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Did you know there are over 11 million people with a limiting long-term illness, impairment or disability in the UK? The Office for Disability Issues, state that someone with a disability is half as likely as someone without to hold a degree qualification. It is the duty of universities to ensure that students have access to the right learning tools for successful education.

But can technology be the answer?

There are an array of assistive technologies to aid students with special-needs, in offering them support, independence and confidence in the learning environment. Universities must now outline how they can support special needs students in a Disability Statement, offering all students an equal opportunity to learn and accomplish qualifications. Universities can make some simple changes to existing campus devices and discover an array of accessibility tools that will help aid learning for students with limitations.

E-textbooks

Following a study by the Higher Education Academy in the UK, it was indicated that resources are a common issue affecting the happiness of disabled students. E-textbooks offer the ability to scale text to your needs or to make use of text-to-speech software. It also allows you to hold an unlimited number of textbooks all on one device – so no more struggling to juggle lots of heavy books that also cost a fortune to buy!

Online resources

Similar to E-books, students can now access all types of digital learning materials online, including whitepapers, journals, blogs and more. Content sharing has become increasingly popular with the development of the cloud, using solutions such as Google Drive and Microsoft SharePoint. Students and teachers can share notes, presentations and other documents in one central place for anyone to access (anywhere and at any time), offering a totally accessible world of knowledge to all students.

Keyboards

University IT departments can now arrange to have their devices and desktops set up with Keyboard shortcuts for easy access to apps. This saves time and offers ease to students with disabilities.

A standard keyboard has over 100 keys, which can appear confusing and intimidating to some students. Universities can purchase special built keyboards for assistive learning, with features that include larger keys with audible click, bigger gaps between keys or coloured keys to distinguish between vowels, consonants and numbers.

Touchscreens

Some students with learning difficulties may find it hard to relate the movement of their hand on the mouse to the movement of the cursor on the screen. Therefore, it is advisable that educational institutions keep stock of touchscreen devices for students who may struggle using the standard mouse. Other mouse alternatives are also available if touchscreens are not an option.

Accessibility features

Different features are available for different types of disabilities. For example, those with a vision impairment can benefit from increasing the colour contrast of text and images or braille narration. Alternatively, those with a hearing loss can take advantage of visual alternatives to sounds such as Skype translator, visual notifications and for longer or mono audio for those with partial deafness. Setting up in-house devices with these features or offering training to students to set features up on their personal devices will hugely benefit in aiding their learning.

Dominated by technology

Technology is probably the most powerful tool that surrounds us today. With the worldwide reach of the Internet, a new age of ‘anytime anywhere’ education has begun.

Universities and Schools alike must prepare the next generation for a world ultimately dominated by technology. The possibilities technology can provide education are limitless. Information is now within the palm of our hands and accessible within seconds. Whether a student needs to revisit key moments in history, or read up on scientific research that could change lives forever, it is now at the click of a button. No longer than 10 short years ago, the main source of research was through books. Literature was our only path to discovery.

The classroom community now goes much further than just the physical classroom – students can work collaboratively no matter where they are in the world, handing in assignment can now be done at the click of a button, and lecturers can provide personal feedback in an instant message. The functionality of an iPad alone allows the user to carry education assets with them wherever they go. There are now thousands of downloadable Apps, which can support teachers and students in everything they need, be it revision or lesson planning.

Keeping up with technology in education does not have to be expensive. Visit theEDUstore where you will receive exclusive savings on all Apple product! Register with your .ac.uk or .sch.uk email address today.

Visit: www.theEDUstore.co.uk

Enhance, learn and inspire in the classroom

As every academic year passes, new technology seeps into the classroom. These devices are predominantly upgrades of the existing i.e. handheld tablets and smart whiteboards, but it isn’t often that a revolutionary piece of technology is introduced into the classroom that has the power to make huge waves in both the way we teach, and the way we learn.

One of the more innovative pieces of technology appearing throughout the education sector in the UK over the last couple of years is the 3D printer. Used globally by manufacturers in many industries, the 3D printing technology can be used to enhance classroom based learning and inspire the inventors and creators of tomorrow.

The adoption of 3D printing across schools has been slower than originally expected, due to the perceived expense of purchasing and integrating the technology. But in a bid to infiltrate classrooms and re-engage students, the cost of 3D printers has reduced, and training has become more accessible.

In this blog, we look at 5 reasons why 3D printing technology can have a beneficial impact on the classroom.

1. Prepare students for the future of technology
   From building cars to creating prosthetic limbs, 3D printers are becoming more and more popular in a huge range of industries.  In fact, last year 67% of UK manufacturers were using the technology in some way or another.

By giving students an opportunity to become familiar with the technology that is set to play a huge role in the future manufacturing industry, teachers are able to equip them with the skills they’ll need for a smoother transition into the working world.

1. Increase student engagement within lessons
   In a report from The Department for Education (DfE) on the use of 3D printers in the curriculum, it was shown that teachers saw a huge rise in engagement in lessons when printers were used within lessons.

The study showed that even pupils with poor concentration were seen to produce tangible results and felt confident to explore more complex designs and ideas throughout the session.
By stepping away from traditional methods of teaching, lessons will be given a ‘wow’ factor, making students more excited to come to school and re-engage them in the learning process.

1. Give students a better understanding of subjects
   3D technology allows students to do much more than draw with pen and paper. Investigating volume and areas of spheres? Have your students create and learn. Teaching about how wind turbines are manufactured? You can show your students the process right before their eyes.

Giving your students the opportunity to become more hands-on with their learning to help them gain a better grasp of complex subjects and inspire a new way of thinking about subjects that might have otherwise assumed to be predominantly textbook based.

1. Encourage collaboration between peers and departments
   Within the DfE’s report on 3D printing, it was highlighted that one of the key successes from introducing 3D technology into schools was how it not only encouraged students to work together on projects, but it also brought different subjects together.

During the study, teachers and technicians from both design technology and physics were able to work together closely to create a model of scattered alpha particles of gold leaf foil. This exercise meant that students and teachers were able to bridge the gap between STEM subjects and gain a better understanding of how skills can overlap.

1. Inspire students to engage in STEM subjects
   Although the number of students choosing to take an interest in STEM subjects is rising, experts are still concerned that the rise won’t necessarily mean students will go on to having careers in those fields.

Introducing students to the technology used within the working world of STEM will give you the opportunity to inspire them to go on and succeed in gaining great opportunities when students go on to graduate and kickstart their career.

Viglen has teamed up with Lexmark to offer an exclusive product bundle, designed to push productivity, reliability and security to new places.

The sky’s the limit!

Your capabilities are endless with Viglen and Lexmark at your side. Here’s what you get for just £1,199 ex vat

Lexmark MS417dn Productive. Reliable. Secure Lexmark’s enterprise level security provides a full spectrum of security capabilities to protect the device, the network and the documents. Read More	3x Genie Micro 1 Small box. Big Power What it lacks in size, it makes up for in power. Genie Micro offers the smallest desktop footprint possible, without compromising performance. Read More

Get all this for just £1,199 ex vat

This bundle is exclusive to XMA! If you would like to know more, complete the form below and one of our specialists will be in touch.

XMA has received further recognition for its public sector leadership, fighting off stiff competition from other UK IT solutions providers to be awarded Public Sector VAR of the Year in the 24th annual CRN Channel Awards.

It has been a very positive 12 months for XMA staff, customers and its partners across local and central government, higher education, schools and the NHS. Making up 75% of our business, the public sector remains a core focus for XMA technology excellence and customer collaboration.

Our recent investments in back-end infrastructure have successfully brought about reduced delivery times and costs through increased efficiency, while new support and services capabilities – notably around Apple and Viglen technologies – improve the customer experience and enable greater solution flexibility.

XMA remains number one in education for Microsoft, Apple and Google, and this was among the key proof points that convinced the CRN judging panel to present XMA with this highly respected award. In fact, XMA’s entry was described as “inspired” by the judges.  They also commented: “A lot of effort had clearly gone into this entry that demonstrated growth through facts and figures, and outlined exactly what it did for the public sector over the past year. It also contained passion and personality, impressive case studies and very strong testimonials.”

XMA is also prominent in 90% of the public sector frameworks that exist across the UK for the procurement of ICT and related solutions, including G-Cloud 8, HealthTrust Europe, ITRAP and many others.

We are thrilled to have achieved HP Premier MPS Partner Status. This is an industry wide trading status, and a symbol that we are recognised as an established print IT reseller and a key partner of HP.

Achieving this status is testament to our ability to provide strategic guidance in managing print environments and providing services and software solutions that can help reduce costs, improve security and free up your time.

We operate a technology-based, results oriented approach to managing your print environment, built on the premise that printing and document management are essential parts of your IT architecture.

What could you achieve with MPS?

• Lower printing costs by implementing a targeted print strategy for improving processes and increasing efficiencies.
• Reduced need for IT support for your printing environment, so your IT staff can spend more time on strategic projects.
• Manage and deploy devices and supplies from multiple vendors in a more convenient and effective manner.
• Ensure that your imaging and printing devices are being used in the best ways for your employees and your organisation.
• Increase employee productivity by reducing device downtime.

Because we recognise the importance of incremental and continuous improvement, you will be better able to respond to changes in your business as they arise.

Ready to talk MPS?

Go to our Managed Document Service page or contact us below.

Looking to reduce risk and ensure infrastructure availability and resiliency? HPE will help you determine a risk mitigation strategy for your Hybrid IT environment. Your enterprise’s greatest threat may already be present in your data center.

How do you engage your staff in developing learning?
How can teachers amplify the learning with technology?
How can you create and develop your vision for learning?

Preparing and developing your staff is so important. We support teaching and learning, using a bespoke coaching and mentoring model. This can support new staff or continue to develop more-experienced members of your team.

XMA Apple Professional Learning Specialists are our in-house coaching and learning consultants. Our innovative team has experience as senior leaders and teachers, from early years, primary, secondary and higher education.

Education strategic planning is a real strength of our team. A clear vision and plan needs to be in place for the technology to be implemented successfully.

We can offer hands-on sessions that are held at your school, college or university. They are tailored to your specific needs, to make sure you’re using your Apple products most effectively. We can introduce new ideas for teaching, enable co-creation of resources and collaboratively reflect on the learning.

The Apple Teacher programme helps teachers to start their journey with iPad and Mac. Through a series of modules, we can show how the tools can be integrated into daily lessons. As teachers develop, we can support through bespoke sessions, to move their practice forward.

Coding has become a real focus, from early years into primary and secondary schools. We can model effective practice in the classroom, with hands-on lessons and team-teaching with staff. Developing collaboration and team-work, we build confidence and effective problem-solving, with a progressive coding curriculum.

Apple Professional Learning is essential to coach, mentor and support teachers in advancing their practice.

With increasing choice, the ability to deal hunt for the best price, convenience and order management, it’s not surprising that organisations are moving some of their purchasing online. In fact, a recent study by Magento revealed that 56% of business are expected to be making at least half of their work related purchases online, boosting the UK ecommerce market share to almost £75billion.

Our state-of-the-art Ecommerce platforms are already helping to address these trends. With HE Hub built exclusively for the Higher Education community, The EDUstore tailored for students and educators and XMA Shop facilitating complex purchasing needs, we are successfully providing the user experience our customers require.

XMA Store is open for business!

To extend this success, we are excited to announce the launch of XMA Store – providing a gateway to over 100,000 products, real-time stock inventory and automatically updated pricing for organisations wishing to make straightforward transactional purchases.

XMA Store offers an enhanced user experience, with improved search and filter capability, so you can find the product you are searching for with the minimum of effort. And if you still can’t find what you need, we have built a number of “Help Me Choose” tools such as an Apple Mac configurator, and ink and toner selector.

It’s our mission to make your day easier. Start browsing

Why do I love marketing? That’s easy…because it’s creative, strategic and it makes a difference. It helps us create awareness, build a presence, nurture relationships, sell products and ultimately grows the business.

I knew by the end of my A-levels that marketing was my destiny and 15 years on, it continues to intrigue, excite and motivate me. But taking those first few steps on that challenging career ladder, can be daunting. Overcome by questioning doubt, wishing you had a crystal ball to tell you which direction you should guide your career – yep, I remember it well.

I was fortunate that 8 years ago, a door opened to me – and it had the name “XMA” above it. I walked straight through it and on to a very exciting new career path – one that you could be on too.

So we’re recruiting into our amazing marketing team but why should you consider joining us? Here’s 4 simple reasons.

1. Opportunities to progress

   Cliché right? Every business says it but would I really be here 8 years on if I didn’t believe it to be true?! One of our core company values states that we are “powered by our people”. We encourage promotion from within and invest heavily in learning and development and as a result, have established a long serving team enjoying a rewarding career.

2. Work with the world’s largest technology brands

   You only have to take a glimpse at our website and social media to get the idea. We are in the privileged position where we not only get to work alongside some of the world’s largest tech brands such as Apple, Google and Microsoft, but we get to market them too!

3. Become part of a team

   It really is a family affair. We all do our bit to muck in and make good things happen. We are diverse bunch, with a varied range of skills and experiences which contribute to our success in developing innovative marketing campaigns.

4. Show off your marketing flare

   We encourage lateral thinking and creativity. We won’t put the reins on if we believe it can make a difference and believe strongly in showcasing and rewarding our hard work. We openly welcome new ideas and a fresh approach and want our people to feel they can be expressive in the way they work.

XMA could be your next place to work so if you fancy the challenge, visit our careers page and apply!

Charlotte Hughes
Marketing Manager