SCOPE – Beaumont College
Address:
Scope – Beaumont College,
Slyne Road,
Lancaster,
LA2 6AP
Centre Head:
Rohan Slaughter
Phone number:
01524 541400
Email:
slaughterr@beaumontcollege.org
Website:
http://www.beaumontcollege.ac.uk/
Host organisation name:
Scope – Beaumont College
Date centre established:
Karten 1: 2001 and Karten 2: 2010
Focus of Centre:
Beaumont College’s original Karten Centre (established in 2001) has been revamped at the College’s expense on two occasions and remains as the flagship accessible IT suite for the College (under the name ‘Karten 1’). It is used by a range of students for skills for life and IT courses. It is also the home of the ‘Powerful Voices’ student newsletter and blog team.
During the course of 2010 a new centre has been developed. The centre is called Karten 2: the Beaumont Digital Arts Centre (or K2:BDAC). This centre has seen the extensive re-equipping of two art spaces with a variety of accessible equipment. In total 14 workstations have been provided. This is made up of 6 Windows 7 computers, 4 Apple iMacs and 4 laptops. The laptops are built into portable trolley based systems for sound recording and ‘sound beam’ work, thereby extending the reach of the centre around the college. The centre has in addition been supported by a grant towards the server infrastructure required to provide the back end services to the centre and the college more widely. Perhaps the highlight of the centre will be a 3D scanner and printer that have been provided for the purposes of creating sculpture for switch users. All of the equipment has now been implemented. We are currently working to build an accessible workflow to allow students to:
· Scan found objects or download 3D models from the web,
· Manipulate the 3D models using a switchable Grid 2 based interface for Google Sketchup,
· Print out the object using a 3D printer,
· Present a plastic sculpture as the finished work.
Karten 1: Accessible IT, Karten 2: Accessible Digital Arts
The Clients:
Students aged 18-25 within the college provision and young disabled people from the community
The Technology:
A range of computers and access technology, including music technology and equipment repurposed from the CAD/CAM or rapid prototyping world such as the 3D scanner/ printer.
Assistive Technology:
Range of specialist adapted keyboards and pointing devices, software accessibility for switch users using Switch XS (Mac) and The Grid 2 (Windows).
Staffing:
Teaching and Learning Support Staff, supported by the College’s Technology team.
Opening hours:
As the college, plus some extended holiday opening.
Services on offer to the network:
Advice on special access technology and ‘mainstream’ networking and server side technologies, including virtualisation can be offered on a ‘best effort’ basis. We are currently working on a case study of our ‘server virtualization platform’ that has been part funded by K2:BDAC, and will share this with the network as soon as possible.
Partnership:
Any other information:
Host organisation:
Scope – Beaumont College