Doorway Online

Free accessible educational activities that learners will find easy to use independently.

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News

The Doorway Talking Computer Materials (aka Bordertalk) and Talking Tasks

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CALL Scotland ASL & Technology Conference – Edinburgh – 14 June 2017

Doorway Online will be represented at this conference again this year. The presentation will include these materials which have been added to the site:

The Doorway Talking Computer Materials (formerly Bordertalk)
Talking Tasks

These materials were developed while Philip Whittaker worked as an Support Teacher for pupils with Additional Support Needs. They require the use of a talking Word Processor; Textease, Clicker, MS Word with Wordtalk installed.

Doorway Letter Formation

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Pupil at the IWB using Letter Formation

Doorway Letter Formation models, tirelessly, correct letter formation.
Handwriting is a fine motor skill, and like gross motor skills once learnt it is not forgotten. That’s the good news, but also incorrect letter formation is very hard to unlearn. It really is best to get it right from the start.

Doorway Letter Formation can be a help, whether tracing on a tablet (requires Puffin Browser), or on an interactive whiteboard, or just tracing in the air. It’s the correct formation and direction of the slopes that matter.

Thanks to St Andrews Nursery for the photo.

Internet Explorer Issues Resolved

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We are aware that some users with Internet Explorer version 10 have been experiencing difficulty accessing the Doorway activities over the last couple of weeks. This issue should be fixed now. If you are still having problems you may need to clear your temporary internet file cache and reload the page. Thanks to all our users who helped solve this problem. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Many thanks to these bodies for grants of funding

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The Logos of Donors supporting Doorway Online
The costs of development of the activities have been shared by; Scottish Borders Council, The RS Macdonald Trust, the Agnes Hunter Trust, Charity Begins at Home (Kelso), The Robertson Trust, The Scottish Sensory Centre.

The web-hosting is funded by a grant from CALL Scotland, Edinburgh University.

New Doorway Online Website

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It’s finally happened! Our new website has gone live. After six years with the excellent Sojomedia of Yetholm donating our webhosting, our new web sponsors are CALL Scotland. Thanks to everyone at CALL, the Scottish centre of excellence for everything to do with ICT Support for Learners with a wide variety of needs.

Our website address has not changed and all your favourite activities are there in the same categories. Enjoy the new look of our site which will be easier to update and maintain. Spread the word. Thanks. We need funding to keep the site going and to develop new activities as well as tablet compatible versions of existing ones.

You can help by donating here:

https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/doorwayonline

Welcome

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Doorway OnlineDoorway Online is a collection of free and highly accessible educational games that learners will find easy to use independently. Each activity has a range of accessibility and difficulty options. Originally developed with funding from Scottish Borders Council, it is now managed by the Doorway Accessible Software Trust, a Scottish charity.

Doorway Supermarket – Our Latest Activity

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Doorway Supermarket  is a simulation of shopping in  which the prices will keep up with inflation, matching the prices in supermarkets roughly. Here you see the Chilled Food shelf. There is also a General Groceries and a Fruit and Vegetable shelf, holding a total of 48 commonly purchased items.

Students have the option to try rounding the cost for each item, keeping a tally on the rough value of the basket.

Doorway Supermarket image 2 shelves

Students see their basket empty and the items move along the conveyor belt, while the cost of the items are rung up. This is more a bit of fun which adds to the impression of being at a supermarket.

Doorway Supermarket image 3 conveyor belt

The student pays for the basket of goods. They are expected to proffer a sensible amount. Change is given.

Doorway Supermarket image 4 payment

The student is shown a receipt, which can be printed out. As well as the usual information, you also see the results of the rounding (if this option has been selected). You can judge how well you did at rounding and estimating.

This activity has been designed in close consultation with staff at Howdenburn School House, Education Support Centre, Jedburgh. It fills an until-now unmet need for a software activity that closely simulates shopping. We are hoping to recruit a large number of schools and colleges, with students following National 2 courses, into a community of early users of Doorway Supermarket. Can you help spread the word?

This development has been supported by The Robertson Trust, The Agnes Hunter Trust and Charity Begins at Home, (Kelso)

.The Agnes Hunter Trust The Robertson Trust Logo Charity Begins at Home (Kelso)