Ava has a special program to help you make your campus more accessible. We will work together with your school to provide the right solution for you and your fellow students. All you have to do is to click on the button below and provide some info.
Below a step-by-step guide on how to use Ava at your school:
Try Ava with a classmate to get a first sense of how it works.
Try your first lecture with a teacher speaking into a Bluetooth microphone.
Try your first captioned group conversation with peer students at lunch.
Adopt new strategies to make Ava work in all kinds of situations on- and off-campus, including online classes.
We'll support you through every step - we have a lot of experience working with educational institutions (e.g. school districts, Universities, and more).
Let's start!
1. Try having your first conversation with Ava.
Do you have someone that you can try Ava with? It can be someone from your class you know well or just a person you talk to on a regular basis.
Turn on the microphone on Ava and hold your phone up to the person, to caption what they are saying. For more info, check face-to-face conversation.
Now ask them to use their own phone to connect with you on Ava. You can share your Ava link with them per email or via text, you can also show them your Ava QR code, or tell them to download Ava and connect with you that way (If they don't want to install Ava to connect with you, they can also join via web).
2. Try Ava for your first lecture
You can use Ava in lecture/classroom situations very easily. Ava complements well a sign language interpreter if you have one, as it allows you to take notes of the class.
Start by picking a class where you like your teacher! Does one teacher feel more friendly to you and open to trying new technologies? Even if you may follow well in the class, trying Ava in this friendlier environment will help you be more confident and knowledgeable in classes where you know or like the teachers less.
Caption your first classroom lecture by following this article. We strongly recommend you buy the Bluetooth earpiece (you can always clip-it-on the lapel). It will make a huge difference in this situation and probably can get reimbursed later by your accessibility department.
How did it go? The accuracy should have been about 95% and higher. Was Ava helpful to you? If so, would you consider other classes you could really need Ava?
3. Have your first group project captioned
Do you have group projects where you meet with other classmates? This situation is one of the most often requested for Ava.
Learn our tips on having a great group conversation on Ava.
Pick one of these group projects and invite your classmates to try out Ava with you. Try to have as many participants in the group to download the app and experience a real captioned group conversation with Ava.
You can talk in person to some of them before, to explain to them as you did with your first classmate, and even ask them for help explaining to other students.
Don't give up if some say no's - some are less open to try new things. Main reasons we heard: phones are too old, no space left, or passwords forgotten can slow the process. If you have 3/4 participants connect with you on Ava it's already great progress!
4. Talk about Ava to the contact person for accessibility
You should have now tried Ava in three essential situations (face-to-face, lecture, group) to get a sense of its usefulness to you. Talking to a contact person for accessibility (disability students department, manager for accessibility, etc.) about Ava is important.
If you show them how Ava can be useful to you, they'll be able to weigh in to have teachers use Ava in classrooms as you need it and in other situations in which you may need Ava. This is also good, as other deaf & hard-of-hearing students who don't know about Ava may hear it from them, thanks to you! Everyone wants the same thing: that you succeed well in your studies.
Show them how Ava helps you get critical information in lectures and communicate better with your hearing peers, which are important for your studies!
Request a 15-minute meeting with your chosen partner, with two objectives: show them how Ava helps you communicate, and ask to help you inform the rest of your team & coworkers about it to make using it together easier, with your manager's support. You can use this email template for ideas on how to request the meeting.
If you're more familiar with the previous steps, don't be shy about using Ava for this meeting!
Some answers to important questions that may come up
How much does Ava cost? Ava has a free plan, but you'll need the Ava Pro plan for unlimited captioning time. More information here.
We may help you reach out to your accessibility campus manager for you. Ask us here.
5. Other situations at school
To caption online or remote classes, meetings, or workshops see this article
1-1 with teachers, internship/job interviews. Have an important meeting with a faculty? A mockup job interview? Grabbing coffee with someone on campus? Use Ava in face-to-face mode
Tutoring:
Does a classmate need to teach you something? You can either:
Use one phone placed between both of you during the session
Or invite them to the app at the start, it’ll be easier/faster to communicate
Large meetings/conferences/presentations on campus:
No captioner/interpreter available?
Here are a few ways you can use Ava to have live captioning of a big gathering:
If the meeting involves mainly one speaker (casual presentation) who can be asked to wear an appropriate microphone, read about setting up a presentation (like a classroom).
If the meeting takes place in a formal presentation room (amphitheater, large conference room) with a sound system (you can know if you can see speakers and an audio table), you have the option to initially set up the room once by working with the audio engineer attached to the venue to be Ava-accessible, to access live Ava captioning, 98.5% accurate, anytime you're in this room without any other effort from participants. Interested? Read about setting up Ava Event.
If the meeting involves many speakers (team meeting), try to aim at half of the room at least to have a smartphone with Ava nearby. An Ava user can then sit next to a non-Ava user, and share one smartphone. These situations are more complicated.
Lunch break? Read our recommendations using Ava during a meal!
6. Make sure you're all set for 100% accessibility!
Once you've educated yourself on these situations, we hope you were able to put it into practice, and that Ava becomes useful for you in these situations.
Depending on how often you use Ava and if it brings you value, you will probably find that the Ava free plan is not enough for your studies. Via your accessibility manager, you can ask your organization to sponsor the Ava Pro plan to have unlimited captioning time.
Also, for situations you don't have a good experience with Ava, feel free to contact us. Sometimes the setup can be tweaked, according to the context. Also, keep an eye on our new updates as we'll keep improving and making the total accessibility experience better and easier over time.