Dr Mike Wald: Director
Southern Higher & Further Education Collaboration (SHFEC)
Widening Participation Project
ICLT can help widen participation by providing flexible, inclusive and supportive approaches to learning, teaching and assessment. Advice and guidance on learning and studying can take account of students’ diverse experience, needs and learning styles by, for example, differentiating between those requiring further development of knowledge and skills and those with specific learning difficulties who may gain particular benefit from ICLT aiding visualisation, memory and presentation. The use of support software and specialist equipment can help students with specific learning difficulties or disabilities obtain the level of literacy appropriate for their courses.
For learning technologies to help remove barriers of access, location, time, pace and rate they must be accessible and available for all. Access to on-line resource materials may reduce some print costs although an extensive range of materials and resources, facilities and support is required. Resource requirements and room layout for class teaching and group work can differ from those for self-directed learning.
On-line learning (See Appendix B) with appropriate provision of effective advice and support can provide a less-threatening re-entry for those who have been unsuccessful in earlier learning, and can help them rediscover the enjoyment of learning and gain confidence, commitment and motivation. Collaborative learning and on-line tutorials can enable tutors and students to link up for mutual support and enhance learning, feedback and monitoring of progression. Computer based multimedia simulations can encourage active participation. ICLT can help students to develop ideas, and analyse, synthesise and present information as well as providing well organised and structured notes and course material for students unable to attend sessions or who find it difficult to take notes while watching, listening and thinking. Speech recognition (See Appendix C) is a new emerging technology that can help remove barriers to writing for students and also be used to provide real time text transcription and hard copy notes in lectures.
The Higher Education Funding Council have noted the importance of C&IT to widen participation in HE and FE and also the lack of material specifically designed to assist learners with learning difficulties or disabilities (See Appendix D).
General ICLT issues are similar for all students and staff although disabled students and staff might depend more on their computer and any specialist assistive hardware and software and so might require more urgent technical support.
ICLT can be used to:
i. Facilitate and develop literacy skills, communication and expression
and encourage social interaction and discussion and collaborative working
of both students and staff through wordprocessing, desk top and web publishing,
email and fax, audio and video communication, music, graphics and multimedia.
ii. Transfer paper based materials into electronic form for storage and editing using scanners and Optical Character Recognition (OCR).
iii. Improve presentation and hold interest and attention using clip art with appropriate accessible electronic text captions and descriptions.
iv. Extend possibilities to obtain, search, find and analyse and interpret information and develop knowledge, understanding, concepts, language and reading through computer based and on-line information, tutorials and simulations.
v. Develop and enhance thinking, decision making and problem solving skills through simulations, modelling, programming, spreadsheets, statistical packages, databases, measurement and control technology.
vi. Increase access for disabled students and staff by presenting material in accessible formats with appropriate assistive and enabling technologies.
vii. Simplify complex ideas and make abstract concepts more concrete through interactive multimedia and simulations of difficult, expensive, dangerous or time consuming activities.
viii. Create a safe, non-threatening environment for learning which encourages experimentation through working at your own pace without fear of permanent mistakes.
ix. Meet individual needs and build confidence and self esteem and personal development through succeeding at something with high prestige value.
x. Encourage social interaction, discussion and collaborative working of both students and staff.
xi. Stimulate the enjoyment of learning, enhancing motivation through interactive multimedia, simulations and ‘games’.
xii. Gain IT skills, knowledge and experience.
xiii. Help understand past, present and potential future effects of ICLT on society.
xiv. Help understand the potential and limitations of ICLT and to make informed decisions about when it is appropriate to use ICLT and what human qualities it cannot replicated or enhance.
xv. Help teachers and lecturers teach, author, present, administrate, assess and analyse.
xvi. Help students learn for themselves, with self assessment and feedback to help know how they are doing. (Learning to use computers can often be accomplished by learning through doing and trial and error. Rather than try and learn everything about an application it is often easier to first learn what you need to know to do the job and then find out if there are other features that might be helpful)
xvii. Obtain feedback through questionnaires and surveys, both printed
or email/web-based.
i. Some students can be absent through ill health or accidents.
ii. Some students may concentrate better on the lecture if they don’t have to worry about writing everything down in their notes.
iii. Blind students may need to get notes Brailled or recorded.
iv. Deaf students may not be able to look down to take notes if they need to lipread the speaker or watch an interpreter.
v. Dyslexic students may find notetaking difficult.
vi. Some students may not physically be able to take notes.
vii. Interpreters, notetakers, transcribers etc can be prepared for context and technical terms.
All academic and technical support staff should plan and use teaching and learning strategies which make the delivery of programmes as inclusive as possible. There are many teaching strategies that can be seen as good teaching practice for all academic staff as they assist the majority of students in addition to assisting students with disabilities and these include using ICLT to:
viii. Provide accessible copies of lectures notes and visual aids in advance (e.g. in electronic form).
ix. Help provide sessions on study-skills and the organisation of work in HE.
x. Provide clear and appropriate tutor feedback including distinguishing between feedback on content and presentation of submitted work.
xi. Obtain student feedback to check that sessions have been understood.
xii. Provide booklists in good time with essential texts indicated (this can especially assist students requiring Brailled or recorded versions).
xiii. Assist class participation for students who have difficulty with speaking, reading or writing in ways other than reading aloud or writing on the board etc.
xiv. Help develop the use of clear and unambiguous English in both spoken and written communication (this can especially help recording, interpreting, transcribing etc).
xv. Provide alternative ways of completing group assignments for students who find it difficult to work in a group.
xvi. Help provide clear visual aids (reading out the text of and describing the graphics of any visual aids or demonstrations can be of particular benefit to students with visual problems and those recording lectures for later transcription as well as those who can’t see because of an obstructed view, poor lighting or distance from the visual aid etc.)
xvii. Help be flexible and supportive for students who may need to miss sessions (e.g. for medical reasons).
xviii. Give students adequate and accessible notice of any change in arrangements (e.g. going on field work) so they can make appropriate arrangements.
xix. Make individual adaptations to delivery that are appropriate for
particular students and getting feedback from individual students about
their requirements and any changes that would help them.
It is important that the design, development and provision of electronic
information, learning materials and courseware does not present barriers
to access for students with disabilities and learning difficulties and
so institutions should ensure all courseware, learning materials and information
is fully accessible. Electronically stored information can be more accessible
than paper based information (e.g. in pigeon holes, on notice boards, in
letters, posters, handouts, or course notes) as they can be accessed in
the most appropriate format and location. Accessible design of courseware
will help remove barriers in conjunction with appropriate enabling and
assistive software and hardware. ICLT can simplify the provision of lecture
and course notes in advance, which is a great help to students and support
staff. Institutions however need to think carefully about the structure
of their courses, tutorial support, resources and staff development when
replacing large lectures and seminars and conventional teaching and learning
materials by computer based learning as inaccessible computer based courseware
may actually restrict access. Approval or validation of programmes should
include well informed consideration of the use of ICLT and technical support
requirements of disabled students to ensure there are no unnecessary barriers
to access and the delivery of programmes is as inclusive as possible. Sufficient
accessible information should be provided to enable disabled students to
make an informed choice of appropriate programmes and courses. All staff
who advise students should be aware of any aspects of courses that may
be inaccessible to students with particular disabilities and how ICLT may
help.
This approach allows institutions to plan ahead concerning all aspects
of support rather than respond purely reactively and students can begin
their course in the knowledge that support is available. Some of the advantages
of a collaborative approach rather than through the institution working
in isolation are that common standards can be developed and scarce and
expensive resources can be targeted more efficiently and effectively so
that not every institution in the Consortium needs to provide every service
and have all the equipment, resources and people skilled and trained and
available to operate and support it. The institutions could for example
work together to organise and provide Braille transcription. The numbers
of students with a particular disability may vary from year to year in
individual institutions. If students are dependent on technology and it
breaks down (e.g. Braille embosser) then a collaborative approach can ensure
the service can continue.
An inclusive ‘design for all’ approach that involves ensuring all facilities and resources are designed to be accessible to all students requires support staff available and trained to support all students including students with disabilities. There is a need to consider how students with disabilities can get priority availability of support resources and services. Designing facilities to be accessible to all students provides students with a wider choice of places to work alongside their peers. Many solutions that benefit students with disabilities can benefit all students (e.g. everybody can have a temporary disability such as breaking an arm or leg) Siting any special support technologies or learning resources within existing services has the advantage that all students can be integrated and this reduces feelings of isolation. Equipment could be utilised more fully and study support could be available to all students. Possible disadvantages include the organisation of priority availability of resources and services.
Some students might prefer in addition a separate room for the computers with specialist software installed. If special separate facilities and resources are provided for students with disabilities, access needs to be as flexible as possible with support staff trained and available to assist with the use of the equipment. To allow flexible access it is important to be able to ensure students can access network resources although it may appear simpler to install special enabling hardware and software on stand-alone machines. Establishing a special learning resource centre and/or assistive technology centre for students with specific learning difficulties or disabilities can allow resources and support to be targeted although students have less choice over location for working. If this is a private area confidential interviews can take place. A designated room for equipment and specialist support staff has the advantage that it can be easy to access and monitor and guidance on using the equipment and any additional support on study skills can be given without disrupting other students’ study. Possible disadvantages include isolating students, and being regarded as a “Ghetto” so that students may not want to be seen going into this “special” area.
Although technology cannot overcome every barrier it is often a central
part of an individual’s support. Access to any resource centres needs to
be as flexible as possible with staff available to assist with the use
of the equipment if students with particular needs will be using it as
their main location for study. Staff will need to also be able to support
the requirements of individual students to use ICLT to help succeed in
practical and laboratory sessions.
Some technologies are of particular value for certain students (i.e.
Blind students (See Appendix E) might require tactile diagrams produced
using special paper and machines and a Braille embosser for embossing digitally
stored material) while other technologies have the potential to benefit
a wider range of students. Technical staff should have the appropriate
training and time available to be able to support technologies which are
of particular value for disabled students including:
i. Braille embosser
ii. tactile diagram maker
iii. closed circuit television (CCTV)
iv. special screens
v. enlarging software
vi. captioning/subtitles
vii. real time verbatim transcription systems
viii. electronic notetaking
ix. remote real time communication support (providing transcription
or interpreting services remotely using ISDN, computer networks, telephone
lines, and mobile phones appropriately)
x. text telephones
xi. technological aids to hearing e.g. radio aids, radio microphone
transmitter and 'neck loop', infra red systems
xii. scanners/OCR systems
xiii. text to speech systems
xiv. speech recognition
xv. tape recording
xvi. special input devices and utilities (this may include alternative
and emulated keyboards and alternative ‘pointing’ devices)
xvii. user adjustable accessibility options and other possible useful
adjustments/facilities including changing colours, cursor size, mouse speeds,
mouse trails and font size and style; highlighting portions of text; displaying
one word or line at a time or narrow or wide margins; using a keyguard,
a wrist rest, an anti-glare screen and a copy holder with guides.
xviii. support applications (e.g. spelling and grammar checking, mindmapping)
There are many other possible useful adjustments/facilities including
changing colours, cursor size, mouse speeds, mouse trails and font size
and style; highlighting portions of text; displaying one word or line at
a time or narrow or wide margins; using a keyguard, a wrist rest, an anti-glare
screen and a copy holder with guides.
i) to inform decisions about admissions including making recommendations about institutional equipment, resources and estates provision and study needs and strategies. Assessments for this purpose are the responsibility of the institution.
ii) to inform decisions about Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) entitlement and recommendations to the local education authority (LEA) about individual equipment and support to be funded through the DSA. Assessments for this purpose are often organised by the institution, but can also be undertaken by people and organisations external to and independent of the institution although the institution still needs to be consulted.
Although assessments for the purpose of making recommendations to the LEA regarding DSAs are not identical to assessments to decide on the student’s needs for the purpose of admission decisions it would appear a sensible use of everybody’s time and resources if any common assessment processes were not unnecessarily repeated and information was shared wherever possible. Many students will also already have had assessments of their disability and needs while at school or college.
Since a student may apply to and receive offers from more than one institution, one efficient approach could be for students and institutions to agree to share assessment information and reports. Collaborating with schools and colleges to share information and ensure confidence in assessment standards, criteria and codes of practice could help to further streamline the assessment process. It is important to develop and agree a code of practice concerning the ownership and confidentiality of any information provided in any assessment or report.
Assessments by an institution may result in conflicting recommendations
with DSA related assessments of an independent assessor because they did
not have complete knowledge of the course and institution or were working
to different criteria. This potential problem could be overcome if the
institution or collaboration was able to offer to organise or undertake
DSA related assessments rather than students needing to arrange these independently
This assessment is the responsibility of the institution and usually
occurs before a place is offered. It is important to consult students in
detail regarding their individual needs and their previous experiences,
competencies and preferences need to be considered, as do the institution’s
courses, resources and support systems. It is also important to involve
students in the development and monitoring and evaluation of support services
and for students to have the opportunity to review their support arrangements
at regular intervals.
The student’s previous experiences, competencies and preferences need to be considered, as do the Institution’s courses, resources and support systems before recommending any strategy or equipment. It is important to consult students in detail regarding their individual needs and they should have an opportunity to try out and evaluate solutions. It is sensible to try the simpler solutions first.
For students in receipt of a DSA a fee may be charged for assessment, which may be paid from the DSA. For this students will receive a report to help their LEA assess their entitlement. Students in receipt of a DSA can make payments for ICLT services and support recommended from the assessment of their needs that are not otherwise provided by the institution. Institutions should state clearly what is charged for and what is provided ‘free’.
An assessment should identify study aids and special learning support strategies. It should recommend the items of study equipment they will need, how much they will cost and where to get them from and explain how the use of the recommended equipment will support the study requirements. The report should also identify any training they might need to make best use of the equipment recommended. The report can also be used as supporting evidence in establishing special examination arrangements for their course.
Examples of equipment that can be purchased through DSAs may include
portable computers, wordprocessors and organisers with good battery life
and easy to use keyboards, dictaphones and tape recorders, and computers
with peripherals and applications such as word prediction, spell checking,
thesaurus, grammar checking, mindmapping, planning, outlining, text to
speech, scanning and OCR, and speech recognition.
This section provides an overview of the issues involved in ensuring
that the design, development and provision of electronic information, learning
materials and courseware does not present barriers to access to higher
education and helps to widen participation.
While in the past disabled users have often managed successfully to use third party software and hardware adaptations to access text based applications, the recent developments in interactive multimedia and graphical user interfaces make these solutions less than adequate if the software or courseware application has not been designed with the disabled user in mind. The extensive use of graphics, charts, diagrams, animations and video in place of text, may appear to provide a stimulating exciting learning environment, but without thoughtful design, may create barriers to its accessible use.
Although it is not always possible to influence commercial companies
to make their software or courseware accessible to disabled people, publicly
funded higher education has the responsibility to make courseware more
accessible. This can be achieved without significant extra costs, or compromising
the perceived quality. Barrier free design can indeed widen the potential
market to include those who for various reasons do not have access to multimedia
(e.g. text based or bandwidth limited web browsers, sound disabled in quiet
environments etc.)
Many barriers can be removed by considering accessibility issues at
the initial design stage, making use of well documented HCI/usability design
knowledge, minimising the required abilities and skills, defaulting to
the use of preferred system settings and providing accessible documentation
and support. Authors, designers and developers need to understand their
responsibility to ensure their courseware works well in combination with
existing software and hardware access technologies and is compatible with
special access features in the operating systems. Much courseware material
is now appearing for Internet or Intranet access and following simple guidelines
can help improve accessibility.
Legislation in other countries (e.g. USA and Australia) requires information
and courseware to be accessible and this has implications for UK institutions
developing and marketing any distance learning courses and computer-based
materials for students outside the UK.
Some brief examples outline the range of solutions available and some
disabilities they can help. Disabilities affecting vision can be helped
by screen magnification, screen readers, speech synthesisers and Braille
displays. Disabilities affecting hearing can be helped by amplification
and captioning. Disabilities affecting movement can be helped by special
keyboards, keyguards, switches, emulators, voice input and the use of System
Tools and facilities such as sticky and latched keys, control of bounce
and repeat speed, and mouse button selection. Disabilities that may affect
reading and writing (e.g. Dyslexia) may be helped by speech to text and
text to speech systems.
Accessibility issues need to be considered at the initial design stage and there is much documented HCI/Usability knowledge and good practice which if applied can be a first step in helping remove barriers, although it clearly will not ensure that all computer based materials will be accessible to all disabled people. For example ensuring consistency of layout and behaviour, keyboard access to all features, and minimising required abilities and skills such as memory, means that more people who have reduced abilities will be able to use the courseware.
A wide range of objective and subjective evaluation techniques can be used for both formative and summative purposes. These may employ expert, naïve or occasional users and clearly disabled users need to be involved as much as possible to evaluate and trial the courseware and ensure compatibility with enabling technologies hardware and software. It is also important to provide accessible documentation and support.
Many factors affect the quality of a learning experience, including,
ensuring clearly defined educational objectives and taking into account
the user's characteristics, experience, age, ability, special need, learning
styles pre-experience, skills, and knowledge.
Since keypress shortcuts are faster than mouse pointing their inclusion
is of value to all users and not only those unable to point with the mouse
because of a visual or movement disability. Also of value is consistent
and predictable keyboard control of all features including access to selection,
position and layer of windows, menu items, toolbars or palette selections.
Screens should be uncluttered, with a consistent and simple interface and design and placement of information, using more screens if necessary. Font size and style should be customisable, ensuring easily legible fonts, left justified with adequate white space, with short line length and text displayed in meaningful units. Vertical and horizontal scrolling should always be used with care.
Colours should be used with caution, their overuse making information more difficult to process. Users should have control of colours and contrast allowing high contrast colours with differing grey scale intensities to be selected and incompatible colour combinations avoided.
To ensure enabling technologies such as screen readers will work well, standard text-drawing operating system tools should be used with no bit mapped text images or text characters used to make up graphic elements. Any cursors should be user customisable and taken to the focus position.
Providing user definable line widths, user customisation of time dependant
responses, control and stability of on screen messages and restricting
flashing to less than 2hz will also benefit some users.
Accessibility will be improved by ensuring the following:
ii. The description of the graphic should be as close to the image as possible. It is possible to use a shortened version of this, or a description tag that links to another document with a longer description, so as not to affect the original page layout.
iii. Text captions for all audio information should be synchronised with any video, and synchronised text and audio descriptions provided for all automatically changing graphical information (i.e. video, animations).
iv. Information should be provided to pronounce or interpret abbreviated
or foreign text
ii. The number of hypertext links that appear in a single line of text should be minimised, using vertical lists of links in preference.
iii. Meaningful words or phrases should be used for links, while uninformative words in sentences should not be made into hyperlinks or visually impaired users will not be able to follow the sense of link (e.g. “click here to find out more” provides no context).
iv. All information should be available via keyboard navigation and not dependent on pointer control. To facilitate this, selections should be created in logical tab order.
ii. Colour should be used redundantly and high contrast foreground/background combinations used.
iii. Users should be able to freeze/pause anything moving or changing
iv. Structural elements should be used for structure not presentation (e.g. headings, lists). Punctuation should be used to end sentences, items etc. to inform access technology users of the structure of the document. HTML provides some information about how a document is constructed which can be helpful to Braille translation software when compared to documents that contain no information about the structure. At present however browsers, the WWW and the use of HTML do not allow blind users to simply identify the complete structure of the document and navigate through the links.
v. Lists should be numbered and labelled with a tag indicating the number of items at the start, to help visually impaired users to identify the start of the list and each item. Bulleted text without ALT tags or descriptive text may present difficulties to access technologies.
vi. Only standard HTML constructs (tags) supported by more than one browser should be used if possible, ensuring that information can be accessible on technologies not supporting newer features (e.g. frames)
vii. Layouts should be kept simple and straightforward, with continuous text used rather than columns, frames and graphical structures. HTML Form elements may cause difficulties for access technologies. Tables should have the necessary information to be read correctly by assistive technologies.
viii. Breaking down WWW documents into smaller sections can aid accessibility.
It can be helpful to have a simple method for downloading of information
(e.g. link to a complete ASCII text version that can be downloaded).
Alternative text-only versions of graphical WWW pages can be provided,
although it is difficult to ensure both are consistently updated.
The capabilities of speech recognition technologies have greatly
improved in speed and accuracy of response over the past few years and
current applications are relatively inexpensive and capable of very accurate
and fast responses on standard computers for normal rates of speech with
minimal training of the system to the speaker’s voice or training the user
of the system.
Teachers and students have preferences regarding whether and when they find the spoken or written forms of language easier or more useful for teaching and learning. Text to speech applications can automatically change text into speech while speech recognition technology can be used to automatically change speech into text. Speech recognition can be used by academic staff to produce teaching materials and by students for producing coursework and notes. Speech-recognition can also be used to replace the keyboard for those with a physical disability or to help prevent, or support those who already have, repetitive strain injury (RSI) or work-related upper limb disorders (WRULD).
Speech-recognition can also be used for providing real time text transcription
in lectures to provide a text display of what is being spoken as well as
a verbatim transcript for later reference. To achieve a similar result
without the technology would involve the use of expensive, highly trained
real-time speech to text reporters who are in great demand for court reporting
and real time subtitling of television programs. Since standard speech
recognition applications require the user to dictate punctuation, the Liberated
Learning Project (www.liberatedlearning.com) is working with IBM to develop
a special speech recognition application that can provide a readable display
from the normal speech of lecturers without requiring the dictation of
punctuation. Dr Wald is a member of the Liberated Learning Project executive
advisory committee and chair of the research and development committee
and the application is currently being used at Universities in Canada,
Australia, USA and UK. Real time speech to text transcription can assist
deaf or hearing impaired students who find it difficult to follow the lecturer
through hearing alone as well as students or lecturers whose first language
is not English and can also be of benefit when there are poor acoustics
(e.g. excessive reverberation or background noise or too quiet speech).
The automatic production of a verbatim transcript for later reference can
assist students who find it difficult to take notes during a lecture, for
example dyslexic students, hearing impaired students who need to watch
to lipread or follow a sign-language interpreter, visually impaired students,
or students who have a physical disability affecting writing or typing.
In addition many students who have no disability or learning difficulty
find it difficult to take notes at the same time as listening, watching
and thinking. Speech-recognition can also be used to support distance learning
by providing automatic speech to text transcription for on-line text chat,
Email and video or audio-conferencing.
The following extracts are all taken from HEFCE Ref 99/60a October
1999 report “Communications and information technology materials for learning
and teaching in UK higher and further education”
………some of these institutional drivers may not lend themselves to extensive collaboration with other institutions, nor to any desire to make materials available more widely…Conversely, materials that were designed to widen participation or to teach "basic" programmes might have a much greater potential for transferability and collaboration.
…the culture of FE may be more receptive to the use of C&IT materials
than parts of HE, and the prospect of their widespread use to improve quality
and widen participation may be more readily accepted by academic staff.
.
The development of new C&IT courseware will be strongly influenced
by the forms of markets that develop for HE and FE, with different forms
of production and collaboration likely in different market sectors.
Broadly, we see five main markets developing, with materials being produced
in different ways. These are likely to influence whether the commissioning
of new materials is required from public funds, or indeed whether it is
appropriate to use public funds in these ways. These five markets
are:…'mainstream' provision...… post-first degree level….…trading activities...
…international programmes….The use of C&IT and distance learning in
the UK to widen participation in HE and FE and to create new provision.
…The existing funding bodies may need to review their funding arrangements
to institutions to encourage wider participation. If further support is
required for this purpose, it will be important to ensure that C&IT
is effectively used, and there may be scope for commissioning additional
courseware in low cost and high volume areas….
When combined with the other issues addressed in the report it is clear
that the effective implementation of C&IT materials in teaching and
learning poses a challenge for HE and FE institutions that many have only
just begun to recognise. The FEFC ILT Development Strategy acknowledges
that C&IT is now central to the management and delivery of FE, as does
HEFCE's support guidance on institutional learning and teaching strategies.
Therefore, all HE and FE institutions should look to include C&IT provision
as a core part of their planning process, and in particular their teaching
and learning and information strategies.”
Machines specially produced for use by visually impaired people also include four-track recording, tactile keys and the facility to feel that the tape is revolving.
It is more difficult to skim through standard analogue tape-recorded
audio material than text. Digital audio and video recordings can however
be captioned, indexed and searched. Small, portable, high quality
digital playback systems are available based on international ‘electronic
book’ standards.
ICLT can support Dyslexic Students in many ways:
i. Speech recognition can allow the student to dictate their written work and also provide automatic lecture transcripts (see appendix)
ii. Students can find the use of on-screen icons and pictures rather than words very helpful
iii. Word-processing software can make a great difference to the way people write and can help input text, edit and proofread the spelling and grammar.
iv. Spelling and grammar checking, word prediction, dictionaries, thesaurus, mindmapping, planning and outlining applications can help support the writing process.
v. Speech synthesis can play back what you have written to help proof reading
vi. With a scanner and the appropriate OCR software the computer can 'read' text aloud from documents using synthetic speech
vii. ICLT allows students to search through large amounts of electronically stored information quickly and so can be very useful.
viii. ICLT can be used as an electronic diary to help organise time with colour-coded appointments and 'alarms' for important dates and printed out timetables and also store information. A 'palmtop computer' or 'Personal Digital Assistant', can be very portable and can synchronise the information with a desktop computer.
ix. All computers have a calculator built into the system, but specific software can help with more sophisticated numerical work.
x. Computers can illustrate an essay or presentation with a photograph, a diagram or a graph.
xi. Being able to record spoken information easily, so that you can review it at a later date allows you to concentrate on what is being said, rather than writing notes in Lectures, Seminars, Workshops, Tutorials. Ideas can be recorded quickly and conveniently and revise and prepare for a talk or presentation. Digital recorders are more flexible than analogue with regard to indexing and searching.
xii. ICLT Presentation software and on-line applications can help staff
and students:
a Make notes, OHPs etc. available before a lecture
b Display the main points to be covered
c Explain the purpose of what is being required or done
d Present material in a structured way
e Present material in preferred style, size etc.
f Use visual aids
g Give examples to illustrate a point
h Support preferred ways of learning
i Give constructive and relevant feedback
j Check understanding
k Give time to think before responding to a question
l Give enough time to read information before being expected to use
it
i. ICLT can be a coherent, structured, visual & logical way
of learning without social demands, and so of value and benefit to people
with Autism or Asperger’s Syndrome.
ii. ICLT can support organisational skills for students who find difficulty in prioritising their workload and organising their studies in order to meet deadlines through visual planners, organisers, study schedules and calendars and maintaining a list of assignments and deadlines, “to do” lists and checklists.
iii. If students also find difficulty in the physical process of writing (e.g. dyspraxia) they may be helped in their writing by wordprocessing and may benefit from abbreviation expansion and/or word prediction.
iv. Some students may be more skilled at using a keyboard than writing and benefit from the use of a computer in exams.
v. Providing lecture notes on-line will assist those who find note taking time consuming and laborious.
vi. Students may have difficulties with information presented purely
in a verbal modality and may misinterpret ambiguous instructions, information
and colloquialisms. Providing online written instructions or visual guides
helps capitalise on visual means of presenting new concepts and abstract
material. Graphic organisers such as semantic maps, flow charts and webs
can also help break down tasks into smaller steps.
i. One approach focuses on the senses students prefer learning through: Visually (e.g. pictures) or Verbally (auditory/sound and/or visually/text) or tactile/kinaesthetic (‘hands on’ activity’)
ii. Another approach focuses on whether learners prefer a Holistic (see overview/ the whole picture) or Sequential (logical, step by step) approach to learning.
iii. Another approach focuses on the strategies students prefer to adopt when learning:
a. Pragmatist (learn by putting concrete ideas into practice)
b. Reflector (learn by observation/thinking)
c. Theorist (use abstract thought to consider relationships)
d. Activist (learn by doing/activity/experimentation)
ICLT facilitates making learning accessible and appropriate for
individuals with different backgrounds, learning styles, abilities, and
disabilities by providing students with a wider variety of options for
accessing, using, and engaging with learning materials while minimizing
barriers.
ICLT can enable the same content to be provided in a preferred medium or in multiple media simultaneously and can modify the appearance of information or transform one medium to another (e.g. Speech recognition software, automatically translates spoken language into text and Text-to-speech software, transforms text into speech)
Information stored digitally can be ‘marked’ in different ways (e.g. HTML, XML etc.) to allow teachers and students to flexibly alter content to accommodate needs or preferences.
ICLT can be networked and hyperlinked to supports for learning in preferred
formats including updated materials, and contributions of experts, mentors,
and peers.
Speech can be expressive but listeners need to recognize aural and visual cues, screen out irrelevant stimuli to stay focused and engaged and actively remember what is heard. Auditory memory is sequential and may be overloaded by the length and complexity of presentations.
Text reduces the memory demands of spoken language by providing a lasting written record that can be reread, and can help communicate complex information more exactly and logically as the author can make revisions. Speech can express meanings beyond what can be conveyed by words and syntax alone although reading text aloud can make a presentation less natural-sounding, and therefore, less effective. Various text cues and conventions can be used to try to replicate the expressive emotive power of speech although readers must interpret these.
Images can communicate information permanently and holistically and
simplify complex information and portray mood, relationships, comparisons
but can require interpretation.
To help learn new concepts, ICLT can facilitate finding and presenting personally and topically relevant multiple examples in the form of text, image, sound, or video and provide new ways to interact with those examples through manipulating digital materials.
ICLT offers a wide variety of ways to highlight key elements (e.g. through animations, intonation, colour etc.) to draw learners' attention to the most important aspects at different stages of learning.
ICLT providing multiple representations of information through a variety of media, formats, organizations, detail & depth enables students to choose the format or medium that works best for them.
Learning involves incorporating new knowledge with old and ICLT can
support diversity in knowledge through flexible linking to other information
resources in multiple media.
ICLT can support learners through presenting multiple models using a variety of media showing different, effective ways to do something.
ICLT can support learners practice of skills in context by focusing on strengthening their abilities in specific areas and providing ongoing feedback (e.g. text-to-speech supports learners to focus on strategic reading or content learning; spell checkers support learners to focus on expressing their ideas and improving their writing fluency; spreadsheet calculations can help learners focus on mathematical reasoning) Online connections to mentors and peers offer students the chance to seek comments from others.
ICLT offers varied supports and opportunities to help students demonstrate
& consolidate knowledge and skills and invite feedback from a wide
audience and can provide a sense of accomplishment. Presentation tools
provide templates and tools for incorporating multiple media and for structuring
presentations. Publishing software helps students incorporate images and
lay out printed work in a professional manner.
Students learn best when challenged just beyond their current capacity but the optimal level of difficulty, challenge, and frustration varies considerably. ICLT can help provide a structured opportunity for students to practice setting realistic goals and optimal challenges for themselves. Discovering the consequences of setting goals that are too high or too low helps students develop the skills they need for independent learning.
External rewards and punishments tend to be inappropriate and ineffective in motivating learning over the long term (unless choice of reward is provided) whereas motivation can be enhanced through immediate feedback.
ICLT can help offer students a selection of materials from which to
choose, each with varying degrees of structure, and an appropriate learning
context. (e.g. Some students like to explore ideas and create their own
individual approaches while others require more structure; some like to
learn in classrooms, others prefer their home; some prefer quiet, others
noise; some prefer to learn in a group, others prefer to learn alone )
ICLT enables provision of multiple representations of content in the context of assessment resulting in a fairer picture of students' progress and deeper understanding of student learning, based on what is being evaluated, the support the students normally use, and the format that is most accessible to each. (Test formats (e.g., multiple choice, essay) and administration circumstances (e. g., timed/untimed) can affect student performance and traditional assessments often consist of a single medium.)
ICLT makes it easier to provide students with multiple options for expression appropriate for their own styles, needs, and preferences, so they are more likely to be able to demonstrate skills, knowledge, and learning. (e.g. Speech recognition systems can record spoken responses and translate them to text. Software can be used to create animated presentations and other similar tools make it easy to develop multimedia presentations)
Technology offers the opportunity to assess skill learning in a deeper and more meaningful way (e.g. simulations)
Embedding assessment into ongoing work over time can ensure that every student is working at a comfortable and appropriate stage of difficulty within an enjoyable learning ICLT multimedia environment which removes some of the emotional impact of testing and highlights its more positive aspects. Feedback for both student and teacher can be informative and helpful rather than intimidating and can inform teachers about what most interests their students and help them to enlist students' motivation.
The interactive capacity of ICLT facilitating the tracking of the support a student uses and the strategies that they follow can help gain valuable insights about students as learners and more accurately evaluate both student performance and their underlying learning processes over time.
See: http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent
One example of materials developed to be also accessible for blind
users are the products of the Teaching and Learning Technology Project
(TLTP) at the Royal College of Music: an orchestration project and a project
examining the use of music with film. The courseware is delivered as interactive
multimedia CD-ROMs.
The courseware is relevant to students taking courses in composition,
orchestration, instrumentation and arrangement, analysis, stylistic studies,
history, conducting, performance studies, aural training and awareness.
It is relevant to students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with
or without traditional backgrounds in conventionally notated music. However,
for a full understanding of the issues involved, fluency in musical notation
and terminology is essential. This courseware can be used by visually-impaired
students and teachers.
(see: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publications/digitise/index.html)
"The Arts Council of England's Digital Arts and Disabled People Bursary Scheme was set up to help the evolving body of disabled artists interested in using technology to facilitate their work by offering small grants for training and access to expertise. Digital image-making has been at the centre of a disability arts renaissance, partly because its newness allows for fresh ideas on the nature of expression and partly because it offers both a way of processing and accessing art-making which can be better tailored to disabled artists' needs. Additionally, the interactive possibilities of the internet have made it easier to access material from other media such as film, radio and video. Arguably, it is a timely coincidence that the expansion of technology has occurred over a similar time period to the one in which disabled people have been attempting to break the shackles of oppressive medical and charitable perceptions of their bodies, replacing them with a much more socialised model of disability. This development drastically transforms our perception of ourselves and the discrimination we face as a disempowered group."
" What is clear is that the internet is giving disabled artists a degree of control in producing work and finding an audience for a growing area of practice."
"For many disabled people the major point of contact with new technological
development is within a medical context….. The boundary between 'medical'
and 'social' is complex in general terms but for political purposes the
disability rights movement has emphatically focused on a social model of
disability. Such an emphasis represents a demand for access to the practical
mechanisms of society whilst considering the medical depiction of disability
(as a physical impairment or limitation, as something to be cured or alleviated)
to be disempowering. Medical technology often breaches this division by
being predicated on diagnosis and presumed 'replacement' or support of
body parts whilst also increasing an individual's degree of social access.
In contrast, commercial technology (general consumer goods) may offer increased
access without the stigma of being in any way medical. Fax machines, pagers,
tape-recorders, remote controls, and many other gadgets of consumer technology
as well as being mainstream commodities also offer invaluable support for
disabled people, often in ways that were not originally intended or foreseen
by manufacturers. The perspective of identifying technology with disability
art is, then, in itself dual-edged. If disabled people consider themselves
to have a relationship towards both medical treatment and access support
in one form or another, it is becoming increasingly likely that digital
information plays some part in its operation. The more general advantages
and facilities that are provided by new technology may be balanced with
feelings of dependency, of one's hopes for increased social access residing
on 'breakthrough' techno-logical inventions. Often the equipment itself
engenders a sense of both intimacy and distrust. Technology -compressed
human information - enters our lives as an object or objects operating
in prosthetic symbiosis with our bodily organism. Hence, many disabled
people may anticipate that an artistic relationship with new technologies
and digital art would be complex. ……The disabled artist using new technology
to explore creative ideas which may - simultaneously or separately - relate
to provision of access is already operating across the span of an unusually
dynamic set of relations. It would be likely then that digital art by disabled
people would also present a challenge to the mainstream of digital art
per se. Questions without answers For me, working as a disabled artist
with new technologies has raised many problems that do not suggest simple
resolution. I would like to offer some initial questions and observations
at the digital/disability arts interface. To start somewhere: the commonly
cited (and contested) concept of 'disembodiment' that is an effect of a
computer-HEARING user's suspension in virtual reality, telematics or cyberspace
takes on a more complex spin in relation to disability. In mainstream society,
so much is predicated on disability as a stigma through the visible presence
of a physical condition
(people refer to 'visible' and 'non-visible' impairments). Could it
be that a society of 'disembodied' agents may effect the removal of such
conditions? The question here is whether computer-disembodiment offers
an attractive 'liberation' from the body for the disabled individual or
whether it effects an effacement of an essential condition of identity.
….
More generally, there is a significant tendency in contemporary non-disabled
digital art to adopt or develop a predominant style that engages with metaphors
of sensory overload or engulfment. This may take the form of virtual reality,
software games animation, treated sound or graphic imagery, which, in the
synthetic complexity of the treatment or distortion, is suggestive not
only of desensitisation but of a compensatory reflection of the fact of
the computer-user's comparative physical immobility. Considering the history
of the social isolation and institu-tionalisation
(enforced immobility) of disabled people, is there a danger that it
could become just another stereotype to conflate, say, the wheelchair-user
with the computer-user, or the 'isolation' of the net surfer with the social
marginalisation of many disabled people? Is the desensiti-sation effected
by much digital art that attempts to metaphoricise sensory overload either
useful or appro-priate to a sensory-impaired disabled artist?
….. The question here is one of technology's synergy and symbiosis with the human rather than mere replacement or emulation. Given an intense ambivalence towards the advantages and innovations of such media that intrinsically pose unintended and diverse challenges to experiences of disability, it is in such areas as non-corporate approaches to, for example, virtual reality, that the disabled artist might flourish. Here, as with much that is convincing in art, a critical confrontation can be combined with a creative vision. It is through such eventualities that we may hope to see disability artists presenting unexpected challenges to digital arts, revealing over and again the artistic presumptions and establishments of an uncritical and marginalising mainstream"
The digital process has been as much about communicating with people as with the hardware and software. Learning to manage a project, however humble in proportions, is all about interpersonal skills and the application of knowledge. Acquiring the know-how has in fact been a very social process. I'm not able to make use of the visual display monitor so I work alongside an artist with similar interests who relates the visual information to me. Much of our initial familiarisation concerned developing methods for verbally sharing the visual information presented on the densely packed display screen. Over time, I evolved a mental model of the software's functionality and, through small-scale experiments, the contexts where digital processing can be effective…………After several hours of familiarisation he went away to look at access technologies (i. e. verbalising software) and check their compatibility. This proved fruitless purely because of the graphical user interface emphasis on the use of icons, drawdown menus and the mouse. It ultimately meant that we would always have to provide a fully sighted assistant for him to work with. The next exercise was to set out a precise method of working with the assistant, after which Hugh spent the following two months trying to become fully proficient in all the applications. The positive aspects of working this way were firstly that it vastly reduced the experimental time he would have needed if he had worked alone using access technology. Secondly he was able to explore the visual processes by 'proxy'. Having assistants provided him with an important short cut. He was able to take advantage of the assistant's familiarity with the system, and the two of them were able to share their acquired knowledge. On the negative side were the difficulties in communication, the use of language and simplicity of description. Hugh has come across very few people who have a high level of ability in communicating visual descriptions or in articulating creative work to the partially sighted. He believes there are huge training needs in this area which would have a positive effect on everyone within arts and the media. There is an enormous amount of productive experience to be shared in such collaboration but personal development plays a critical part. It is essential for disabled people and arts organisations to build up a rapport. Organisations such as Intermedia are some of the few places encouraging access to the disabled but at the same time they are often the most pressurised and under resourced."
"We both have difficulty communicating which is why we use art to say
things. We find metaphor in materials and actions. Digital media helps
us take our work out of a performance-based dialogue into more permanent
media. This enables us to exchange ideas. Our work is much wider than the
performance work we produce or the images we make. It's about a process
of work which we share and only partly present publicly. Introducing technology
into our process has enabled us to make ephemeral performance pieces more
tangible. The images accompanying this article were grabbed from the desktop
screen. Taped conversations have meant that writing has been made easier
and dissemination on the web is possible. This is particularly important
for us since, as a dyslexic, I have difficulties in writing, and for Tony
this process is beyond reach to a much greater extent."
The Learning & Teaching Support Network (LTSN) Philosophy &
Religious Studies Subject Centre note that the disciplines that are covered
by the Philosophical and Religious Studies Subject Centre are not ones
that lend themselves easily to the use of C&IT in teaching for practical
and subject specific reasons.
Most Theology/Religious Studies (TRS) and Philosophy departments are small and therefore lack the resources to bear the high front end costs of developing C&IT programmes. Where they are able to use institutional facilities, these are sometimes unsuitable for humanities subject. Nevertheless, there is interesting and useful work being done.
Much teaching is text-based, and although this does lend itself to some use of C&IT, this could have a negative effect on widening participation since its often means pushing the cost of printing material away from the departments concerned and onto the student. There is also little use of Multiple Choice Questions in PRS, since questions posed tend not to have right or wrong answers.
One particular growth are seems to be in the use of C&IT in running on-line seminars & students who have become comfortable with each other face to face are more likely to successfully engage in online discussion.
There have been any number of logic programme developed over the years, however, none have really been widely accepted since many academics prefer using their own methods although the possibility of the development (and accepting) of common ways of teaching logic is being investigated
Dr Gary Bunt in his March 2001 article 'Widening Access to Theology and Religious Studies through the Application of Internet Resources' http://www.prs-ltsn.leeds.ac.uk/access/discussions/net1.html explores the advantages and disadvantages of students applying Internet resources in their TRS work, and considers whether the Internet is a means through which wider access to TRS can be facilitated through availability of a broader, cheaper and more comprehensive resource base.
Key issues addressed include:
i. Book purchase is expensive, and many students have limited resources to apply to buying academic texts
ii. students from disadvantaged backgrounds might make greater use of web resources as a means of researching specific types of TRS essays.
iii. There are materials available on-line that cannot be easily obtained elsewhere,
iv. Training and is essential & accommodating these requirements will widen participation, but also requires institutional support.
v. 'free' Internet access via their academic institutions is a means of widening access and academic participation in higher education, especially for students with limited financial resources.
vi. A student may be stimulated through reading TRS related material on-line to study a particular subject in more depth, or even to search out a printed resource. This issue is particularly important for the growing number of part-time students in access courses, further education or higher education, where local resources are inadequate to study a TRS subject in depth. The Internet can also open up TRS resources for people with physical impairments that act as barriers to learning, including some deaf, blind or dyslexic students.
vii. Printing out any material may be practical for individual pages, but becomes less realistic with major TRS related texts, including forms of Revelation, Scriptures and primary texts.
viii. Some TRS courses lend themselves more to the medium than others, for example in the study of contemporary religious movements or world religions, which have a wealth of potential material available on-line.
ix. A text may be searched for key terms, and other material ignored. It may link in unconventional ways to other sections of the same site, or external sites & the transition can be confusing, especially when little information is given as to the linked page's origins.
x. The variation in commentaries and motivations for putting a site on-line need to be considered, when evaluating them as resources for widening access or improving student knowledge.
xi. The danger of information overload is one that has to be considered in the context of students, as well as lecturers.
xii. Patterns of student work can be influenced by the Internet, given the distractions available on-line, and the illusion that simply surfing and searching for material on a subject is the equivalent of writing an essay. Poor management of research time, and Internet fatigue, can lead to essay deadlines being missed.
i. The use of the computer, either for live lecture presentations or on-line learning can include displaying simulations & animations to greatly enhance a student’s understanding.
ii. Computer-based tutorial is often used to reinforce concepts presented in lectures & may be used to help with growing student/staff ratios. The use of diagrams/illustrations is very important, especially for visualising difficult concepts while findings suggest that the impact of multimedia is subtle.
iii. CAL Self Assessment provides immediate feedback provided to the student. However, the lecturer may also benefit if a monitoring system logs and collates all the student responses. to enable problem areas to be highlighted and allow additional time to be spent in lectures/tutorials to reinforce difficult concepts. Few institutions use Computer Administered Testing for final examinations due to resource implications.
iv. Laboratory simulations have a number of benefits:
a. the student can learn of the experiment’s objectives and thus work more effectively in the laboratory.
b. students can familiarise themselves with equipment before actually using it, thus making laboratory time more profitable.
c. They can saving money in the case of extremely expensive equipment
d. Sunstitute for laboratory work that is too dangerous or would take too long to perform
e. permits a student to analyse more data than would be possible in a practical session & improve their understanding.
v. Data collected during laboratory experiments often needs to be
analysed and computer applications, such as spreadsheets, provide relatively
simple mechanisms for performing these tasks.
vi. The manipulation of data can also facilitate problem solving & allow the student to make higher-level interpretation of relationships and explore implications
a. Kinetic studies are applications which are particularly suited to spreadsheet manipulations - the effects of changing initial conditions, equilibrium constants and time of reaction can be examined quite simply
b. The growing number of databases specifically orientated to chemistry (e.g. periodic tables and chemical structure systems) mean that data can be quickly transferred between applications. For example, element properties can be copied from a periodic table database, pasted into a spreadsheet and the final output graph embedded within a word processor document. This integration of applications can catalyse student interest and activity as well as improving computer literacy skills.
c. By using applications for developing problem solving skills, discussion and concept building can follow, often promoting group activity and facilitating peer to peer coaching.
i. free access to a host of resources
ii. the ability to deliver text, graphics, animations, video, sound
and chemical structure information in a platform independent manner
iii. can be used as an open / distance learning tool
iv. is available when the user wants it and is student-oriented
Disadvantages include:
i. the difficulty of access when the internet is under load
ii. the need for communication hardware plus connection costs
iii. the difficulty of finding high quality information from the wealth
of potential web sites.
CAL/IT provided a way of :
x. allowing students to work at their own pace
xi. providing simulations of expensive/dangerous equipment
xii. highlighting areas of a course that students are having difficulties
with
xiii. enhancing understanding
xiv. making learning an active process
xv. promoting collaborative work
xvi. providing greater computer literacy
CAL/IT provision may be a possible solution to:
xvii. the need to increase the provision of independent learning for
students, the widening of access to courses for students who do not have
the necessary pre-requisites, and the desire to provide students with transferable
skills,
xviii. the provision of more student centred learning, the need to
widen the range of approaches to teaching and learning, the increase in
tutorial class sizes necessary to cope with larger numbers of students,
and the necessity of providing incentives to improve teaching performance,
xix. the desire to increase the use of technology in courses, the need
to provide enrichment in lectures from use of computer graphics, and the
requirement to introduce more interfacing and simulations in laboratory
classes.
i. Facilities, computers, science equipment, and programs need to be accessible to people with a variety of disabilities.
ii. Scientific and mathematics publications need to be available in appropriate alternative formats.
iii. Complex abstract mathematical and scientific language & notation,
graphs, charts, drawings & three dimensional models need to be accessible
see:
http://www.rit.edu/~easi/easisem/handbk1.html
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Careers/representation.html
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Transition/csun.html
(See: http://www.rit.edu/~easi/itd/itdv01n4/article3.html which describes a project to use technology to provide vision a graphical calculus course for blind students that equals or exceed the quality of courses for students with unimpaired vision.)
i. scanners with optical character recognition (OCR) software can be used to read conventional printed text into ASCII files.
ii. Braille printers with appropriate translation software can render those files in Braille.
iii. for those who do not read Braille or even those who do, screen reading systems provide access to ASCII encoded text files.
iv. enlarged display screens are available for those with lesser degrees of impairment.
v. Hypermedia techniques can be used to provide easy access at will to information in the courseware.
vi. audio cassettes can be made by a trained reader
vii. mathematical formulas can be written out in English for synthesis by screen reading programs.
viii. large type and talking calculators are available
Formulas introduce special problems that technology has not resolved
in simple ways. Braille systems for rendering formulas exist and others
are in development. The Nemeth code was developed specifically for the
purpose of rendering mathematical expressions in Braille. It uses standard
six dot Braille and, by virtue of adroitly constructed combinations of
Braille characters, is able to represent very complex expressions. The
Nemeth system needs to use compound characters to represent many of the
symbols that are single characters on a keyboard. A more significant difficulty
is that the code lacks the graphical elements of complex mathematical expressions
that enable the learner to develop an intuitive grasp of the
material.
Computer Braille is a six dot system which represents letters, numerals and punctuation (including parentheses, brackets and braces). It is most useful for communicating between ASCII based and Braille based devices without the need for a great deal of translation. Computer Braille can be used for mathematical formulas but its use doesn't make it easier or faster to understand them.
A hybrid system is the DotsPlus system which combines eight dot Braille with tactile display of some of the graphical elements in technical formulas. With eight dots per Braille cell, a true one-to-one match could be made between Braille cells and ASCII's eight bit bytes. For blind programmers, this would be even more useful than computer Braille. DotsPlus, in common with other Braille systems, requires preliminary training. Dotsplus is a method of presenting tactile information for blind readers with the same spatial formatting used for printed materials. It was developed largely for presentation of mathematical equations and scientific symbols used in text. It represents letters, numbers, and a few other symbols by Braille dot patterns, but many symbols are represented by enlarged raised images of the ink-print symbol. Dotsplus output is produced by making tactile copies of graphic computer files produced by a number of standard graphics programs, word processors, and page setting compilers. Any computer file that permits a global font change can be reproduced in Dotsplus with minimal editing. Dotsplus hard copy using raised images that look like print equivalents but factor of approximately 2.5 larger and can be recognised by sight or touch.
TRIANGLE is a tool for reading, writing, and manipulating information, including mathematical equations, complicated tables, and various kinds of graphs, diagrams, and tables with output in sound, speech, screen & Braille and includes a math/science word processor, a graphing calculator, a viewer for graphs & tables, the Touch-and-Tell Program for digitising tablet input (e.g. for Nomad)
A graphing calculator is part of TRIANGLE and its output can be ``viewed'' on the computer screen. It can also be heard as a tone graph, or felt by a moving Braille icon as the x coordinate is varied. The graph may also be printed on a Braille printer.
Flow diagrams, computer tree diagrams, and a number of other types of information typically presented graphically for sighted readers have been translated into ``Braille diagrams'' that blind students have found fairly understandable. Some of the simpler diagrams of this kind can often be read using a refreshable Braille display even though these displays show only one line at a time. TRIANGLE provides a Braille reader for such Braille diagrams.
Many such diagrams and most other graphical information is more easily understood if available as a tactile picture that can be viewed on a digitising pad so that the computer can supply additional information. TRIANGLE includes this capability.
A number of translator programs will be made available in order to make TRIANGLE as useful as possible. At a minimum these will include programs to translate LaTeX, MS Word, and WordPerfect files into the GS notation used by TRIANGLE, translation of standard spreadsheet files to the GS table form, and translations of the computer map files generated for figures by the Nomad and AudioPIX software.
AsTeR can auditorily render the structure and content of a mathematical formula in ways analogous to a graphical display. AsTeR has excellent hypertext facilities that permit sophisticated random search for information. These capabilities exceed those of a trained mathematical reader. AsTeR reads technical ASCII files written with the LaTeX macro package for the mathematical typesetting language, TeX. The combination of LaTeX and AsTeR has a special advantage: it is possible to use a command set that expresses the semantic content of a symbol as well as its typographical form.
The LaTeX macro package is a comprehensive word processing program for literary text enhanced by special facilities for processing technical formulas. It is already the most common form for the computer processing of mathematical text and extensions of LaTeX are being developed for other sciences. A LaTeX source file uses only keyboard symbols. Since LaTeX expresses the semantic content of a formula through simple macros that can be interpreted either by print graphics, Braille, or voice synthesis, it can be used as a common basis for all computer assisted presentation of technical text. The effort to learn the few LaTeX commands appropriate to a particular course of study is about the same that any student would devote to earning the symbolism of the subject. It would be unnecessary for a student to learn many, if any, of LaTeX's visual typesetting commands.
Work executed in LaTeX could be printed in typeset form by the student
for submission to the instructor or the LaTeX source file could be viewed
in that form on the instructor's screen. With appropriate software and
a Braille printer, the student's work could be saved in hard copy for future
use. Wherever AsTeR is installed, the student could review his work in
audible form with the assistance of AsTeR's search facilities. Structured
formatted electronic technical documents can be browsed & searched
(using LaTeX & AsTeR) rather than only read in entirety. Without AsTeR,
the audible review could be done by standard screen reading systems "trained"
to render the LaTeX commands.
“The VirTouch Mouse is a multifunctional device. It enables the blind
to use touch in order to recognize graphic shapes, diagrams, pictures,
to draw symbols, icons and graphical schemes, to read text in regular alphabets,
in addition to Braille, and to play tactile computer games. VTS integrates
regular computer mouse and tactile display functions in one device. The
VirTouch Mouse is a special screen scanner-mouse, containing three tactile
displays each incorporating 32 rounded pins arranged in a four by eight
matrix. These pins respond vertically through the cursor to computer graphics,
pixel by pixel. Using three fingers, the blind and visually impaired can
understand the curvature and shading of the scanned screen pixels presented
through the structure of pin height. Each pin moves up and down. Eight
Buttons on the top and side surfaces of the device allow the user to interact
with the computer in order to navigate the cursor to specific positions,
to send commands, and to transform images. In graphic mode the user moves
the device along a tabletop as a sighted user moves a regular mouse. In
turn, the VTMouse cursor, which also consists of three rectangles, moves
along the computer display. The image from each of these cursor rectangles
is transformed and sent to the corresponding tactile display on the device.
In this way, the blind user progressively "feels" small parts of the computer
display with his/her fingers and integrates a full picture from those small
parts exactly the way he/she does in real life. In text mode, three display
letters are presented at one time, one letter per tactile rectangular display.
In response to corresponding commands all three letters shift in a desired
direction. For reading text VTMouse and its software provides innovative
Braille Running Line mode as well as Text-to-Speech output. VTMouse software
is a set of Windows 98/NT/2000 applications, which provide a normal "user
- computer" interface for presenting graphic objects, reading text in either
Braille or printed letters and playing tactile games specially developed
for the blind. Other applications also contain exercises and educational
materials for study with sound accompaniment. All these allow the user
to work independently or through interaction with a sighted relative, teacher
or friend. “
The Learning & Teaching Support Network (LTSN) Economics Subject
Centre notes that:
i. The particular benefits of C&IT in economics stem mainly from the mathematical character of economics. A lot of teaching involves studying mathematical models such as the ubiquitous supply and demand curves, particularly the effect of a change in a parameter. To do this with an animation is arguably clearer than drawing a line on a board, erasing it and redrawing it. Various software and online formats allow the combination of animated or interactive graphs with written or audio commentary.
ii. C&IT also facilitates games and simulations. There are online models including the UK's Virtual Economy and a number of virtual stock markets. There are computerised games that run on local networks. It is not uncommon for economics lecturers to use Excel or other software to generate a model or worksheet for their students to experiment with.
iii. C&IT is essential to economics in allowing access to a vast range of economic data from around the world, as well as the statistical or econometric software with which to manipulate it.
iv. A major advantage of material delivered in this way is its asynchronous character. Courseware and online text, audio or visual material can be worked through at the student's own pace and at any time that they have access to a networked computer. Discussion boards or electronic mailing lists ease the flow of questions and feedback between tutors and their classes. Hence students who cannot attend or keep up with a conventional lecture but who are still motivated can still be guided through the subject by their lecturer.
v. Educational progress might show a difference between students who are accustomed to having used computers from an early age and other students who may have problems of confidence with everyday computer use.
vi. There is a wealth of self-test material in economics, both online and self-contained, which students can work on in their own time, for example to see if they have the sufficient grasp of mathematical concepts for their course. Potentially, the availability of both self-tests and online learning materials could help build students' confidence with topics such as maths.
The Learning & Teaching Support Network (LTSN) English Subject
Centre note that:
i. Teachers have found that dyslexic students greatly benefit from the publishing of online lecture notes, course materials, etc. Such a practice gives students a chance to go through the materials in advance of the lecture and to orient themselves. This practice can benefit a range of learners who for various reasons may need to work through materials at their own pace.
ii. E-conferencing/e-discussion allows students who may be self-conscious of their accents or their awkwardness with English (in the case of non-native speakers) to voice ideas and participate in discussions.
iii. Introducing students to web resources and research tools, for example, allows for an additional entrance into the business of research and locating resources (a fundamental skill in literary studies).
iv. Developing web-based writing skills and encouraging not only the use but also the production of web resources promotes the acquisition of transferable skills
v. The challenges faced by first-generation university students, mature students, or students from under-resourced schools can be compounded by IT. For example, such students may lack experience and confidence with computers. Many mature students do not really know how to operate a keyboard or have touch typing skills. Such stumbling blocks create additional problems for students who are expected to use computers and computer-based technologies.
(See http://www.becta.org.uk/research/reports/digidivide.html)
i. Many games feature very detailed graphics, complex interface
systems, character Artificial Intelligence, full motion video scenes, high
quality sounds music & speech and multiplayer and online options.
ii. For games to be successful they are designed to only take a very short time to understand and so have potential in education, especially through providing design tools in educational versions
iii. Developments in game design, such as graphical techniques, plot and character development, user interface design, and making the player learn, can be incorporated into the development of learning and teaching materials.
iv. Online gaming is expected to be the largest area of expansion in the video games sector; multiplayer online gaming is slow to develop in UK because of low broadband take-up but countries with widely available broadband have extensive online gaming
v. Games can present learning opportunities and skills in a way that is attractive to young people combining interactivity with a familiar and yet novel situation, with clear and agreed aims for learning.
vi. The role of the teacher in structuring the activity of the learner remains crucial and the teacher requires good understanding of the game in order to use it effectively.
vii. Working with specific and relevant elements or sections of the game may be more useful than using the game as a whole.
viii. Simulation games can offer learners sophisticated scenarios to support meaningful post-game discussion.
ix. An imaginative and well-produced game may be flexible and complex enough to offer a range of educational opportunities.
x. Games could provide motivation, develop basic and strategic skills and encourage collaboration and the development of team, social, communication and resource sharing.
xi. Games have a significant advantage in that pupils receive immediate feedback on their actions and decisions, inviting exploration and experimentation.
xii. Games can stimulate curiosity and encourage experimentation in a safe cost effective “virtual” environment using virtual materials that are infinite and freely replaceable.
xiii. Games can alter the laws of physics (e.g. Speed up or slow down time)
xiv. Games can encourage familiarity with technologies, and learning how best to use and manipulate software.
xv. Handheld consoles offer interesting possibilities for low-cost learning-software development,
xvi. The next mobile phone generation should bring greatly increased bandwidth, and the ability to play more complex mobile-to-mobile games.
xvii. In the UK, take-up of Interactive TV has steadily grown, with games being one of several forms of entertainment available through this media.
xviii. Some people who don’t own computers, own consoles and games and are therefore familiar with them.
xix. Games generate more revenue than music, TV, movies and require a diverse set of skills with creativity and imagination being the most important and so offer careers for artists, animators, scriptwriters, programmers, music/sound, producers, etc.
xx. It helps for learning to be fun although the learner can be ‘engaged’ with learning without having ‘fun’. Having fun can be a means of sustaining interest over less enjoyable learning activities/challenges
xxi. People enjoy activities that are challenging.
xxii. Speech input could be a future way people interact with games.
xxiii. Broadband will allow ‘episodic development’ where user feedback can inform the development of future episodes of the game. This would speed up the development of the game, as only the initial episodes need to be ready for people to start playing.
(See http://www.jisc.ac.uk/techwatch/reports/tsw_02-01.rtf)
i. The availability and take up of new broadband technologies in
the wider community potentially removes access barriers to e-learning.
ii. Broadband services offer always-on connections and faster, more reliable data transmission rates reducing the potential differences between on-campus and off-campus learning experiences.
iii. Achieving widening access to learning, in more places and to more sorts of people, especially those not familiar with or antipathetic to PCs and formal learning situations becomes easier as broadband services spread and interfaces become more intuitive and consistent with those used in other parts of daily life (VCRs, games consoles, mobile phones).
iv. “Always on” means that individual machines are more vulnerable to attack and so security, appropriate data encryption and virus and firewall protection are important.
v. The amount of available bandwidth constrains the range of possibilities open to institutions. Ordinary telephone lines are fine for simple text email and text based web surfing, but unsuitable for any kind of multimedia application or for moving around large data files.
vi. One-way systems are essentially content distribution media. The greater the bandwidth of the return channel from the learner, the more possibilities there are for meaningful interaction.
vii. The most feasible and likely contenders for supporting off campus study are ADSL and cable networks. 3G mobile telecoms have the potential to support broadband based learning but they are unlikely to be widely available or affordable for some time. Other services that are likely to have limited niche potential are Broadband Fixed Wireless (for mainly urban areas) and satellite services (for mainly rural areas).
viii. The main value of broadband is faster access to systems and resources and the feasibility of studying online instead of downloading resources for offline study.
ix. Audio enriched study materials controllable through a web interface may be a powerful learning medium.
x. The benefits of multi-access digitised video clips available on-demand are potentially enormous although expensive to deliver.
xi. Broadband access from the home reduces the difference between the
home and campus. It makes many homes increasingly effective as places
of study and will increasingly raise the issue of the best use of the campus,
school or learning centre.
See http://www.techlearn.ac.uk/
Wireless Local Area Networks (LANs):
i. are a way of linking computers with wireless cards installed together
without using cables. A wireless network does not completely eliminate
the need for wiring but does reduce the number of wires that are needed
and provide flexibility for location of PCs and access points. With wireless
LAN cards in their computers students and staff they can share data even
in the absence of a network by using "peer-to-peer" networking.
ii. provide enhanced flexibility as rooms can be re-arranged in the way that the teacher and student might want and all teaching spaces (including laboratories and outdoors) can become ‘computer rooms’ as laptops can be provided where they are wanted.
iii. allow anyone to move around with their computer while remaining connected to the network without having to keep logging on.
iv. enable students and staff to work online together wherever, and whenever it suits them, enhancing collaborative work and teaching methods.
v. are a way to manage access to the Internet and Intranet for students’ own machines. Disabled students for example may have enabling and assistive technology and software.
vi. can be very useful where large amounts of information are needed while working, or where information is continually being updated. They can greatly enhance the learning experience, and mean that students do not need to memorise so much information and develop a valuable skill for the workplace.
vii. and laptops can be a method of improving interaction with students during class as students can use their computer to ask questions or indicate honestly whether they understand what is going without the embarrassment of revealing to their colleagues that they do not understand. Disabled students may also prefer to use this private method of communication with lecturers and other students. Equally, teachers can poll students understanding and get more complex responses. Results of class tests or "quizzes" can also be collated immediately and fed back to the teacher to get instant feedback on the students' understanding.
viii. can facilitate the interfacing of scientific equipment with computers in both the laboratory and the field with no trailing cables so that where an experiment is being demonstrated the students can capture the live data for analysis and view it immediately using any assistive technology if required.
ix. can enable course updates, of any kind, to be broadcast to students, so they will receive them as soon as they come within range of an access point. This could be a new piece of work, feedback on existing work, changes to the course schedule etc.
(see http://www.techlearn.ac.uk/)
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