Elaine is an Assistive Technology trainer working with disabled and neurodivergent students, helping them overcome academic challenges related to note taking, focus and organisation.
She supports students with different needs, like dyslexia, ADHD, and those who are hard of hearing, blind, or have low vision. She believes that “Jamworks is like a safety net, ensuring nothing important slips through the cracks.”
“I would recommend Jamworks as a valuable tool for academic purposes. This software offers features such as summarisation, transcription, and quiz generation. It effectively addresses many of the requirements that students seek in a comprehensive educational resource.”
The challenge: Struggling to keep up
Many of Elaine’s students struggle to keep up with fast-paced lectures due to processing difficulties, attention challenges, or physical impairments. For these students, taking notes while trying to absorb what’s being said can feel overwhelming.
“One photography student told me she had trouble when lecturers spoke very quickly. She found it difficult to concentrate on what they were saying and to take notes.“
This often results in missed information, making their notes harder to follow and less useful when revisiting them later. Elaine highlighted that these challenges don’t just hinder learning—they can also cause significant stress and anxiety, especially when it’s time to prepare for exams or complete assignments.
How does Jamworks help DSA students?
Elaine has witnessed how Jamworks positively impacts DSA students. She recalled working with a student for whom English is not the first language and who also has a hearing impairment. This student often struggled to keep up with lectures and frequently missed important information.
For this student, Jamworks was a game-changer.
With accurate, word-for-word transcripts, she could revisit missed sections and absorb the content at her own pace, ensuring nothing slipped through the cracks. Instead of scrambling to write everything down during class, she could focus on understanding the lecture.
“I believe that Jamworks was incredibly beneficial for that student.”
For students with ADHD or dyslexia, Elaine highlighted how organising lecture content can feel like an overwhelming task.
She trained these students on Jamworks and found that the automatic highlights feature lifted a significant burden. By breaking down lecture recordings into bite-sized sections, it allowed these students to quickly locate important info without feeling buried under a mountain of text.
“I know that it is very beneficial for students with dyslexia, ADHD, and other additional needs.”
Another feature that has gained significant popularity among DSA students is the AI flashcard quizzes. Automatically created from lecture recordings, these flashcards are unique in that they link back to the relevant section of the lecture:
“Students appreciate the quiz feature because it helps them study by showing how much they’ve actually taken in.”
It gives them a way to test themselves and pinpoint areas where they might need more focus, she said.
The impact
Elaine has observed significant improvements in her students’ academic performance since they started using Jamworks.
Many students who previously struggled with focus and organisation are now retaining and understanding lecture material more effectively. Elaine shared,
“Many students say their note-taking improves with Jamworks. They are getting more out of their lectures, and Jamworks captures details they missed.”
This compares favourably to their previous note taking experiences, where they would often struggle to keep up with the speed of delivery and find that “some of their notes weren’t making any sense.”
Recommending Jamworks
Reflecting on her own academic journey, Elaine shared a personal insight. As someone with dyslexia, she struggled to organise her notes while at university.
“I’m dyslexic, and I didn’t find out until after I had completed my two university courses. When I reviewed my notes after class, they often weren’t very organised. There were random sentences scattered throughout that didn’t connect well. I believe that Jamworks would have been incredibly helpful for me.”
Elaine shared that, looking back, she thinks if she’d had Jamworks, it would’ve helped her organise her thoughts better and let her focus on what really mattered in the lectures.
“I will be completely honest. If I were in university now, I would use Jamworks.”
Please feel free to book a call with Jamworks DSA Lead Kamna Gupta if you’d like to learn more about recommending Jamworks to DSA students. Book a call
