The Office of Disability Services held an open house Tuesday, April 19, to introduce Marq Your Path, a program for students with disabilities at Marquette University designed to support academic excellence and increase retention and graduation rates.
“It’s kind of like a support group for students to come and talk about school and know that they are not the only ones with a disability or struggling in classes, but it is also a place to get help with school work as well,” said a student working with the program.
Marq Your Path is implementing new technology into their program to help students learn and comprehend. New Scanners, computers and iPads are at the forefront of innovating the program.
According to Marq Your Path director Heidi Vering, the iPad is proving to be most helpful for students in the program.
“The iPad gives the students so much mobility because they can take it anywhere and they can keep all of their books on it as well,” Vering said. “I like the iPad the most because it allows students to have independence. They don’t have to rely on others.
One application called Cloud will organize students’ information and make it easily accessible. Another application called Dragonspeak, will allow students to speak into the iPad or computer and will generate words in a Word document. Dragonspeak can also read papers aloud, so students can catch their own errors and hear how their papers flow.
Heidi credits all of the program consultants for all the hard work that they have done to make the program become a reality.
Marq Your Path serves 100 students, about 25 to 35 new students each year. They are selected from those registered with and eligible for services from the Office of Disability Services. Because the program is just beginning, it is not open to the entire student population. However, the ODS is hopeful that the results from this program will help make it available to all students one day.
For more information on Marq Your Path, contact Meghan Schifalacqua at [email protected] or visit the Office of Disability Services located in Marquette Hall.
by Joe Stacho
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