Tag Archives: ICT Support

ATSS Highland – Covid-19: Closure of Schools⤴

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The Assistive Technology Support Service (ATSS) will be available for online help and support during the school closure period.

ATSS can help with advice and practical support around Highland’s School technology (Google Classroom, etc.) but also more specialised access around reading and writing supports for all the digital material that’s many pupils have difficulty with and that are likely to be flowing your child’s way over the coming weeks, perhaps months.

We can help with, amongst other things, reading support apps for iPad, PC, and Chrome. We can also help with supportive writing tools for iPad, Chrome, and PC.

Get in touch by emailing myself (Alan Stewart) and we can take things from there.

TAP – a new input/control device.⤴

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A new way to input text and control devices.

TAP is a strap that you wear on your hand, and you type by tapping out different finger combinations. As an access device it could be of interest to people with VI, single handed typists, and anyone who wants a touch typing alternative.

Find out more here.

ComicLife3 for Chrome⤴

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Today plasq announced the official release of Comic Life 3 for Chromebook! The app is now available in the form of a compatible Android app.

Comic Life 3 for Chromebook has all the favourite features you have come to love from the other versions. To find out more, please check out the dedicated Comic Life 3 for Chromebook site.

Comic Life 3 is available from the Google Play store and requires a relatively recent Chromebook to function. (If you’ve installed Android apps on your Chromebook you’re ready for Comic Life).

Comic Life 3 on Chromebooks is US$2.49 and can be purchased and downloaded from the Google Play Store here.

Literacy Activities using Book Creator⤴

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All of us at ATSS are fans and long time advocates of Book Creator – it’s so easy to use and yet so powerful for myriad projects across the curriculum.

Here, the guys at Book Creator asked Kurt Klynen to make a book full of ideas for Literacy across the curriculum. It’s well worth a look.†

Read the book here.

Click here for many more reads from the Book Creator Library.

DocsPlus for Chrome gets an Exam Upgrade⤴

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Secondary Literacy Support

DocsPlus for Chromebook – use in exams Read more here.

It’s great to see that the excellent DocsPlus Chromebook app has been updated to incorporate the DocReader and customisable ‘Exam Mode’ settings introduced earlier in the Windows and Mac versions of the software. These exciting additions will facilitate the use of the app in exams for those students who qualify for additional access arrangements.

If you are already using the app, then it will automatically be updated. If you don’t yet have the app and would like a free copy, please email us at info@cricksoft.com.

DocsPlus
for Chromebook trial success

The
ASN team at Cathkin High School, a mainstream secondary school in South
Lanarkshire, supports students with a wide range of needs. including learners
with dyslexia, ADHD and autism. The team has been trialling the DocsPlus
Chromebook app.

Lorna
Jensen, Principal Teacher of ASN, describes the difference that DocsPlus has
made to the students’ literacy output in a short space of time:

“There’s no doubt that DocsPlus had a massive impact on the pupils
during our trial. It improved their self-esteem, confidence and motivation with
writing tasks. Certainly in the English department we found that their level of
writing improved significantly. The letters the pupils wrote were comfortably
at level three – before this, these pupils would have been producing work at an
early level two, so there was definitely a tangible improvement in the quality
of their written work.”

There
were some lovely comments from the students too:

“The spellchecker really helped. It helped me believe in myself,
and gave me confidence with my writing.”

You can learn more about the trial here.

Prediction Software for Chrome⤴

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WordQ for Chrome from Quillsoft is a great tool for helping struggling writers. This app (deliberately not an extension) is robust, works offline, and integrates well with Google Drive. It’s the best low-cost solution we’ve come across during our extensive sweep of available tools.

More details from Quillsoft about the app here.

Good prediction software allows the user to augment the core lexicon with personal and/or topic vocabulary.

The WordQ text editor is clean, and easy to use without over-complicating matters for users.

Features and facilities are all useful and easy to access.

Highland schools can contact the Assistive Technology Support Service (ATSS) for a demonstration or a trial of the software.