Fiona
We had an interesting experience last year when, for the first time,
I scribed direct to computer for a student. This was because his own
typing speed was inadequate to do himself justice within the time
scale of an exam and my handwriting was not up to his brain speed!
This arose out of a practice scribing session when it became clear
that his chain of thought became hopelessly entangled when I was
writing on paper which he could not see and the option was devised
which worked extremely well. It was agreed that, since my typing
speed was faster than my handwriting, extra time allowances would be
dispensed with, and he simply worked from mind maps which he drafted
for each question and which were attached to the printout.
The papers were printed out instantly and the disc enclosed with it
and scrubbed by the exams officer - this only to provide back up had
there been a problem with the technology. The machine used had only
basic word-processing programmes on it and our experience with other
students who have used computers for other reasons - inability to
write for long periods, for example - has been that we have set them
up with a machine (sometimes a laptop) with only the basic
requirements for their exam installed.
Eleanor Drummond, Student Welfare Officer, Heriot-Watt University, Scottish Borders Campus
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