Looking at some of the check lists and evaluation guidance for those making choices about assistive technologies suitable for certain tasks in the light of user needs.
3. OverviewOverview
• Background to AT assessment – medical to
educational environment
• Review the way decisions are made
• Develop a matrix to check choices.
• Review, Revise and Rethink!
http://tdevice.net/philips-flud-futuristic-flexible-smartphone-concept/
4. A Vision of StudentsA Vision of Students
Michael Wesch, Kansas State University (2007)Michael Wesch, Kansas State University (2007)
YouTube video – now updated Jan 2011 http://visionsofstudents.org/
6. User perspectiveUser perspective
Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale (PIADS) -
26-item self-rating system designed to fill the
measurement gap when evaluating the life impact of
assistive technology (Jutai, 1999). It is divided into
three sub-scales:
7. EducationEducation
• SETT - Student, Environments, Tasks, and Tools. (Joy Zabala,
1995)
• Matching Persons to Technologies (Fuhrer et al. 2003; Scherer
and Craddock 2002)
• WATI Assistive Technology Assessment Checklist (updated
2009)
• TEST - Task, Environment, Skills and Tools (Ira Socol, 2007)
Toolbelt Theory designed to “break the dependence cycle:
• Develop lifespan technology skills
• Limit limitations
• Empower student decision making
• Prepare students for life beyond school”
8. Skills and (dis)Abilities
Inc. Visual, Auditory,
Motor, Lang, Learn
Learner Issues
Resilience Flag
Time Man. / Organisation
In a learning situation think about…In a learning situation think about…
Learning
Interactions
Learning
Preferences
Meta Cognitive Skills
Learning Styles
Study Strategies
Attitude to Learning
Self Advocacy Skills
ICT Skills
AT Skills
Online / ILT Skills
Educational Experience
Prior Knowledge
Domain Experience
Prior Adjustments
Approach
Issues
Environmental
Context
Online Learning
Traditional Learning
Learner CharacteristicsLearner Characteristics
12. Hardware RequirementsHardware Requirements
• Most suitable input/output/communication method –
Personal Preferences
• Progression potential
• Reliability
• Durability
• Portability
• Speed
• Ease of learning and use
• Compatibility
• Cost
David Shackleford Blog – Microsoft Surface.
http://david.shackelford.org/?p=624
14. Software requirementsSoftware requirements
•Install and navigate with ease
•Screen directions consistent
•Help options make sense
•Program responds to input as
per directions
•Information/screens can be by-
passed
•User can control pace and
http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/
16. What does the user wish toWhat does the user wish to
achieve?achieve?
Take the idea of mind mapping as an example – what tasks
do you have in mind?
o Demonstrating concepts
o Note taking in real-time from books and in class or
meetings
o To-do list and other organisational tasks
o Outlining reports or essays
o Outlining presentations
o Creating story-boards
o Revision and memory-aid
17. Develop a MatrixDevelop a Matrix
Use Case – score your
needs to set priorities
Tom is taking Accountancy. He needs to organise his ideas and
improve time management skills in order to deliver reports and
present to others in his group. Good computer user with visual
mode of working
Question, programs
marked on a scale of 1
(low) to 5 (high)
ClaroIdeas
MindManager
Inspiration
SparkLearner
MindGenius
Tom
TotalClaroIdeas
TotalMindManager
TotalInspiration
TotalSparkLearner
TotalMindGenius
Preference towards using a
mouse? 5 2 4 5 2 10 50 20 40 50 20
Preference towards using a
keyboard? 1 5 3 1 5 15 15 75 45 15 75
Like a structure to be
imposed? 1 5 3 1 5 18 18 90 54 18 90
Prefer to make the structure? 5 1 4 5 1 8 40 8 32 40 8
Totals to be ordered 450 633 577 393 640
18 more questions later ….
18. TechMatrixTechMatrix
• The Techmatrix website for some comparisons
of software products.
• Notice the comparisons are about software
features they are not
about the student’s
preferences or skills or
the tasks to be undertaken.
20. Drop in Centres to ‘Review,Drop in Centres to ‘Review,
Revise and Rethink’!Revise and Rethink’!
F2F and online?F2F and online?
21. Agile Technology (AT) UserAgile Technology (AT) User
AT
User
Research
Strategies,
Evidence
Based
choices?
Research
Strategies,
Evidence
Based
choices?
22. Thank YouThank You
“It is only with this assistance that I can remain in
University learn to think for myself have an
opinion, gain knowledge and broaden my hoizens
and future. I cannot thank DSA enough for this
help and support and the boost it has given me in
hopefulness and courage. Please keep this going
to others in my position it is the best value for
money I have seen in the public sector for many a
year.” ( exact quote SpLD Student – DSA Survey
2012)
Notas del editor
Uploaded on 12 Oct 2007 a short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University. Research carried out by Dr. Michael Wesch at Kansas State University. 2300 web pages Survey: On average, how many web pages do you read each day? Average 21.51 (We then multiplied this by 105 - roughly the number of days in a semester - and rounded to 2300.) and 1281 facebook profiles Survey: On average, how many Facebook profiles do you view each day? Average 12.2 (multiplied by 105 = 1281) “ And over 500 pages of email” Survey: On average, how many pages of e-mails will you write in a single day? Average: 4.96 (*105 days/semester = over 500)
Human Activity Assistive Technology Model (HAAT) (p 50) Cook, A. and Hussey, S. (1995). Assistive Technologies: Principles and Practice. St. Louis, MO. Mosby. (p 50)
Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale (PIADS) - 26-item self-rating system designed to fill the measurement gap when evaluating the life impact of assistive technology (Jutai, 1999). It is divided into three sub-scales: competence (12 items), adaptability (6 items) and self-esteem (8 items). Responses range from -3 (most negative impact) to +3 (most positive impact). The questionnaire generally takes 5-10 minutes to complete.
SETT - http://secure.edc.org/ncip/workshops/sett3/SETT.htm and http://www.joyzabala.com/Documents.html Matching Persons to Technologies (Fuhrer et al. 2003; Scherer and Craddock 2002) WATI - http://www.wati.org/content/supports/free/pdf/form/Checklist-Form.pdf Toolbelt Theory – Ira Socol https://sites.google.com/site/iradavidsocol/home/toolbelt-theory
Learning Skills give us the abilities Learning Styles give us the preferences Used together they will give the student a much better and more personalised learning experience. Motor Skills The ability to control gross motor and fine motor movements including: Dexterity, coordination to make use of gross and fine motor skills, ability voluntarily to control the body movements accurately in a situation where there are no physical difficulties, body awareness and spatial orientation, speed and accuracy of reaction to a physical stimulus. Visual Skills, include: Physical and visual-motor skills - appropriate eye movements, reception of image brightness, colour, tone, texture, shape, motion, and position acuity, issues of focus, range of vision. Perception of spatial relationships, visual closure, object recognition, whole / part relationships, visual (figure-ground) discrimination, depth perception. visual memory. Auditory skills, include: Sensory or physical aspects of the reception of sound in normal ranges of volume and frequency. Perceptual aspects of auditory processing such as phonological awareness, auditory memory, auditory sequencing, auditory blending and auditory (figure-ground) discrimination including from internal sounds. Language skills, include: Skill of communication through written, spoken or kinaesthetic language, aspects of vocabulary range, expression, reception and comprehension skills, ability to accurately interpret semantic and syntactic ambiguities in language. Learning skills, include: Ability to gain knowledge and understanding of both concrete and conceptual-abstract ideas, skills of reasoning, evaluation, problem-solving. Meta cognition, self-advocacy skills, re-application of concepts in differing contexts. Information processing including sequential processing, simultaneous processing and management of the flow and speed of information Memory & recall -ability to remember (short and long term) or recall information even if the information is presented without a meaningful context. Active and working memory.
Choosing Technologies Make choices Look at features Consult websites Ask friends Ask experts Try technologies Buy DSA College self Have training Use Technologies Like it Success Dislike them review situation give up start again Successful outcomes? Not always possible… Friends tell you what they like. Experts only show you what they know. Websites just say the good things and rarely the issues that affect YOU. You cannot always try it but do make time to download demos if possible. What may work may be expensive. One technology may not work in all situations.
Assistive Technology triangle – from Access Technologies at the top representing the assistive technologies such as screen readers and magnification or specialist text to speech, next personalisation and accessibility where desktop changes are made and built in accessibility tools are used to Productivity which is where built in spell checkers and auto correct may help to the final layer including free, portable and online tools which for some maybe the most important. This is not a hierarchy of tools but rather a complete toolkit approach.
Using shared facilities e.g. "my laptop as it lets me work from home when I am too ill to go into Uni” DSA Survey carried out with 841 disabled students in receipt of the DSA answering questions online – presented at NADP conferene 2012 – Deb Viney (SOAS), Sue Wilkinson (Cardiff Metropolitan Uni), E.A. Draffan and Abi James (University of Southampton)
Thinking about requirements for a user within their environment……. Most suitable input/output/communication method Does the individual prefer one over another – e.g. keyboard and/or speech recognition Progression potential User abilities change, situations change. How easy will it be to upgrade or adapt the aids? Reliability Must have very good back-up because some users are unable to work or communicate without them. For instance on average laptops are returned twice during a 3 yr period compared to very few returns on a desktop. Durability Is the technology suitable for the environment Portability Where is the equipment going to be used, does it need to be portable? If portable is it light enough? Speed Very important when considering communication systems and access to computers. Ease of learning and use Is it going to be difficult to use and how much training will be necessary. Compatibility Make sure the system is compatible with those used in the work place or study situation. Cost Do the material benefits weigh favourably against the cost? Preference Time to think carefully about how the user feels about the equipment and what is available in the circumstances. Outcomes………..
Usability Studies - JISC Services and Information Environment March 2004 (Version 2.0) http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/JISC-Usability-Studies-Final.doc
Reasons (users grade 1-5): Demonstrating concepts – needs to be non-hierarchical - look of the map to the end-user (not the creator) more important Note taking in real-time from books and in class or meetings – speed of creating maps and key wording important To-do list and other organisational tasks – map needs to look right for the creator and user (same person) - links to MS Outlook, Project etc can be important Outlining reports or essays – doesn’t matter so much about how the map looks but its needs an outline view and export to a word processor or text file Outlining presentations – doesn’t matter so much about how the map looks but its needs an outline view or presentation mode and preferably and export to a presentation program Creating story-boards – look and feel of map is important including access to graphics and linking to other maps or resources (sounds, pictures) - needs to be non-hierarchical Revision and memory-aid, including writing up notes or data bank – map needs to look right for the creator - want to be able to link to files, web pages, recordings etc - may want to do non-heirachical maps
http://techmatrix.org/
Taken from the Human Function Model (Melichar & Blackhurst, 1993). In this model Assistive technology would be placed as an external support. It would be seen to provide not only teaching and learning support but also: Compensatory strategies as advocated by Raskind (1994) Greater independence and relief from anxiety as noted by Barton & Furmann (1994) Heightened self-esteem when competency is gained (Raskin 1994) Reduction of reliance on others and move towards independence (Brown 1981) Regain a sense of control leading to vocational success (Reiff Gerber & Ginsberg (1992) Additional information about this functional approach and how it relates to special education and technology applications can be found in articles by (Blackhurst & Cross, 1993; Blackhurst & Lahm, 1997). However there appears to be very little research into the outcomes of specific technology strategies in relation to students when given a wide variety of devices to be used in very different situations e.g., Handheld spellcheckers or pen scanners in a library compared to talking spell checkers on a computer at home or in a computer lab.
Remember these were yes / no questions, so respondents could answer yes to all 4 How could the AT training be better? 27.2% reminder sessions each academic year 17.2% shorter sessions more regularly 10.9% one off training session 35.9% drop in facility
Needs (e.g. Curriculum tasks, activities, social communication, access and independence) Strategies and Technology Choices (e.g. Assistive / Productivity / mobile /free and online) Considerations (e.g. time, skills, training personal attitudes, costs, available technology personalisation)