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Presenter(s)
Henk Snetselaar
Bartimius Accessibility
Utrechtseweg 84
Zeist, Utrecht 3702 AD, Netherlands
Email: h.snetselaar@bartimeus.nl
Eric Velleman
Bartimius Accessibility
Utrechtseweg 84
Zeist, Utrecht 3702 AD, Netherlands
Email: e.velleman@bartimeus.nl
Success stories, problems, research and development. An overview of the ICT education issues of visually impaired pupils at Bartimius in the Netherlands.
In a technology-based society, it is important for people to learn to use technology in order to (continue to) play a full part in that society. This also applies to Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The ability to participate in the 'cyber community' gives an individual the skills to enter the world of digital information supply, on-line shopping, Internet banking, on-line voting, 'cyber entertainment' and much more.
For people with a visual impairment, however, ICT skills are even more important, since the digital revolution has made some of these information exchange applications available to them for the first time. For example, it is now much easier for them to study at regular education institutes, to read the latest newspapers and magazines, to cast their votes and to communicate with the rest of the world without the other person knowing that they are visually handicapped.
Educational institutes for people with a visual impairment have a key role to play in this process. They must organize the education they provide in such a way that integration into society, regular education opportunities and meaningful activity in the form of work or other occupations is possible. Vocational training in Information and Communication Technology and the use of ICT in education must be geared to integrating visually impaired pupils into society.
In this presentation we will stress the many aspects of the ICT education of visually impaired pupils and students. From the ICT lesson in the special school until scientific research and development projects to know whether a new tool or assistive technology device is a real improvement and can be a benefit to the education of the blind. As being the actual situation or praxis at the Bartimius Educational institute for the blind and visaully impaired in the Netherlands. www.bartimeus.nl
The aspects covered in this paper are the following:
The competent pupil or student
1. ICT training in (special) education 2. Competent (Special) school teachers 3. Coaching itinerant teachers 4. Accessible educational software 5. Accessible educational school methods and web sites 6. Entertainment 7. Research and development 8. International Computer and Communication skills
1. ICT training in (special) education
Special education must be special if this assists the personal development of the pupil, and should encourage integration wherever possible. This certainly applies to Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In recent years, ICT has done a great deal to integrate pupils into regular education and people with a visual impairment into society. When planning education and the use of ICT in special education, it is crucial to ensure that computers and ancillary equipment are not only used at the special school itself, but also at home, in clubs, at friends houses, in follow-on education and in the individuals subsequent job.
The choice between 'special if this assists development' and 'encourage integration where possible' is not always an easy one to make, since it is also important to take into account the development capacities and age of the pupils or rather, their prospects for integration.
Four facets of ICT policy
When developing an ICT policy in education, it is important to coordinate the following:
• The education strategy (vision)
• Teachers skills (expertise)
• The available software programs (software and content)
• The available equipment (infrastructure)
These four elements must be properly balanced if ICT is to be successfully integrated into education. This means that all four elements must be given equal attention. If this balance is absent, the least developed aspect will determine the level attained.
There are various stages at which a decision can be taken on the use of ICT in special education for people with a visual impairment, and various factors on which such decisions should be based. These factors are:
• The strategy governing the education of pupils with a visual impairment;
• The financial resources available;
• The deployment of ICT in other forms of education;
• Opportunities for using ICT at home;
• The form in which services are provided to visually handicapped people in a country.
a. Starting out at school: age six
Don' skip the traditional route; learning to read and write on paper in the traditional way is also crucial for blind and partially-sighted pupils.
The form of the characters, both in Braille and in ordinary print, and the ability to form them is best learned if the pupil creates them for himself on paper.
The structure of a text in lines and sentences, paragraphs and pages must be experienced through the pupil forming them himself. This is even more important to gain a good understanding of the structure of texts if the pupil's field of vision is limited to just one or two sentences.
We must not forget that in the use of digital processing methods, software developers try to apply concepts and structures that are familiar to the sighted user, in order to provide him with a user-friendly programme. The recycling bin, the desktop and the storage of frequently used documents on a desktop are all examples of this. To teach the blind to work with equipment designed for sighted people, it is often necessary to teach them to think like sighted people. It is therefore important for people with a visual impairment to become familiar with 'sighted' concepts.
b. Starting to work with the computer
'Teach them young' is a familiar proverb. People don't tend to forget the things they've learned when they are young. As soon as pupils have acquired the necessary skills to read and write, they can start to learn how to use a computer. Exceptions can be made for sight-impaired pupils if writing causes them great difficulty due to their visual and/or physical limitations. If computers are to be used for processing texts and other information and as a means of communication, pupils can start learning how to use them from the age of six to eight.
c. Standard or special computer equipment A choice must be made as to whether to use standard computer equipment or computer equipment that has been specially developed for people with a visual handicap. The special equipment is often better matched to the needs and abilities of pupils with a visual impairment, but because these are special products, they are designed to provide far less support for the concept of integration. One disadvantage of regular equipment for young pupils with a visual impairment can sometimes be the complexity of such equipment and the fact that they present pupils with an overkill of possibilities in the early years of computer use. A full computer keyboard and a complex word processor can also be daunting and off-putting for a young pupil.
The development capacity and age of the pupil will need to be considered when such choices are being made. During a limited initial period, rather than use a full keyboard, it may be better to work with a keyboard that has a smaller number of keys and a special keyboard control programme. These days, pupils with a visual impairment come into contact with a wide range of electronic equipment at an increasingly early age, and are often helped early on by having family members who use a computer. These children are therefore already more familiar with complex equipment than they used to be and the many options this equipment affords them at a young age will not tend to phase them.
Pupils with multiple handicaps may need specially developed equipment for other reasons. As a result, integration may have to be given a lower priority. However, this is not the target group we are considering at present.
d. The choice of the type of computer for pupils with a visual impairment The desire to promote integration will also play a role in the choice of equipment that the educational institution acquires for special education. For example, should it form part of a network, should it be a laptop or a desktop, etc?
In making these choices, it must be borne in mind that pupils may at some stage move into regular education. What equipment will they be expected to use when they leave their current school? In the Netherlands, blind pupils will generally use a laptop and partially sighted pupils will use either a laptop or a desktop, depending on their field of vision. At the Bartimius Institution, blind pupils use laptops and partially-sighted pupils use desktops.
The blind pupils need a computer for almost all subjects. A laptop enables them to be in a sighted group without the monitor screen obstructing the view of their fellow students or their teachers. Moreover, this avoids the far from ideal situation in which pupils can hide behind their large computer monitors.
Because blind pupils need a computer far more often and in different places due to its prosthetic function, a laptop is also preferable due to its ease of mobility. In such cases, special equipment, in the form of, say, an electronic note-taker, can also prove invaluable, although there are very few pupils who have access to both a computer and a note-taker.
In a school where pupils frequently have to change classrooms, a cordless network is one way of avoiding having to constantly log on and off the network.
e. The availability of infrastructure The objectives of ICT education and the use of ICT in educational establishments defines the degree to which ICT equipment must be available for pupils. Integrated computer use, in which pupils use digital workbooks instead of traditional textbooks and where a high degree of integration is being pursued, requires good ICT skills on the part of pupils and a high deploy ability of the available infrastructure.
The following aspects are important in realizing a digital school for pupils with a visual impairment:
• One or two ICT lessons a week are not enough to teach the skills required; these skills must be applied for many hours each week.
• If all the textbooks are supplied in digital form, this means that the computers must be available for every lesson.
• If information has to be exchanged digitally between teachers and pupils, e.g. via internal e-mail, access to the network must always be available.
• The concept of the digital school assumes that this infrastructure is also available at other locations, e.g. at home or in school-based residential units, so that the pupil can carry on working in the same way out of the classroom.
f. Use of 'own' computer
Where possible, it is also a good idea, especially for blind pupils, to have a personal computer in the school. This makes it easier for personal settings, such as in the screen reader, to be permanently adjusted to the pupil's own requirements. Although good modern network facilities are making it increasingly possible to set up a personal profile via the network, this is more difficult and it means that the pupil always has to have access to a network, wherever he is working and whatever he is doing. This reduces his mobility. Pupils in any case have to learn how to use, manage and care for a personal computer.
g. What services are available to assist integration?
People with a visual impairment have always been at a disadvantage in terms of information and communication, because information has not been available in an accessible form and because blind people in particular have their own written alphabet. Digitization has made great strides forward in both these areas, which means that the services provided will now have a duty to remove this disadvantage. The services must also dovetail with other facilities that are set up for the target group. For example, pupils can download the textbooks they need for their studies from the Internet. This gives Internet use a higher priority in education. Examples of information include digital books, the Internet, encyclopedias, dictionaries, newspapers and magazines.
Examples of communication include e-mail, the exchange of same-format texts and chat-boxes.
Opportunities for integration through ICT
• The ability to read the same newspapers as other people at the same time
• The ability to attend the same courses as other people, in the same way and at the same time. For many years
people with a visual impairment who had laptop computers were a rare sight within regular education; now, however, there are schools and universities where all the pupils use a laptop
• The ability to be considered for the same jobs as other people and to be afforded the same opportunities for promotion; although certain opportunities and restrictions will remain, the 'paperless office' can increase the opportunities
• The ability to make use of the same opportunities for communication as sighted people, such as e-mail, chat-rooms, ICQ, etc., gives visually impaired people the same opportunities to pursue the same hobbies
The use of ICT in special schools can make the difference between a pupil being able or unable to integrate.
2. Competent (Special) school teachers Using ICT throughout the education means also that all teachers should be skilled in using this and guiding the pupils in using the ICT in their lessons. They are the key factor of the successful implementation of ICT in the education. Beside the mainstream computer skills and the knowledge of the use of mainstream computer programs they need to know the special assistive technology devices and special assistive software programs.
For the special assistive technology devices and software there are not many possibilities to take classes, actually only the ICT-teachers of the special school are able to teach this special equipment.
The ICT retraining for teachers consisted of 6 modules: Braille & Speech, Enlargement & Speech, Educational software usage, New technologies, Internet for visually impaired and Digital text books.
3. Coaching itinerant teachers
Even more than the teachers at the Special Schools, the itinerant teachers should be able guide students and advice mainstream schools concerning even more different types of assistive technologies in also all different school grades and situations. For the reference and communication we are setting up a WebCT e-learning course to support them and coach them in an electronic way. On this WebCT server Special teachers, mainstream teacher and students will find all necessary information to study in mainstream education, find special courses and communication possibilities.
www.aobonline.nl
4. Accessible educational software
Schools are using more and more the computer as an educational aid and resource to achieve educational coals. Educational publishers are willing to follow that trend and develop educational software and courseware in all kinds and for all subjects. The sad thing is that not many software designers are aware of the special requests of disabled pupils, using assistive technology to access the computers. Not much mainstream developed educational software is therefore usable in special education.
Software in Zicht is our project that aims to evaluate the mainstream developed educational software, describe the possibilities to use it with assistive technologies and disclose this information on a web site. A second aim is to negotiate with publishers and designers to make their products accessible and usable for disabled pupils.
www.softwareinzicht.nl
5. Accessible educational school methods and web sites Blind pupils and students, but also in many cases partially sighted pupils and students do need digitalized school and study textbooks to be able to study. A special service is converting the paper textbooks of the full scale of education in the Netherlands in digital format on request of any visually impaired pupil or student. This is a lot of work, because in many cases they have to scan the texts or even type it over and correct it. They have to correct the lay-out and describe pictures etc. This work has some problems like in delivering in time and in serving the visually impaired upon their needs and desires.
The educational publishers have started to produce Mixed Media Methods. That means that an educational method consists of a textbook, a CD with additional content in one or another electronic format and a web site with additional assignments on the subject. This could be an ideal move since blind and visually impaired are able to manage electronic material. The praxis is different because to use this material it should be accessible letting students with e.g. Screenreaders or enlargement accessing all parts of the education content. Research and development is necessary to find out what is accessible and what not and what is necessary to develop it in an accessible way inclusive accessible multi media. The project in full extend do include the development of these 'code snippets' for the programmers of educational publishers.
6. Entertainment, Audio games
Yes, blind pupils do like to play computer games! But how to get an excited computer game accessible for blind? The European Media Master of Arts-program of the Utrecht School of the Arts (Arts, Media & Technology) and the Bartimius Accessibility Foundation in Zeist have developed a curriculum for accessible game and program development together. Within this curriculum already many spectacular games have been developed like Drive, The Curb Game, Hall of Sound, Powerchords, Wow, Demor and others.
These games are all examples of the valuable collaboration between the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) and the Accessibility Foundation. The HKU-students have the technological skills while the Accessibility Foundation offers the necessary expertise in the field of accessibility and forms a direct link to the target group. With the availability of the right resources and the right knowledge there is the possibility of producing high-quality prototypes in a very short amount of time. Together with the pupils of the Bartimius School the prototypes can be adjusted to fit their wishes and needs. These prototypes are not only proof of concepts but many of them can be further developed into high-quality products. At the moment the curriculum is being exported to other institutes like the University of Twente and involve stakeholders like disability organizations, web design companies, government agencies, publishers etc.
www.soundsupport.net
7. Research and development
To be updated with the benefits of the latest technology and teaching methods it is good to follow research and developments in other countries, but there is also a private interest and responsibility of the school in doing (scientific) research and development activities, most of the time together with universities. At this moment we are involved in the next research and developments projects:
A - Spatial coordination of the blind in two-dimensional, interactive environments, with the use of tactile interaction. The research consist in other words of the question in what way blind people disclose geographic oriented information (e.g. a map, plan or virtual playfield) in an interactive system. The target device of interactive tactile interaction is the VTPlayer.
B - The influence of electronic or computer based assistive technologies in learning to read Braille and gaining good Braille reading skills. For decades blind people learned to read Braille using paper sheets and Braille books. Nowadays several computer based devices are available to use for the education of Braille like the Braille display, the VTPlayer etc. Is learning to read Braille different since the use of computer based educational aids? Results expected not earlier that March/April 2005.
8. International Computer and Communication skills The international association ICC organizes every year a summer computer- and communication camp in another European country. Around 20 countries are participating in the ICC camps taking part with a national group. Each group consists of up to 6 students as participants and 2 or 3 staff members. The staff members, most of the time ICT teachers and trainers guide the group, but in the same time acts as tutors leading workshops with various computer or communication topics.
ICC intends to teach students modern information technology.
Like the wheelchair enhances the mobility of the physically disabled person, the computer enhances the mobility of the blind in our information society. Much more than their sighted peers blind and visually disabled people benefit from modern IT which is made accessible with special devices and software. The ICT possibilities and equipment is not the same in the different countries of the European Union. Therefore it is interesting to them to present them the cross European ICT affairs.
ICC intends to give students information on (international) studying possibilities; earlier than their sighted peers they should make up their mind to find a proper decision on what and where to study and how to prepare themselves, how to manage support resources available to be successful from the beginning. ICC is an ideal place to start this process, to get information and to discuss with other colleagues and with experts.
ICC offers a relaxing international and intercultural environment. Blind and visually impaired young pupils and students, should get an opportunity to meet other blind and visually impaired young people from other countries and other cultural backgrounds. This will give them a broader view concerning their individual situation and the possibilities they have.
And last, but not least, ICC is an ideal meeting place for teachers, researchers and other experts to get to know each other, to exchange their knowledge by working hands-on with students and to start more extensive co-operation.
Therefore ICC must not be seen as a pure technical event. ICC is a unique social, intercultural and technical event for a group of people, which are put at a disadvantage.
www.icc-camp.info
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