1. Welcome + Session Overview
  2. Plan Your Transition
    1. Reference Links from the Presentation
  3. Plan Your Transition Q&A
  4. Learning Strategies Presentation
    1. Reference Links from the Presentation
  5. Learning Strategies Q&A
  6. Assistive Technology (AT) Presentation
    1. AT Technologies Referenced in the Presentation
  7. Assistive Technology Q&A
  8. Student Success Panel + Q&A + Event Wrap-Up
  9. Accessible Presentation Formats
  10. Student feedback survey

Each year, Grade 12 students with disabilities in Ottawa and surrounding areas are invited to attend the “Make the Cut” orientation event aimed at helping these students prepare for their transition the post-secondary environment, with a focus on specific resources available to students with disabilities.

On November 24, 2021, the Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities (PMC) hosted an online version of this event: the Virtual PMC Make the Cut 2021 Session.

The event featured live presentations and student success panel, with opportunities for engagement inside moderated Q&A sessions.

Available below are the captioned video recordings of the presentations and Q&A sessions, along with transcripts, accessible versions of presentation materials, and resource links referenced in the sessions.

Welcome + Session Overview

Paddy Stewart, host of the Virtual PMC Make the Cut 2021, and Bruce Hamm, the Acting Director of PMC welcome attendees and provide a brief overview of the event agenda.

Plan Your Transition

Sonia Tanguay, PMC Senior Disability Coordinator, provides some insight to the post-secondary environment and how to transition successfully.

Reference Links from the Presentation

    • Plan Your Transition with Carleton’s Pathways to Graduation – Pathways to Graduation is designed to help guide you along a path to graduation that is right for you. Explore the Start/Pre-Arrival phase and let the success pillars guide you toward graduation.
    • Accommodation Process – This PMC resource outlines the process by which you access Academic Accommodations at Carleton University, one of the differences between high school and post-secondary highlighted in the presentation above.
    • Documentation Requirements –  This PMC resource outlines disability-specific documentation forms and the information required by the PMC to formally document a disability.
    • High School Transition Guide – This resource from the National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS) aims to assist youth with disabilities in making informed decisions when pursuing higher education with respect to academic options, available financial aid and accommodations that support their studies. It also provides descriptions of other transition programs and non-governmental organizations that can provide assistance.
    • Transition Resource Guide for Students with Disabilities – This comprehensive tool can help all students, but specifically, helps students with disabilities arm themselves with the knowledge they need to access resources at college and university and make a successful transition to post-secondary education; developed by Regional Assessment and Resource Centre (RARC), Queen’s University.
    • Success in STEM – NEADS Guide for studying and pursuing a STEM career as a post-secondary student with a disability; aimed at students interested in science and technology fields of study who have questions along the way, as well as at educators of such students and at employers who may be curious or concerned about the prospect of hiring people with disabilities.
    • Planning Ahead:
      • Financial Aid – RARC’s Transition Resource Guide outlines financial assistance options offered by the federal and provincial governments as well as other scholarships and bursaries for students with disabilities.
      • Directory of Student Awards Offices (NEADS) – searchable database of contact information for Student Awards/Financial Aid offices at Canadian colleges and universities.
      • NEADS National Student Awards Program –  an awards program to defray the cost of tuition fees for post-secondary study for persons with disabilities, who often have greater barriers to participation in higher education, as well as extra costs because of their disabilities.
      • Disability Awards website (NEADS) – created to help post-secondary students search hundreds of scholarships available across Canada specifically for students with disabilities.
      • Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) – a financial aid program that can help you pay for college or university, open to Ontario residents of any age who are Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or protected persons.

Plan Your Transition Q&A

Sonia Tanguay answers questions from attendees.

Learning Strategies Presentation

Amanda Blais, PMC Senior Disabilities Learning Support Coordinator and Learning Strategist covers learning strategies and the supports available in post secondary environments.

Reference Links from the Presentation

  • Planning and Time Management Resources

    • Term Calendar Template – Use this accessible calendar template from Microsoft Office to keep track of your school year. Simply change the year along with starting month and weekend to fit your schedule (includes space for notes).
    • Weekly Planners – Passion Planner offers a number of free PDF downloads, among them are a number of weekly planner templates to choose from.
    • To Do List Apps for task management:
    • Pomodoro Technique – This video outlines how this time management system works, breaking your available work time into 25-minute chunks separated by five-minute breaks.
    • Don’t Break the Chain – This video covers the productivity strategy that commits you to completing a daily goal for an extended period of time.

Learning and Study Skills Resources

    • The Science of Academic Success – YouTube channel with series of videos by Carleton University instructor Christopher Motz (Department of Psychology) that focus on factors that contribute to and provide a practical guide to academic success in university, focusing on how to apply the science to your schoolwork.
    • College Info Geek – A website with articles, podcasts and YouTube videos that provide study hacks and tactics that you can use to cut down your study time drastically, increase recall, and literally change your brain.
    • Cloud Gear Learning – A website providing a series of videos on strategies for writing, organization, study, test skills, and much more.
    • Mind Tools – A website offering some free resources in areas of Time Management, Stress Management, Learning Skills, Communication Skills, and much more. You can also purchase monthly and annual membership to unlock many more resources.

Carleton Resources (Available After Acceptance)

    • Centre for Student Academic Support (CSAS) – provides educational programs and services to support all Carleton University students to have successful academic experiences.
    • Math Tutorial Centre (MTC) –  a study space for any student who wishes to study mathematics or statistics individually, or in group. Students can also meet with and receive support from teaching assistants (TAs).
    • Science Student Success Centre – helps all undergraduate students in the Faculty of Science improve academic performance, define and achieve their academic, career, and social goals to enhance personal success.
    • Elsie MacGill Learning Centre – focused on furthering students’ understanding and comprehension in their engineering studies, providing them with academic support to achieve their learning goals.
    • Student Experience Office – facilitates student-centered learning that enhances the university experience by offering transition support, leadership opportunities, and experiential learning programs.

Carleton Resources (student number and log in required)

    • Orientation:
      • CU 1001 – a mini course experience that provides new students with a focused introduction to the Carleton community and prepares you for your journey as a future Raven, covering information for students in all five faculties (opens in July for students starting in September).
    • Study Skills:
      • CSAS Workshops – self-enroled, online learning and writing support workshops in areas like “Balancing Life and Learning”, “Building Successful Study Habits”,  “Fundamentals of Academic Writing” and much more.
      • MORE Modules – The MORE (Metacognition, Outcomes, Resiliency, and Engagement) Modules were designed by PMC’s Learning Strategists to provide you with strategies and supports that you can use to help mitigate the impact of your disability and help you be the best student you can be. Modules include Time Management, Notetaking and Studying, with new ones released regularly.

Learning Strategies Q&A

Amanda Blais answers questions from attendees.

Assistive Technology (AT) Presentation

Explore various assistive technology that assists post-secondary students with Jordyn Tremblay, PMC Assistive Technologist and Learning Strategist.

AT Technologies Referenced in the Presentation

    • Notability – A note-taking, annotation, and sketching app for Apple computers and mobile devices, enabling users to create and share notes that combine handwriting, typing, drawings, audio, and pictures.
    • Habitica – A free habit-building, productivity, task management app that treats your real life like a role-playing game. With in-game rewards and punishments to motivate you and a strong social network to inspire you, Habitica can help you achieve your goals to become healthy, hard-working, and happy.
    • Immersive Reader – A free tool with proven techniques to improve students’ reading and writing. Within Microsoft Word, Outlook, and OneNote, Immersive Reader makes reading documents, emails, and notes easier. It offers text decoding solutions for students with learning differences such as dyslexia or dysgraphia and can help build confidence for emerging readers learning to read at higher levels.
    • Microsoft Dictate – This app lets you use speech-to-text to author content in Microsoft Office applications with a microphone and reliable internet connection. Use your voice to quickly create documents, emails, notes, presentations, or even slide notes.
    • Grammarly – A writing assistant that offers you specific suggestions to help improve your writing, from grammar and spelling to style and tone, correcting errors and helping to make your writing clear and concise.
    • Microsoft Transcribe – Microsoft’s transcription feature converts audio (recorded or uploaded from a file) directly to text, and even separates the text based on the speaker. After your conversation, interview, or meeting, you can revisit parts of the recording by playing back the timestamped audio and edit the transcription to make corrections. You can save the full transcript as a Word document or insert snippets of it into existing documents.

Other Recommended AT to Explore

    • Glean – A note taking tool designed to improve productivity. Take notes in class or online while capturing audio, text and slides all in one place.
    • OneNote – A research, note-taking, and information storage app that lets you store text and images in free-form documents; part of the Microsoft Office Suite.
    • Google Voice Typing – Google Docs lets you use voice typing to dictate using your computer’s microphone.
    • Microsoft Editor – An AI-powered intelligent writing assistant available for Word, Outlook, and as a browser extension.
    • Read & Write – A literacy support tool that offers help with everyday tasks like reading text out loud, understanding unfamiliar words, researching assignments and proofing written work.
    • Microsoft To Do – An app that allows you to create to do lists, reminders, and notes for any purpose.

Assistive Technology Q&A

Jordyn Tremblay answers questions from attendees.

Student Success Panel + Q&A + Event Wrap-Up

Current PMC students share their experience about university life and offer helpful strategies for a successful transition. Paddy Stewart closes out the 2021 PMC Make the Cut.

Accessible Presentation Formats

    • Session 1: Plan Your Transition to Post-Secondary Presentation
    • Session 2: Learning Strategies in Post-Secondary Presentation
    • Session 3: Assistive Technology Presentation Summary – “8 Tips from an Assistive Technologist”

Student feedback survey

Please let us know what you thought about the Virtual PMC Make the Cut Fall 2021 event by completing the three-question survey form on Survey Monkey.

It’s quick and totally anonymous. 

By providing your anonymous feedback you will help us continue to grow and develop this event for future students.

If you have questions, please contact Linda Stewart, Transitions Coordinator for PMC’s Make The Cut, by email at L1stewart@rogers.com.

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