Administrative Issues: Resources
Q1_21. What are the top 5 issues or challenges you face working in the AT in Higher Ed field?
(41 responses)
The following is a summary of reponses, organized into common themes and listed without regard to the order in which participants listed them. Identical or highly similar responses have been consolidated, and in such cases a count appears in parentheses after the response.
Faculty/Staff
- Lack of knowledge by faculty/staff/admin
- Educating instructors
- Educating staff and instructors
- Training faculty (2)
- faculty misperceptions
- Making faculty aware of the need for universal design.
- Educating faculty/staff that AT does not give disabled students an unfair advantage.
- Faculty buy-in of AT/Accessibility
- Informing faculty of AT available
- training campus technicians
- Educating staff (2)
- Computer service employees that don't understand AT or how it should work
Departmental Issues
- Lack of communication between departments
- Getting administrators to admit responsibility for AT in their departments.
- understanding from other dept
- training dept. lab staff
Students
- Assessment of students for assistive technology
- Finding solutions to unique AT needs.
- student skills levels (2)
- Training for students (2)
- Not enough students with each AT need to offer specialized AT classes. For example: I would like to offer a Microsoft Office class for students with low vision or blind but we don't have enough of that population to consistently offer a class like that.
- Student training. Many of our students are completely unprepared to access many of the technologies available. It would be beneficial if they had access to technologies before they enter secondary education.
- Getting students to follow through on training.
- Convincing students to try/use adaptive technology.
- Convincing students with no technological background to use technology
- Getting students to use AT (3)
- Follow through by the client once the technology is in place
- Getting students with LD to use AT on a regular basis
- Student resistance to AT in general
- Hesitancy of students
- Students are unaware of the availability of technology to make things work better for end.
- Student Retention
Institutional Support
- Institution support of DSS office & related recruitment & retention of SWD
- Lack of support for an overall institutional plan for the development and implementation of AT
- Lack of institutional interest in the topic in general
- Convincing college that technology planning must include adaptive technology
- Communication with administration
- Lack of support by administrator
- Functional support
- Lack of institution support either through understanding of need, or through financial support.
- Administrative Buy-In (2)
- Resources (Human, financial, & technical)
- Upper management has different priorities
Institutional Support: Funding
- Funding/Money (15)
- Money, funding, budget, resources, cash: Institutional priorities are elsewhere
- Finding enough funding for hardware/software purchases and upgrades (5)
- Budget/Budgetary constraints (3)
- Cost of AT
- Funding for students to purchase needed AT for home use.
- funding for students to have their own equipment - particularly students with LD so they will not have to rely strictly on our Adaptive Lab
- How to justify upgrades with low use of AT
- The one thing I do not lack is funding!
Institutional Support: Staffing
- Lack of staff (7)
- No one is in place to do the job and no other department sees it as their responsibility
- Administrative support for classifying A. T. position as permanent.
- Getting the administration to hire someone to manage/oversee AT .
- Having enough staff to meet client demand and to keep abreast of changes in technology.
- Lack of people to do what I would like.
- Trained personpower
- Not enough staff to provide all the AT training that is requested. (2)
- Help, I am the only one in our department who knows anything about AT. AND, AT isn't even part of my job description! We need more knowledgeable staff to manage our lab.
- Providing access to an open lab where students who require AT may drop in and do assignments with a permanent staff person present for assistance.
Institutional Support: Space
- Lack of space (5)
- Our department is very limited on space, would need to have additional space to grow.
- Physical space allocation for training/lab.
Institutional Culture
- Mind sets towards disabilities
- Getting the campus as a whole to consider the need for assistive technology when considering students' needs
Professional Development
- Lack of opportunities for training for myself
- Lack of training for staff working with AT (3)
- Keeping up with new technologies (7)
- Lack of opportunities to view and evaluate new technology
- Maintaining personal tech skills with regard to general computing technology
- Lack of opportunities for professional Training for Staff
- Lack of appropriate training for assessors
- Lack of opportunities for networking with other professionals
- Lack of institutional understanding of the importance of my professional development and training in this area
- Weighing what AT would be best to purchase
Time
- Lack of time to research more appropriate support strategies.
- Lack of time (3)
- Staying current with AT products and services.
- Lack of time to effective perform this portion of my job
- Lack of time to do all that needs to be done.
- Keeping up with needs of students
- Time to train students on AT
- Time for Alternative Technologist to learn adaptive technology
- Time for Alternative Media Technologist to train others in the use of adaptive technology
- Finding the time to handle all the technical issues.
- Not enough administration time available.
- Time spent setting up institutional policy and procedures
Technical Issues
- Compatibility between AT & Academic software
- Install and compatibility issues on different networks, servers, and hardware/software campus-wide.
- Ensuring similar programs are used across campus for consistency.
- Inventory of current AT on campus
- Determing how AT will work with existing networks and machine setups.
- Managing software and hardware keys on multiple servers run by multiple people
- AT Equipment
- Adaquete software
- Web accessibility (2)
- Monitoring distance learning for accessibility
- Providing AT in every computer lab at a Community College. (10% of every lab should have AT.)
- Providing upgrades of the AT software and assuring the best assess with good hardware and accessible furniture.
Alternate Format
- Getting books in alt format
- Being able to meet the needs for alternative format materials.
Awareness
- Awareness (2)
- Marketing of service to students with disabilities.
Other
- Supporting/monitoring A. T. needs at satellite campuses.
- Providing classes that are designed to teach assistive technology like Jaws, ZoomText & Kurzweil both for students and trainers on a regular basis.
- Lack of National policy and procedures
- Lack of guidance for satisfactory AT outcome measures that are suitable for the sector
- Organization
- Resources
- Maintaining high standard of accessibility;
Q1_22. What tools or utilities would you find most beneficial as a professional in the AT field? (check all that apply)
(54 responses)
| Response | Count | % |
|---|---|---|
| Software/Hardware Reviews | 45 | 83.3 |
| A national set of ATHEN-defined work standards for professionals in the AT in higher ed field. | 35 | 64.8 |
| Information Repository (Links, bookmarks, etc.) | 40 | 74.1 |
| Standards Discussions, Reviews, and Assistance | 43 | 79.6 |
| Programmed learning opportunities (e.g., CSUN Assistive Technology certificate, modified for college and university assistive technology essentials) | 39 | 72.2 |
Other:
| 8 | 14.8 |
Q1_23. Which resource do you consider to be the most beneficial to your continuing to learn about assistive technology, technology accessibility, and web accessibility issues? (check all that apply)
(51 responses)
| Response | Count | % |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor websites | 32 | 62.7 |
| 3rd Party reviews | 20 | 39.2 |
| Peer reviews | 29 | 56.9 |
| Peer communication/mailing lists | 35 | 68.6 |
| Magazine, commercial, or otherwise | 14 | 27.5 |
| Vender sows/demonstrations | 25 | 49.0 |
| Workshops- interactive | 39 | 76.5 |
| Regional meetings with colleagues | 30 | 58.8 |
| Mentoring from AT specialists in brother/sister institutions | 23 | 45.1 |
| Formal course work | 13 | 25.5 |
| Formal training for a specific device, or type of device | 28 | 54.9 |
| Workshops/seminars/conferences | 44 | 86.3 |
| Technology trade-shows or expositions | 24 | 47.1 |
| Technology marketing representatives or vendors | 13 | 25.5 |
| Advertisements | 9 | 17.6 |
| Publications, journals, magazines, etc. | 25 | 49.0 |
| On-line discussion lists or web sites | 36 | 70.6 |
| Professional peers | 38 | 74.5 |
| Students (experienced assistive technology users) | 35 | 68.6 |
| W3C | 16 | 31.4 |
| Accessibility Forum | 18 | 35.3 |
| ABLEDATA | 11 | 21.6 |
| Other University Websites | 24 | 47.1 |
Other:
| 5 | 9.8 |