[Athen] some things adaptive technology experts need to know (Vacation Alert Auto Response)

[Linda Hardman]

I will be off campus on Monday and will be responding to email messages
when I return to the office on Tuesday, July 4.  Please note Georgian
College will be closed on Friday, June 30.

Linda Hardman
Testing and Adaptive Technology Services
Owen Sound Campus
1450 8th Street East
Owen Sound  ON  N4K 5R4
Phone: (519) 376-0840 ext. 2047
Fax: (519) 372-3216
lhardman at georgianc.on.ca
www.georgianc.on.ca







>>> athen 06/30/06 14:35 >>>


I have to second Kathy's comments on the fun of adapting to new
situations and individual students.  I have a BA in Foreign Languages
(Spanish and Japanese) and Computer Science, an MA in Linguistics, and a
PhD in English Composition, Rhetoric, and Linguistics.  Doesn't sound
much like an Access Technologist, but I worked my way thru my undergrad
as a research assistant for a blind grad student, so started learning
access tech in its infancy.  While I was working on my two upper
degrees, I earned my way thru school working as a lab assistant in a
computer lab reserved specifically for SWD, then temporarily as a TRIO
coordinator and finally as an alt format production manager, while also
teaching at the college level in mainstream classes.  Along the way I
learned a whole lot about all kinds of access tech, alt format,
accessible teaching methods, accessible web design, you name it.  My
linguistics experience has given me a lot of insight into helping
students with speech recognition, ASL-to-English issues, and
understanding why synthesized speech can sometimes be so odd to listen
to.  I've ended up being a jack of all trades and master of most, and I
love every part of it.  It's challenging but also incredibly rewarding,
and I hope new folks coming into the field can enjoy it as much as many
of us already do.  Although formal training is good to have, you never
know where training in other fields is going to serve you well.

Best,

Teresa Wells Haven
University of Arkansas

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Kathleen Cahill
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 8:46 PM
To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network; Julie Joffray
Subject: Re: [Athen] some things adaptive technology experts need to
know


I've enjoyed reading everyone's responses and thanks to the list member
who wrote in with the original question!  So, here's my two cents.  I
have a BS in Management, took programming courses and was a programmer
for 5-6 years.  I wasn't very good at it nor did I enjoy it.  I left
work and got a Masters in Social Work.  During my time at graduate
school, I needed a part-time job and someone suggested I look into
adaptive technology, which I thought sounded great!  So, I found a part
time position with the Mass. Commission for the Blind, adapting
computers for our Vocational Rehab. clients.  I loved it.  And I still
love it!  I stayed there for 7 years and moved on to my present position
at MIT, where I work on the team that administers the Adaptive Computing
lab, provides technology services to students with disabilities,
converts print materials to electronic format when needed and promotes
web accessibility.  My social work background is very useful in my
current job, both with staff and students.  My team reports to the IT
department, which makes it much easier to stay on track with current
versions of hardware and software that are supported at MIT.

I try to get to a few conferences a year and have found the EASI online
web conferences and courses to be quite useful.  I find that how you do
things varies tremendously by the university, its culture, and the
students that we see.  It's always fun to figure out the best way to do
things for a student.

Best wishes to you,
Kathy Cahill

MIT ATIC (Adaptive Computing) Lab
77 Mass. Ave 7-143
Cambridge MA 02139
(617) 253-5111
kcahill at mit.edu


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