Make the Cut – Fall 2021
Paul Menton Centre, Carleton University
TRANSCRIPT: Assistive Technology Q&A Session – Jordyn Tremblay

[JORDYN] I'm going to invite Amanda on and we are going to start going through the questions you guys have sent in.

[AMANDA] Wow, Jordyn! I work with you and I’m always astonished by what you show and to quote you, “Thank you for 'spilling the tea' on AT”! So, we're gonna get started with your questions. Maybe you'll have some questions about why you enjoy Thor and Loki so much, but let's see what what other people have come up with. So, Jordyn you were talking about a bunch of free technology that's available. Is that free to students now or when that would that be free to students? 

[JORDYN] Usually for most situations, it's after you have become a student of the institution you have applied to. So, if you're coming to Carleton, as soon as you have your acceptance, you've set up your account, there's going to be certain technologies that you could even potentially um download right away. One prime example and a lot of institutions have this, we have a site license for the Microsoft 365 software suite. So, that's Microsoft Word, that's Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and it is on the Carleton website that all the steps for accessing that are listed. But you can always reach out to your Assistive Technologist and they'll be able to kind of guide you through the process if you're not sure. 

[AMANDA] Awesome! Thank you so much. So, what are some of the examples of tech programs that you use to support different executive functions? 

[JORDYN] It varies plenty. When it comes to like planning, it might be certain calendar apps, list apps, habit tracker apps like Habitica. When it comes to any difficulties with writing, dictation software, word prediction software is available. Do keep in mind, there's a lot of things that are embedded on your computers. Prime example, there's embedded word prediction software on all Windows computers at this point, and last I checked, Macs also have an embedded accessibility feature for word prediction as well. um Beyond that … um … what's another good example? Reading software for anything, ranging from difficulty with reading comprehension to even like editing through papers, like I mentioned in the presentation … of course, I’m on the spot, so now I’m running out of all my links between the different technologies. 

[AMANDA] Lots of questions coming in. So, that's cool! To remind you as well, that students should not buy Microsoft Office when they buy a laptop because ALL (in capital letters) post-secondary institutions provide MS Office. So, I just wanted to--  for free! Okay, so, I just wanted to put that out there. We have a couple more minutes for for some questions. This is a good one coming in for about Google users because a lot of, you know, people are encouraged to use their Gmail account for document sharing and and all those other things. So, do you find that Google users have a tough time getting used to OneNote and the Immersive Reader  from-- after using Google drive and Read&Write? 

[Jordyn] Usually, no … and like one thing I should mention, for Carl-- like. as I’m-- like was brought up before, Carleton, we do have a site license for Read&Write. So, if you already use that at your current school you don't have to give that up if you come to Carleton. But overall I find most students with the Immersive Reader and OneNote, after kind of being shown all the different features, it's usually fairly intuitive, and if at any point, you feel like the transition to a next new technology is a little tricky, just let your Assistive Technologists know. We will meet with you as many times as you need to make sure you're comfortable with the technology. 

[AMANDA] Awesome, thank you so much. So, for people who aren't sure about what the technologies they would like, is there someone they should talk to? And a bit of a follow-up there too, let's say for example, you're going into a program with a lot of drawing and writing, would it be advantageous to get an iPad or a laptop?

[JORDYN] It matters what you're comfortable with. I do typically recommend go with a laptop for the most part when you're entering a program, just because for certain things such as like uploading, papers you need to submit, working with various software. For example, like you might have some course-specific software that's not going to work on a tablet, but will work on an actual laptop. Do keep in mind that if you decide to go with a laptop, but you don't have a laptop with a touchscreen or the capability to convert to a tablet, there are usually options to explore such as, like drawing pads, or ways that you can even connect your phone to like replicate the feel of having an iPad just on software on your desktop. 

[AMANDA] Very cool. So, you recommend kind of checking out the the program software requirements first before purchasing any type of technology.

[JORDYN] 100%!

[AMANDA] Okay. And what if I have a Chromebook? So, what kind of assisted technology or software can they install in a Chromebook specifically? 

[JORDYN] let's see specifically for Chromebook, Read&Write is a major one. There are a variety of different applications available. Let's see uh beyond that Grammarly integrates with Google docs. What are other major ones?

[AMANDA] Is it safe to say that it's a good idea to maybe connect with you or another Assistive Technologist to talk about that? 

[JORDYN] Oh, 100%! Definitely reach out to your Assistive Technologist. One thing I should mention if you have a Chromebook, definitely check out your program's specifications just because certain programs will specify that you like you need a Windows computer or you need a Mac. So, just double check. But like there are a number of programs that are now becoming very open to Chromebooks. But yeah, reach out to your Assistive Technologist and recommendations of like what you would be able to use, specifically in the context of like what you need to do for your program, they'll be able to kind of go over all that with you. 

[AMANDA] And, Jordyn, the technology that you demoed today. So, Notability, Read&Write, OneNote … I can't even remember the seven that you reviewed, but are they compatible with any operating system or does it vary depending on the operating system?
 
[JORDYN] For the most part most of them were, Notability, in particular, is one that's only available on Mac and IOS devices, but Habitica works across the board, same with OneNote Microsoft Word … let's see … am I missing anything? Yeah …  no, that was everthi--. 

[AMANDA] Grammarly? 

[JORDYN] Exactly … Grammarly works across the board, thank you! But yeah, it was only Notability … that one's very specific to the operating system. 

[AMANDA] That transcribe feature looks pretty awesome for online uh online learning, right? Especially if it's a live class, which wasn't really something that we talked about today, was the different like styles of classes. So, that's probably something that students should look out for too is different delivery for classes, right? 

[JORDYN] Oh 100% … especially when it comes to note-taking technology, the way your class is presented might determine exactly what software you're going to prefer to use. And it might be the case that you're using one software for one class and one for another class if you have a mix of like in-person classes versus like online asynchronous classes. 

[AMANDA] And we know that there's a lot of Black Friday sales coming up, there's Christmas … and a lot of people want to get ahead of, you know, let's say purchasing their technology for next year. People might get them as gifts. So, as you've talked about again, like you know, some some programs will require PCs, other programs require Macs. So, just reiterating … this a third time …. making sure that you check with the program requirements before you purchase anything, right? 

[JORDYN] Oh, yes, please please do! You'll save yourself a lot of grief down the line when you're kind of like, “Oh I have this amazing computer, but the software that I really need to do my assignments isn't compatible with it!” 

[AMANDA] Awesome … well thanks so much, Jordyn! I think we're going to turn it back over to Paddy, but, as always, your genius in AT is unmatched! 

[JORDYN] Awesome! Thank you for listening to me, everyone … enjoy the rest of Make The Cut!