mail on this may be drifting off the point. No-one would argue with
the general value of the Net, its rapidly growing popularity would
sort that out. The question was effectively, is there a case for
providing this to a dyslexic student when funded by the DSAs. These
awards are to help overcome any obstacle which a disability puts in
the way of accessing or delivering any aspect of a course.
I discovered on Wednesday that some computer courses running at
Brunel have the vast majority of their coursework/lecture material
available on a Web site. I am sure this is true of other HEIs as
well. Given this, we have a powerful argument for providing access
for a whole range of students, particularly those with health or
stamina problems.
But the more common case is where the vast majority of the staff
don't even have, or use, a mailbox. Thus access to the Web would be,
at best, a way of finding possibly relevant material. Such a
speculative argument would not go down well with awards officers-
given they understood the point.
In short, (and I never am), can anyone come up with sound reasons for
dyslexic students to have the Web which show how this would
improve access to the course itself, and not simply something like
it? It is in this context that I suspect Steve Metcalfe sounded so
reluctant.
Dave Laycock
Head of CCPD, Chair of NFAC
Computer Centre for People with Disabilities
University of Westminster
72 Great Portland Street
London W1N 5AL
tel. 0171-911-5161
fax. 0171-911-5162
WWW home page: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/ccpd/
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|