John's SSINs, and thus part of the
letter of the DSA scheme, but it has everything to do with the spirit
of it as laid down by pressure groups like Skill and politicians
responsible for its creation.




Dave Laycock

Head of CCPD
Chair of NADO
Computer Centre for People with Disabilities
University of Westminster
72 Great Portland Street
London W1N 5AL

tel. 020 7911-5161
fax. 020 7911-5162
WWW home page: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/ccpd/