EasyConverter Case Study: Giving Students an Equal Chance

Learning materials in the right format, faster – with Dolphin EasyConverter

Having to stand for hours at a photocopier is hardly most teachers' idea of time best spent.

But until now there has been little alternative for those needing to produce appropriate teaching material for sight-impaired students that will help to give them an equal chance.

Yet, as college equality and diversity officer Peter Lucas has recently found this essential job can be done much faster by using the latest software from Dolphin.

Peter works at Brockenhurst College in the beautiful New Forest National Park on England's South Coast. A Beacon College and Centre of Vocational Excellence, Brockenhurst College offers courses and training for around 2,500 sixth form and international students, a large number of employers and 8,000 adult learners.

With a range of students needing altformat materials, Peter has recently bought Dolphin EasyConverter and is already discovering the difference it can make.

EasyConverter's big advantage is that it enables you to produce altformat material quickly and easily in multiple formats (large print, Braille, MP3, audio and DAISY). All you need to do is click your mouse to convert files that are on your computer - such as Word or text documents, pages that you have scanned in, pdfs or web pages.

Peter explains: "Before we bought EasyConverter, members of the support staff spent many hours laboriously copying worksheets and handouts, mainly for students with sight impairment. Usually this would mean providing sheets in bigger fonts by making large photocopies. This was not really satisfactory as quality is often lost. And producing textbooks in a large format was prohibitively expensive."

File formats such as pdfs had to be word processed in Word before large print copies could be produced - a time-consuming and expensive process, says Peter.

"Converting such a document would take around an hour for four sides of A4. I ended up spending most of my time at the photocopier!"

Dolphin EasyConverter has proved to be the time-efficient answer. Not only can the software be used to quickly and easily convert just about any learning material that is scanned in or is already on computer.

It also enables Peter and his team to provide solutions for a wider range of students - for example those with dyslexia who can benefit from using DAISY books, which highlight words on screen as they are read out.

In fact, one set of learning material can be output again and again in whichever format is needed - and saved for use or adaptation by future year groups too. At Brockenhurst College, support staff can now quickly produce material in the format that's asked for by teachers - freeing up valuable time that can be spent on face-to-face contact with students instead.

Peter says that students who use altformat materials are already benefiting too.

"They are less likely to be put off studying by their learning difficulties and are more likely to be attentive, as they are getting better quality materials to work with in the format they need.

"We think that EasyConverter will improve teacher motivation too, as all staff want to see their students doing well. Anything that helps that happen has to be good."

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