Liberated Learning Partners in Australia:

Macquarie University, Sydney Australia

Macquarie University Accessibility Services (MQAS) is a national unit within the Learning and Teaching Centre at Macquarie University and is responsible for:  

1. converting materials into accessible formats to facilitate equity of access to information and knowledge for staff and students with access needs;
2. providing leadership in the use of new and emerging technologies to enhance equity initiatives across campus;
3. supporting staff in their efforts to develop accessible curricula and meet the needs of students with disabilities and other access needs;
4. providing input  to the development of cross institutional access and equity solutions, to assist the general student body as well as those with high end access needs;

Through its partnership with the Liberated Learning Consortium, MQAS is researching the automatic transcription of recorded lectures in 2009 and the effectiveness of live captioning of lectures in 2010 for hearing impaired students. It is hoped that the trial of these technologies, will provide the evidence of their benefit to the learning outcomes of both hearing impaired students and the wider student body. Other research projects MQAS is involved in are:

• assessing the effectiveness of portable text to speech software and hardware to enhance learning;
• evaluating the value, of converting learning materials into the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) format;
• enhancing learning outcomes for Indigenous students  through the introduction of assistive and adaptive technologies

Contact:

Sharon Kerr – Project Leader
Macquarie University Accessibility Services (MQAS)
Room 007 Ground Floor 299 Lane Cove Road Macquarie University, Sydney. NSW. 2109, Australia
sharon.kerr@mq.edu.au
Phone: 61 2 9850 1480

Andrew Lovell-Simons - Project Manager
alovells@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au
Phone: 61 2 9850 1485

Stephen Kennedy-Clark- Project Technical Director
stkenned@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au
Phone: 61 2 9850 8390

Macquarie University Learning and Teaching Centre, Accessibility Services

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