Speaker: Valerie Vanheeswyk, First Year Student at Newcastle College University Centre
What key challenges did you need help with before you started using Genio (formerly Glean)?
Valerie Vanheeswyk: Hi, my name is Valerie. I am a 54 year old degree student in fine art at the Newcastle College University Centre. I use Glean and was given it by the DES as a first time I've been in education since I was 11 and I have BPD, which is a debilitating mental health issue. And Glean allows me to access papers and do research in a timely fashion that enables me to hand in on time and also it gives me the opportunity to explore more resources and sites and information that I would know, not able to access, basically, it's able to summarise everything that I need. And yeah, it's super helpful and has enabled me, the first person in my family to go to university ever.
How has Genio (formerly Glean) helped you with those challenges and impacted your learning experience?
Valerie Vanheeswyk: I find Glean really helpful when attending seminars and being overwhelmed with the information and even the language that's being used, because it's able to record and scribe. I'm then able to go through it later on when I'm in a more relaxed position and take in more information and research words and also research papers alongside. It's really helpful because of the fact I haven't been to school since I was 11, and I am the first person in my family to go to university that it's not like a natural thing for me to do to study at this level. And this programmes enabled me to meet the requirements of the university degree and do well, thrive actually I'm receiving merits and good marks. And yeah, thank you very much.
Would you recommend Genio (formerly Glean) to other students?
Valerie Vanheeswyk: I would definitely recommend Glean to students. I see a lot of students struggling the same way I used to before I had the programme. And it's a shame that it's not just given out to everybody who's doing a degree. What I do do sometimes is if I know a person is neurodivergent or is suffering emotionally or psychologically. I print out the scribing of the seminar and I share it with other students that need it. I would definitely recommend this programme for people just in their everyday lives that need to attend meetings that, you know, are really important to them and are overwhelming. And they're not able to take in the information and a recording of the. session is always good. So yeah, I would highly recommend it and I do hope that I continue to use it throughout the final two years of my degree.
