SuperNova Access Suite Case Study: Computer Qualifications for Visually Impaired Students at Bolton College.

Bolton College is a mainstream college of education that has a full time Visually Impaired (VI) Unit offering computing courses for people with a visual impairment. The college has recently upgraded to Supernova, Dolphin’s latest combined speech and magnification product for Windows. The VI Unit was established in 1989, with a brief to offer an access to education and employment courses for local people with a visual impairment.

Linda Owens, the Tutor for the Visually Impaired, explained, “Having previously worked at the Access Centre at Oldham College, I had seen that visually impaired computer users have a need for a professional organisation to provide training at a convenient location and an affordable price. Here we set out to deliver those needs, with courses specially designed using computers with the keyboard and speech output.” As a technology, the use of computers is very enabling for visually impaired people. Once they have mastered the keyboard, students can compose letters, create original documents, operate databases, send and receive e-mail, browse the internet and perform a variety of other functions.

"We currently have fifty eight students with a range of visual impairments and so we have upgraded to the latest Dolphin product, Supernova. With Supernova we have eliminated many of our technical and support problems. Dolphin were able to offer us Technical Support for the installation period, and follow this up with training for our Tutors on the new system. In switching to Supernova, with both speech output and screen magnification in one package, we have had a lot of work to do to realign the resource materials we offer in support of our courses. But the flexibility of Supernova, and the support we have had from Dolphin has made the installation and configuration of the computers much easier.” Supernova Reader Magnifier is compatible with a wide range of application software, without the need for any additional configuration files. However, for users with particular requirements Supernova’s settings can be adjusted to provide levels of speech output, or variations in the degree of magnification. For example, each student using speech output can decide on the level of punctuation announcement which they hear, or whether capital letters are indicated, or even whether to have automatic description of the font colours on the screen etc. In terms of enlargement, the students can decide which magnification best suits them, whether the text is shown black on white or white on black or which of the five magnification modes best shows the areas they are interested in. This type of flexibility has been a bonus in Bolton’s experience. "Some students need speech, some enlargement and some need both, and with Supernova we can provide what is best for them. Having speech and screen magnification in the one programme could have been complicated, but Supernova’s Hot Keys make it easy for the students and teaching staff to use and remember.”

Learning the basics of computing in isolation can be a frustrating and time consuming business. That’s where a place such as Bolton College comes in. As Linda explains, "In our VI Unit at Bolton College today, we have a fully equipped facility with the latest Windows technology. We can provide training courses for a variety of subjects, including GCSE Maths and English, CLAIT, OCR Word and Text Processing and NVQ Level 2 Administration. By following the approved curriculum we know that our students have achieved an agreed level of skills and will carry away with them recognised qualifications which will help them if they go on to further courses or look for employment opportunities.” As software, Supernova does not get in the way of the operating system.

Magnification and/or speech output are available at any time and Supernova also offers full support for Braille output via a Braille display. But the crucial point is that students and staff are spending their time concentrating on learning the application programs, not being diverted into spending valuable class time learning the speech system. Having worked in the field of manufacturing access products for visually impaired people since the mid-1980s, Dolphin Computer Access relies on its close working relationship with users, and partnerships with sites such as Bolton College enable the constant improvement of products for people with visual impairments. “What we like about using Dolphin products is the after sales service and the technical back-up. We also like the way that they continue to develop their products to our needs. The help line is especially useful to the novice and the expert, as it provides technical support at the end of the telephone when we need it” confirms Linda.

User Stories index

Buy it Try it