How St Mary’s University of Maryland uses Jamworks’ Tiers functionality to address access versus success

Kelly O'Grady, Director of Accessibility Services and ADA Coordinator, and Amy Baker, Coordinator of Accessibility Services, at St. Mary's College of Maryland were looking for a note taking tool that gave them the ability to have complete control over the features that were given to different users. Using Jamworks’ ‘Tiers’ functionality, they were able to provide their students with a custom note taking setup, in line with the access requirements for each student on a granular level.

Access versus success

Every institution has its own policy related to accessibility and the age-old: ‘access vs success’ debate. One of the biggest challenges that Kelly and Amy faced with their previous note taking solution, was that they had no control over which features their students had access to. 

"One of our big issues with our previous software was that there were features that couldn’t be turned off."

As a part of their roles, Kelly and Amy must ensure that a student is given an accommodation that is exactly in line with their accommodation needs, and does not give a student an unfair advantage. This therefore was a problem with their previous solution, as it provided things to the student that may have overstepped that line – with no ability or control for them to turn these features off. 

"We are given this hard line of access versus benefiting the student. So a lot of those features, like the quizzes or pre-made things that the student didn’t need for access - those features couldn’t be turned off. That was a big one for us."

The previous note taking solution had poor uptake

In addition to this, Kelly and Amy also experienced poor uptake and usage of their previous solution among their students. 

"Our last software wasn't well used."

"There was not many students using it… I just know it was not worth what we were paying to not have students actually taking part in it."

The combination of a lack of control, paired with limited usage encouraged Kelly to look elsewhere for their note taking software as their funds could be better utilised on a different tool – which is when they found Jamworks.

Jamworks’ Tiers solves the access vs success problem

After communicating this pain point we (the Jamworks team) listened, devised and implemented a solution to address this. 

New functionality was added to the Jamworks admin portal called ‘Tiers’. Tiers is a tool available within the Jamworks portal that enables institutions to granularly turn on / off different features and services for different Jamworks users across their institution. Tiers has therefore enabled institutions and teachers to ethically provide Jamworks in a way that is appropriate to different students. This therefore gives the institution complete and granular control over which features students have access to. 

For Kelly and Amy, they utilised this functionality to solve their previous pain point.

"It was an immediate turnaround, we could turn things off right away and that was incredible."

"So now we don’t have to worry about benefiting students versus providing access."

Students benefited from the new features Jamworks provided

Upon switching to Jamworks, there was an improvement in the support given to students through the features Jamworks provides. 

"The summaries and the way it organised notes and transcripts for students has been really really helpful for them."

"We can help them be creative in finding other ways to use it other than just note taking, almost like a study tool for themselves as well."

There is also a big emphasis on supporting students with their own note taking, which is something Jamworks has helped with. Instead of taking the notes for the student, Jamworks aids the student in their classes, and gives them the ability to fill in any missing pieces after the class.

"It doesn’t replace their note taking, it just helps them to supplement."

"So they can go back later and fill in missing gaps. They’re not relying on that, they are taking their own notes but then they go back and figure out what they missed using the summaries which they are really happy with."

The summaries feature plays a key role in assisting students. The summaries allow learners to see the high-level information from their class, which students can then use to fill in any gaps in their notes that they may have missed in the moment – all linked directly to their personal lecture content and transcript.

"That (summaries) really helps students who get overwhelmed or have a hard time with writing everything down, taking notes but they’re not actually getting anything, so seeing it there based directly on the transcript is really beneficial."

Students find Jamworks easy to use

Finally, Amy goes on to say how easy their students find Jamworks to use, allowing for ease of uptake and onboarding for their students. 

"It’s so straightforward, there’s no hoops to jump through for them. They just download and use it immediately and everything is there – it’s really nice."

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