Assistive Technology use and effectiveness in higher education and the workplace

Assistive Technology use & effectiveness

Assistive Technology use & effectiveness

Mrs E.A. Draffan

OverviewOverviewThe facets of AT, personal characteristics, task and

environment affecting the use of:

Many Facets of ATMany Facets of ATAs

sist

ive

Tech

nolo

gies

When is a technology

NOT assistive?

Skills and (dis)AbilitiesVisual, Auditory, Motor Information processingWorking memory Language Resilience flagTime management / Organisation

The individualThe individual

Technology Interactions

Individual Behaviours and PreferencesCoping strategiesAnxietyMotivationLearning preferences

ICT SkillsAssistive technology skillsOnline communication skills

ExperiencePrior KnowledgeDomain ExperiencePrior Adjustments

Approach Issues

Environmental ContextTaskSettingConstraints.

Personal CharacteristicsPersonal Characteristics

Personal preferences.Personal preferences.• Which

background colour do you prefer?

• Which type of text do you prefer? Typetester

• Which pen do you like?

• Which background colour do you prefer?

• Which type of text do you prefer? Typetester

• Which pen do you like?

• Which background colour do you prefer?

• Which type of text do you prefer? Typetester

• Which pen do you like?

A Vision of Students ,A Vision of Students , Michael Wesch, Kansas State Uni, 2007 Michael Wesch, Kansas State Uni, 2007

YouTube video – now updated Jan 2011 http://visionsofstudents.org/

Tasks & EnvironmentTasks & Environment

Future IT Trends a help or a Future IT Trends a help or a hindrance? hindrance?

(Horizon Report HE shortlist 2012 followed by their 2013 report )

1 year or less 2-3 years 4-5 years

MOOCS & tablet computers (2013)

3D printing & wearable technology (2013)

““Digital literacy is less about tools &Digital literacy is less about tools &more about thinking.”more about thinking.”

Try Wordle

Well-known user-interface, evolved from tools within word processors. “red squiggly line”

Tools within web browsers

Assistive technology tools that work across most applications

Support online

Photo credit: Flickr / laihiuyeung ryanne and Brian Cragun from IBM

Decisions for Text to Speech

DecisionsDecisions

www.mobileaccessibility.info

www.techmatrix.org www.emptech.info

Develop a MatrixDevelop a MatrixUse 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)

Claro

Ideas

Min

d M

anag

er

Insp

iratio

n

Sp

ark Learn

er

Min

d G

en

ius

To

m

To

tal Claro

Ideas

To

tal Min

d

Man

ag

er

To

tal Insp

iration

To

tal Sp

ark

Learn

er

To

tal Min

dG

eniu

s

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 ….

TechMatrix TechMatrix

• Try 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.

Time keepingTime keeping• Built in Alarms and stop

watches – Outlook, Google Calendar

• Daily Reminders –iPhone A very simple notification pad for daily tasks or Life Reminders for Android or a Digital Talking Timer

“I tend to print off email notifications about times for things and put them on top of my clothes each morning or put them on a to do list which I update each day.”

Synchronising NotesSynchronising Notes• Microsoft OneNote, Sticky notes• Evernote and Sound Paper -synchronises

text with audio recording – iPhone • EasyNote and Catch Notes -Capture text,

audio, images, and synch with web – Android

• LiveScribe Eco

• Voice memos, Images – screen shots, Image to text (app), bookmarks – web and ebooks, annotations (ibooks), emails to yourself!

Synchronising IdeasSynchronising Ideas• Inspiration, Mind Manager, Mind Genius, Mind View –

Xmind (free) - desktop• Mind Meister, Gliffy, Bubbl.us – the Cloud• iThoughts HD – iPhone and Thinking Space - Android• Presentations - PowerPoint and Keynote - Prezi – the Cloud

SearchingSearching• Try RedZ for an image of each web page. • Dragon/Google Voice Search, Dragon Dictate and

Dragon Remote and Web Reader – iPhone• Google Search and IVONA Text-to-Speech HQ Voice -

Android

Internet TechnologiesInternet TechnologiesTop 100 Tools for Learning Top 100 Tools for Learning 20122012

The The 2013 Free Resources 2013 Free Resources eBookeBook1. Twitter Social network & micro-

blogging service

2. YouTube Video-sharing site iTunes U

3. Google Docs/Drive Office suite and

data storage service

4. Google Search Web search engine

5. WordPress Blogging/website tool

6. Dropbox File synchronization

6. Skype Text and voice chat tool

7. PowerPoint Presentation software

8. Facebook Social network

9. Wikipedia Collaborative encyclopaedia

10.Moodle, Evernote, Slideshare, Prezi,

Blogger/Blogspot , Google Reader,

Google+ / Hangouts , Diigo, Word ,

Yammer

Web2Access www.web2access.org.uk

Free Tools to read a web pageFree Tools to read a web page• ATbar

o Text Selection /TTSo Dictionaryo Font resizing, styles and line spacing o Page style changeso Word Prediction / spell checking

• Balabolka

• NaturalReader 10

• BrowseAloud from TextHelp

• T-Bar & Vu-Bar Colour changing / reading window

Toolbar Additions - FirefoxToolbar Additions - Firefox

• Color That Site! • Text to Voice 1.05• Colorfultabs

• Wikilook• Dictionary.com• Google toolbar

https://addons.mozilla.org/

Toolbar Additions – IEToolbar Additions – IE

• CleanPage• ieSpell• RoboForm password man

ager

• Google toolbar • RNIB Accessibility Toolbar• VozMe

http://www.ieaddons.com/gb/

Toolbar Additions for ChromeToolbar Additions for Chrome

• Voice Search Chrome• LastPass password

manager• After the Deadline spell

checker

• Webscreen shot for taking snapshots of more than the screen size

• Easy Reader• MyNotesApp

https://chrome.google.com/extensions

Toolbar Additions for Toolbar Additions for OperaOpera

• Autocomplete for the text input box.

• Password hasher

• Calculator• Taskboard

https://addons.opera.com/addons/extensions/

Toolbar Additions for Toolbar Additions for SafariSafari

• 1Password create passwords• PDF Browser Plugin for reading PDFs in the browser• Cooliris (formerly PicLens) for full screen picture

and video watching.

http://safariaddons.com/en-US/safari/

Safari Reader – strips out ads and provides clear text

Pen DrivesPen DrivesFrom http://eduapps.org/•AccessApps, provides a range of solutions to support writing, reading and planning, as well as sensory, cognitive and physical difficulties.•TeachApps, is a collection of software specifically designed for teachers or lecturers.•LearnApps, as its name implies, is specifically designed for learners. From http://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk/projects/access-tools/download an accessible menu for pen drive applications. Try AccessTools folder if on the desktop

eReadingeReading

“I wasn't recommended an ereader …I haven't got one yet and am not sure how many of the things I need to read are available on them, but it is something I am considering as they are smaller lighter and more

convenient than my big text books and I think they might be easier to

look at.”

“An eReader would have helped me

organise my reading and

research much better.”

(2012 survey)

eReading storms brewingeReading storms brewing• Over 150 eReader/eBook applications/software

available on varying platforms• Limited outlets for eBooks in UK esp FREE

ePublications – Load2Learn / Bookshare• Unable to determine if an eBook is accessible

until after the product is purchased.• Copyright legislation – text to speech availability. • Try eReader comparison

eReading accessibilityeReading accessibility• Desktop - Adobe Digital Editions 1.8 & Kindle for PC

Accessibility Plug-in (USA)• Web based – Kindle Cloud Reader and ePub reader

Firefox extension – Bookworm closed. • Apps tied to bookstores such as Read2Go for

Bookshare and Blio for Kurzweil – inDaisy reads any Daisy files also Voice of DAISY.

• Apps – iBooks with VoiceOver, Stanza, Kobo for large fonts and colour changes etc.

• Daisy Book Readers – tools for downloaded books

eReadingeReading• Stanza, Blio, Calibre, EasyReader, Adobe PDF, Google

Books• Image to Text, iBooks -ePub and PDF reader -

Supports VoiceOver interactions - iPhone• Moon+ Reader -Supports txt, html, epub, zip, opds -

control of colour, line spacing, font size, orientation etc - Android

iCloudChrome OS

Student Strategies Student Strategies www.lexdis.org.uk

Try www.lexdis.org.uk

Thank youThank youE.A. Draffan

Web and Internet ScienceElectronics and Computer Science,University of Southampton.Mobile 07976 289103E-mail: ead@ecs.soton.ac.uk

http://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk