The DSA and ProStudy: How undergraduates can save time collating research and enjoy the process
At Aventido, we believe in promoting people, products, and organisations that we believe in, within the Assistive Technology sector.
In this article we want to draw your attention to a recent interview of one of our clients, Jonathan Webb who developed the innovative software, Pro-Study, that takes the stress out of collecting, organising, and referencing research for assignments within Higher Education.
The interview itself was conducted by John Hicks aka ‘Dyslexia Blogger’ on his YouTube channel for The Studying With Dyslexia Blog. A huge advocate for Assistive Technology himself, John is also a ‘people person’ and in this interview was keen to find out more about the person behind Pro-Study and what motivated Jonathan to develop this product that supports under-graduate studies.
You can watch the interview below:
Jonathan Webb, a graduate from Leeds Beckett University, founded Stat Northern, the Assistive Technology training company in 2009 that specialises in providing training through the Disabled Students Allowance to under-graduate students experiencing barriers to learning due to disability.
It was in training students with a range of disabilities that Jonathan saw a need for organising and referencing research effectively whilst also making the process less stressful.
It was clear from feedback received from students and his colleagues that there was no technology in place that had been specifically designed to speed up the process of collecting research. There were products available that partially met the needs that Jonathan observed but they were not designed with these specific needs in mind.
In 2016, Jonathan launched Pro-Study.
The video below explains how Pro-Study works:
For Pro-Study to take shape as a useful software product that significantly meets the needs of the user, work was done to collaborate with user-based ‘focus groups’ containing members with diverse needs that would be eligible for DSA support. The feedback from these groups was key to ensuring that the resultant user experience of Pro-Study was impactful in a positive way.
Now having been available for students over a number of years, feedback from users indicates that Pro-Study stands out from most of the provision of assistive technology in that students use it every day and that it saves students time. Students report that they load it up on their screens and find that they enjoy using it as it makes the process of gathering research easier. It provides a central database of all their research that is colour-coded and provides context and nothing gets lost.
The software also comes with a smartphone app that allows for processing research on the fly and makes that information available on the desktop PC when the student needs to continue their work at the desk.
Here at Aventido, our Product Specialist, Sam Cock, provides demonstrations and training sessions on how to use Pro-Study for DSA Needs Assessors and AT Trainers.
If you would like to join a scheduled demonstration or training session or contact Sam to find out more then go to our Pro-Study webpage.
Sam Cock
Sam joined team Aventido at the start of 2020. Sam has worked within the DSA for over 8 years and is also an AT trainer creating personal training sessions tailored to the specific needs of his students that allows them to enhance their study skills and ability to complete tasks.
Sam’s deep knowledge of AT solutions and strong student relationships provides him with the skills to showcase the products in a way the clearly shows the benefits AT can have on the users learning experience.
Over the last year Sam has been creating a wide range of webinars involving two of our partners here at Aventido: Pro-Study and Nuance.
As well as curating webinars you will probably catch Sam representing the company at industry conferences and road shows giving presentations and 1-2-1 product awareness sessions.