1. Support Technologies in higher education
TEMPUS – SWING 2014
Support Technologies in higher education
Implementation of IT in the University of Alicante
Domingo Martínez Maciá –
Universidad de Alicante
October the 21st, 2014
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

2. Index One and a half decade of CAE (Student Support Centre)
Diversity of students
Support products and IT
Rely on the human factor
Cooperation with entities
Experimentation, research and participation
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

3. 1. CAE – Student Support Centre
It was funded in 1998
Focus on students diversity: learning, emotional, social difficulties, disability, performance improvement, etc.
Multidisciplinary team: psychologists, computer experts, social workers and sexologists.
Disability services in the University
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

4. 2. Students diversity Specific educational needs
Visually, hearing, motor impairment, among others.
Students with or without Disability Certificate
Students with different IT command
Workshops to learn IT apps for students with visual impairment (2000)
The Elderly
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

5. 2. Students diversity Special Educational Needs Students: 280
Visually: 35
Hearing: 20
Physical: 70
Mental: 45
Health: 57
We do not know all the cases
Not all the people with specific needs are entitled to the Disability Certificate.
PAS/PDI (Administration and Services Staff/
Teaching and Research Staff)
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

6. 2. Students diversity
Needs, difficulties, resources in the classrooms*
84% have problems following the lectures
80% can only rely on classmates as the sole human resource
84% struggles with note-taking
88% consider professors as the most important resource
Professors found it positive to adapt the classrooms to their needs, such as computers
*Castellana, M. y Sala, I.(2005) La Universidad ante la diversidad en el aula
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

7. 3. Support products and IT
Infrastructure
Specific hardware: support products
Computer programmes
Adaptation of places of study
IT Projects Portfolio
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

8. 3. Support products and IT
Infrastructure: multimedia equipment and Wi-Fi
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

9. 3. Support products and IT
b) Specific Hardware: support products purchased in 2000
Screen magnifier
FM transmitter
Magnifier (CCTV)
Loop wire system
Dot printer
Digital pen
Braille embosser
Voice recording
Braille line
Fast scanner
stereoscopic visualtization tool
Wheelchair lift
Whiteboard
Stairlifts
Smart Airliner
Monitors 24”
PC Tablet
Webcam + Portanum
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

10. 3. Support products and IT
b) Specific Hardware: support products purchased in 2000
Braille graphics
Horno ZyFuse
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

11. 3. Support products and IT
b) Specific Hardware: support products purchased in 2000
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

12. 3. Support products and IT
c) Commercial and free computer programmes
ONCE Mega
Finereader
DIRAE, DILE (ONCE)
Netmeeting, TeamViewer
Jaws, NVDA
The Grid2
Magic, Zoomtext
Balabolka
Quick Braille
Text4all (
Dragon Dictate
If Project ( project.ua.es/)
Dragon Naturally Speaking
Omnipage
TextBridge
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

13. 3. Support products and IT
Adaptation of the places of study
Library
Computer room of “Magisterio”
Language lab in Filología
Computer room of “Derecho”
Computer room of “Aulario II”
Consultation computers in the Library
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

14. 3. Support products and IT
e) IT Projects Portfolio
Study of virtual education platforms
Access to the Virtual Campus
Access to other web services
Training of Administration and Services Staff (PAS) and IT support service staff.
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

15. 4. Rely on the human factor
Training of technicians
Involvement of administration ans services staff
Participation in forums
Encourage and assit the teaching and research staff
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

16. 5. Cooperation with entities
ONCE
Universia foundation
FESORD
Vodafone Spain foundation
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

17. 6. Experimentation, research, participation
BLAT-TALP ( (similar a Lambda Infty
LSE – Biblioteca Virtual de Cervantes (Cervantes Virtual Library)
TEMPUS Project “Center of Higher Education for People with Disabilities” Jep
Webcam + Portanum
Trascriptor Braille Matemático online
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

18. 6. Experimentation, research, participation
Lambda
Infty
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

19. 6. Experimentation, research, participation
Online mathematics Braille transcriptor
¿Scientific texts? These are not interoperable systems, mathematics in Braille are different from mathematics in the written system. Thus, transcription is needed.
Developed by the Student Support Centre of University of Alicant.
It transliterates a ASCII text into the Braille system and vice versa.
Demonstration.
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

20. 6. Experimentation, research, participation
Online mathematics Braille transcriptor
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

21. 6. Experimentation, research, participation
Portal “Devuélveme La Voz”
Project: Inclusive educational platforms and electronic documents accessible in 2014
Dragon Naturally Speaking+ (FM Transmitter and/or Bluetooth)
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014

22. Thank you
Swing – Univ. Alicante - 21 octubre 2014