What's New for '07-'08?

New Academic Year’s Resolutions

Everyone else makes New Year’s Resolutions, and never being one to follow a convention just because it exists, I’ve decided to make some New Academic Year’s Resolutions.

• I resolve to blog more often. (The nice thing about saying “more often” is that it’s nebulous and y’all can’t pin me down to specific timeframes.)
• I resolve - again - to look for more resources for math and science.
• I resolve to create more online training materials. I’m thinking about a Blackboard class for technology and disability.
  

New Stuff at SOU This Fall

This summer, once again, we’ve been busy re-imagining the student experience with SOU. And the results?

• JAWS went to a network version! Now, if you are a JAWS user, you can use it just about anywhere on campus. Not on Macs, obviously…
• Dragon is in the process of being updated. The adaptive stations in the library and main lab have the new version (9), and the AT Lab is next.
• Priority Registration is now available to eligible students online. No more picking up pieces of paper in the Access Center, heading over and standing in line… only to find out you need instructor approval for a class. Why is this in the AT blog? What better demonstration of how technology assists us than to use an online service to do something quickly and independently, and in our pajamas if we want to?!
• You can now access the request form for an accommodated test online. We’re working on some other very exciting changes in the testing process… keep watching for this!
• The new DSS Student Handbook is available for download from our website. This handy book includes procedures, form samples, resources, your rights and responsibilities… just about everything you could want to know. You can use any of your favorite assistive technology to access the handbook.
• We now have a Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Coordinator, Ila Sachs. She and I work together on FM Systems, VRS, TTYs, and other hearing-related technology.

More improvements are coming. If you have ideas that you would really like to see implemented, tell us in the comment field!