But students in HE in 2011 have grown up with computers; used them at
school, at home, to send emails and facebook messages to friends, etc.
etc. etc.
Moving away from the student I emailed about this morning, if you think
about the hundreds of students at any one HEI with special exam
arrangements for one reason or another it becomes a logistical nightmare
to find enough separate rooms / computers / invigilators / et al etc. ad
infinitum. That's why I tend to encourage students to use technology, as
it is often a little easier to sort out (in this case, providing a
computer and additional time is far more achievable than the frankly
bizarre arrangement that he is requesting).
If there is a clear disability related justification then that's fine,
but when you are dealing with a student with an ambiguous SpLD diagnosis
it often boils down to how far a student is prepared to complain until
they get what they think the need.
As I said earlier, thanks to everyone for their comments and
suggestions. It's been a welcome break from projecting next year's
budget. :-)
Natalya Dell wrote:
> I reckon that despite using a computer full-time since I was seven years
> old in 1987 for all education and leisure writing that it took me until my
> early teens in 1993 to really be able to brain to computer more
> effectively than brain to handwriting. It is definitely a different
> thought process and it is more than just the physical motor skill of
> typing it's a fluency thing. I'm now more fluent in typing and can barely
> handwrite a shopping list.
>
> I try not to forget that students often don't have the depth and breadth
> of typing experience that I had by the time I started university. I
> handwrote exams during Alevels because I wanted to fit in and typing
> chem/bio/physics is hard - but had to go back to the keyboard because I
> was failing due to my poor handwriting.
>
> Also using a PC is another layer of potential things to go wrong. The
> worry about "what if it crashes" or "what version of word is it going to
> be?" "what irritating default settings will it have?" etc etc.
>
> I used to use some of my extra time to set up the PC how I liked it - beat
> Word into shape as I wasn't a regular MS Word user at the time. I'm techie
> so I was known for turning up extra early to exams to wire in my own
> keyboard or take ball-mice to pieces to clean them out so they worked
> properly. I've also had computers crash on me and invigilators get into a
> complete panic which could have upset me but fortunately didn't.
>
> It would be interesting to find out why students don't want to type and
> see what specific issues they have and whether there is training needs
> there that we could support them in getting.
>
> Natalya
>
> Lindsey said:
>
>> I chose to handwrite my answers because quite simply that's the way my
>> brain worked. I could handwrite better constructed and more detailed
>> answers then I could have done via dictation or typing. I felt most
>> comfortable with handwriting and I can understand why some students would
>> prefer to handwrite rather than use technology.
>>
--
Simon Jarvis
Head of Disability & Dyslexia Service
Queen Mary University of London
Student and Campus Services
Room FB 2.30, Francis Bancroft
Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
Tel: 020 7882 2765
Fax: 020 7882 5223
www.scs.qmul.ac.uk
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