| Walk
past the front desk of the William V. Marshburn Memorial Library,
and you will see rows of PCs to the right and to the left. At almost
any time during the library’s operational hours, students
check email, write papers, or do online research, occupying most
of these computers. But this is not the area that makes Irene Robinson,
MLS, media services librarian, most proud. Up ahead, on the left,
there is a pocket of the library that often goes unnoticed –
the breeding ground for Robinson’s dreams: the assisted technology
center.
The idea for such an area first sparked interest in Robinson when
she attended a conference in 2000, along with Michael Tapia, academic
services coordinator for the Learning Enrichment Center. Following
the program, Robinson and Tapia realized the existence of this need
for APU students and then presented their plan for approval in the
William V. Marshburn Memorial Library. The result was the beginning
of the Assisted Technology Program – one computer and accompanying
software.
The assisted technology center is the culmination of more than
two years of planning and boasts software and machines set up to
enable students with learning impairments to use a computer, read
a book, or watch a video with the same ease as any other college
student. Today’s available resources include MagniSight, J.A.W.S.
(Job Access Word System), Zoomtext Xtra, closed-captioned videos,
and Kurzweil 3000. Kurzweil 3000 is the latest software attained
by the Marshburn Memorial Library, and is designed to help students
with visual impairments or dyslexia. Students can type a document
and the computer will enlarge the print as they are typing and audibly repeat
the words through the speakers. A scanner next to the computer allows
students to read directly from their text by scanning a textbook
page and then enlarging the image on the monitor. For students with
dyslexia, the program highlights each sentence and each specific
word as they read.
Robinson continues to push for more ways to serve students. Collaborating
with Mason Murphy, a visually impaired graduate student, she writes
grants aimed at public schools in order to bring updated programs
to the center. The two agree that their goal with these devices
is to make learning easier for those who may often find the learning
process very difficult. As of spring 2002, APU accommodated 48 students
with disabilities, 25 of whom have learning impairments.
Above all, Robinson views the continued development of the center
as a responsibility mandated by faith. “Although [the private
university] is not required to do this by law, we want to provide
the Assisted Technology Program out of compassion – to show
the love that Christ would have given.”
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