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An inclusive community
At AIB, we are proud of our diversity, and we don’t tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind from our students, staff or alumni. We have a diverse community that includes people of all faiths, genders, sexualities, ethnicities, mental health statuses and employment backgrounds. Our students find that this diversity allows them to draw on differing viewpoints and to supplement their own thinking, producing more robust academic arguments and a deeper understanding of the learning material.
In this section, you’ll find an overview of the support we provide and some tools and tips that may make all the difference.
Please refer to the following policies and procedures, available on the AIB website:
In addition to the support services offered to all students, we also offer specific (academic and non-academic) support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Depending on your situation and the type of support you need, you are welcome to contact either Dr Mamun Ala or Stephen Gordon as per the information below.
Dr Mamun Ala – Mentor and Advisor for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
As a long-standing member of the AIB academic team, I will help you to get the most out of the academic support that’s available, including:
- Help and advice with academic issues including subject selection.
- Mentoring of study skills including effective reading, good academic writing, correct referencing, time management, planning and preparing assignments and presentations.
- Advice on career planning, goal setting and employability skill development.
- Assistance with resume writing and interview preparation.
- Tips and strategies to ease tension and anxiety and to create a good work-life-study balance.
If you’d like to reach out to me, please contact a member of our Student Central team in the first instance.
Stephen – Indigenous Student Mentor
To help you succeed, we are committed to supporting you throughout your studies. Along with our Student Central team I can help and support you with any non-academic or subject-related matter. This can range from helping you to navigate the Student Learning Portal and to getting the most out of Orientation Program. I can also provide support, direction, and options for completing your studies when life gets busy. The main thing to remember is that we are here to help, so please feel free to contact either myself or a member of the Student Central team.
Hours of availability: Students can contact AIB during normal business hours (7am to 4:30pm Adelaide time) on +61 (8) 8212 8111.
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To get the best out of your studies, you’ll need a solid grasp of the English language. If you find you need additional support or are required to undertake additional study in order to meet our English Language proficiency criteria, please feel free to contact our Academic Skills Advisor with extensive experience in teaching ELICOS programs at various universities across Australia.
Not located in Australia?
No problem! Our English Language providers work online and are available to help, regardless of where you are in the world.
Esma Sasmaz-Ozpinar – AIB Academic Skills Advisor, including English language support
If you’d like to reach out to me, please contact a member of our Student Central team in the first instance. You can also request the support directly through the Student Learning Portal.
The Disability Inclusion Act 2018 (SA) defines disability in relation to a person as including long-term physical, psycho-social, intellectual, cognitive, neurological or sensory impairment, or a combination of any of these impairments, which in interaction with various barriers may hinder the person’s full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
As an AIB student, we understand that you are unique and the impact that your disability, illness or impairment has on your studies will also be unique. It’s also worth noting that we are here to help remove any barrier that affects your studies, whether that’s a specific disability (long or short term, new or pre-existing, temporary or permanent), illness or impairment; if it is affecting your studies, then we’d love the opportunity to assist.
If you would like to discuss your situation in greater detail, please reach out to our Student Central team who will work with you to ensure you get the most out of your studies and overcome any barriers along the way.
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As your specific requirements are as individual as you are, any adjustment will be dependent on your specific circumstance and any recommendations made by your practitioner.
To ensure you have the right support from day 1 of your studies, we encourage you to tick the ‘I have a special need’ box within the application form. From here, you will be required to specify the area of our impairment and attach the necessary documentation so that we can work with you to fully understand what adjustments will need to be made.
It’s important to note that you don’t need to have a formally diagnosed disability in order to request support. We are here to help remove any barrier that affects your studies, whether it’s as a result of a specific disability (long or short term, new or pre-existing, temporary or permanent), illness or impairment; if it is affecting your studies, then we’d love the opportunity to assist.
If you have already started studying with us and chose not to disclose your special need during the application process or are experiencing a new or temporary illness or impairment that is affecting your studies, then that’s fine too; we can still make any adjustments. To get the ball rolling, please contact a member of our Student Central team who will support you through the process. It is important to note that your health practitioner will need to complete the AIB Health Practitioner report form in support of your request.
Let’s hear from one of our existing students, with special needs, about their journey…
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There are several accessibility tools already built into our subjects which you can adjust to suit your own requirements.
General resources
- A weekly guide – each core subject includes a guide, which lists the activities and work you should cover during that week to stay on track.
- eTextbooks via VitalSource – if you are using an eTextbook with the VitalSource application, you will usually be able to adjust the font type and text size, alter the screen colour, adjust the margin sizes and have various highlight options for all textbooks where the publishers have provided these options. If you’d like more details on the specific settings included on a specific subject textbook or need any other assistance with regards to sourcing your subject textbook, please email our Librarian via the Library
- Tools for Study – as an AIB student, you have access to several tools to help smooth your learning journey including LinkedIn Learning, a complementary Office 365 access, Grammarly and several library resources.
Audio accessibility tools
- Each subject contains an exact audio version of the material so that you can read along. This is delivered via Soundcloud and you can download a soundtrack for each module or the entire playlist for the subject. Select the Audio version icon at the beginning of each module.
- If you only need a small section of text read aloud, you can use the ReadSpeaker function. Highlight the text you want read and an icon with a speaker button will pop-up . Click the speaker to expand the options available. There is also an option from within each module to use ReadSpeaker to read the entire page. This link is on the right-hand side of the page.
- The video content within each subject includes either a fully downloadable transcript or closed captions.
Text accessibility tools
- You can print each module by clicking on the cog in the right-hand corner in the module or assessment instructions. It’s important to note that you will need to print each module of your subject material separately.
- We aim to ensure our subject learning material is fully screen reader compatible, so if you experience any issues we’d love to hear about it so that we can assist in any way we can.
Important points:
- Webinar transcripts: we use Zoom for our webinars and this software produces its own transcripts of the webinar session, it’s important to note that the quality is not sufficient to replace the audio for students with hearing impairments. Please feel free to reach out to your online learning facilitator (OLF) who will be happy to assist and/or to provide any presentation slides
- If you are using the VitalSource app for your eTextbooks, please be aware that not all publishers provide additional display settings for their texts. If you require additional assistance with finding a suitable textbook, please email our Librarian via the Library
The key to note is that the AIB team are here to help, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to your online learning facilitator or our Student Central team if you have any questions or would like any additional support.
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We understand that sometimes it’s easier to have a printed version of the learning material, particularly if you’re studying on-the-go or just want to give your eyes a break. Whilst we provide a ‘Print book’ for each module, it’s important to remember that the subject is designed for online interaction, and you’ll need to pop back in to complete the activities and view the videos.
If you’d like to print a copy, click on the cog in the right-hand corner in the module or assessment instructions and select ‘print book’. It’s important to note that you will need to print each module of your subject material separately.
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You can listen to your learning material in a couple of ways:
- Each module has an audio file that you can download via Soundcloud. Select the Audio version icon at the beginning of each module to go to the corresponding audio track. The complete audio playlist is also available from the resources section in your subject.
- Another option is ReadSpeaker. ReadSpeaker allows you to highlight sections of your learning material and have this read to you. To access this, highlight a section of text and click on the speaker icon.
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