[Athen] Onscreen Keyboard

[Brad Held]

Dear Rachel,
My thoughts. UCF is a Windows 7 campus (for the most part; just a few Macs and Windows 8.1). With features like, resizing of the keyboard (to get larger letters), text prediction, number pad, and alternate input (hover keys and scanning), the on-screen keyboard in W7 is sufficient enough for our campus needs for accessibility and equal access. Plus it is built-in!

Click-N-Type is updated and maintained, but still looks like a Windows 95 program, I am sure this is for accessibility, but still a polish image is important. The W7/8.1 and Mac on-screen keyboards look modern. Again, just my preference for campus wide. For an AT lab, I think having Click-N-Type is a good freeware solution. An even better paid solution is Applied Human Factors - REACH on-screen keyboard. It has smart keys (dictionary base spelling), smart list (solid word prediction), scanning, mouse/pointer assistance, and completely customizable with lots of templates. http://newsite.ahf-net.com/reach/

**Have to mention: The windows ease of access center is housed in the control panel. The simple command of 'Windows key + U' to access it is sometimes locked out due to administrative settings. This is a common security measure to stop students from messing up the computers in labs, etc.  Work with your IT departments to ensure students have access to it. You can also  add a desktop shortcut to all the programs (magnifier, narrator, speech recognition, on-screen keyboard), or make sure they can be found in the start menu under accessories. 

I hope this information helps. I appreciate your commitment to creating an accessible educational experience!

Brad Held
Assistive Technology Coordinator
Student Disability Services
University of Central Florida
Ferrell Commons 7F, Room 185
Orlando, FL 32816-0161
(407) 823-2371

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Thompson, Rachel
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2014 2:28 PM
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Athen] Onscreen Keyboard

We are deciding what tools need to be on public computers campus-wide.
Some suggestions from other institutions from a few years ago included Click-N-Type, but I wonder if the PC and Mac native onscreen keyboards have caught up with user needs. Do your users who prefer an onscreen keyboard use the ones included with the Mac OS or with Windows? Do you know of reasons why we would install Click-N-Type as well?
http://www.lakefolks.org/cnt/

Any input would be helpful.

Rachel

Dr. Rachel S. Thompson
Director, Emerging Technology and Accessibility Center for Instructional Technology University of Alabama http://accessibility.ua.edu



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