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Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of hearing aid technology level on listener outcome measures. In addition, we aimed to determine if individual characteristics such as noise acceptance and the demands of the listening environment impacted performance and preference. Method: A repeated-measures, single-blinded research design was utilized. Twenty-four adults recruited by mail from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center Audiology Clinic participated in this experiment (15 men and nine women). Participants completed two 2-week trial periods using Unitron T Moxi Fit FLEX:TRIAL devices programmed as basic or premium technology levels. A data-logging feature, Log It All (LIA), quantified the demands of the listening environment. At the end of each trial, outcome measures were obtained using Pascoe's High-Frequency Word List, the Hearing in Noise Test, the Quick Speech-in-Noise Test, the Acceptable Noise Level (ANL), the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing short form, satisfaction ratings, and preference. Results: Results for ANL, satisfaction in large groups, and LIA total coverage were significantly improved for the premium devices. Participants who preferred the premium devices received significant improvement with premium devices on the ANL and the speech in small group and speech in large group satisfaction ratings, whereas participants who preferred the basic devices did not receive significant improvement with premium devices on any outcome measure. Participants in more demanding listening environments received significant improvement with premium devices on the ANL, whereas participants in less demanding listening environments did not receive significant improvement with premium devices on any outcome measure. Conclusions: Group data revealed similar outcomes between technology levels on most measures; however, noise acceptance and satisfaction for speech in a large group were significantly improved when using the premium devices. Individual characteristics such as noise acceptance and listening demands may be useful when comparing hearing aid technology levels for a given patient. [This research was presented at the Academy Research Conference, Professional Poster Session, and General Poster Session at the 31st Annual American Academy of Audiology National Convention (Columbus, Ohio, 2019).]

Presents information on a study which examined if it is possible to use technology to simplify the processing of text so that people with mild to moderate developmental disabilities can independently navigate the Internet. Usefulness of the C-Pen 10 electronic device; Concept of Assistive Computer Control easy to Learn (ACCeL) system; Use of the ViTal screen reader in the ACCeL concept.

The technological advancement occurring in the world today has a potency to create positive and negative side effects especially on children. The positive side may entail increased empathy and acceptance of diversity through modelling the prosocial behaviours, while the negative can be manifest in aggressive behaviour, risky sexual behaviour, and substance abuse. These challenges pose a need to draw a particular attention to children's rights of protection and care in relation to the use of technology. This paper sought to critically explore the way in which children adapt technology skills and the way they respond towards media influences. The findings revealed that the adaptive technology skills are needed in providing a considerable guidance for child protection and careful engagement towards digital information as part of their rights to natural growth and development.

Technology in education has been changed the culture of teaching and learning strategies. Teaching and learning theory is the primary basis for reference in carrying out teaching and learning activities. Learning using mobile apps is still new and has not been recognized by the education ministry as an effective learning aid. However, there are students using this method, but the implementation of the method is not based on a specific framework as a guide to make it a learning tool. This paper aims to identify key features of learning using mobile applications. In addition, the study aims to create a new model in Malay language teaching and learning in the context of sign language using digital technology such as mobile applications. This study analyzes the five theories used in teaching and learning based on previous studies. There are five key components required for the implementation of mobile applications in teaching and learning namely pedagogical strategies, mobile devices, learning modules, communication methods and application designs. These components are among the components needed for implementation of learning methods using mobile applications. The findings of the previous study showed mobile applications can help students and teachers in teaching and learning more effective.

As researchers encourage teachers to bring fanfiction into classrooms, questions remain about whether online fanfiction communities are accessible to all students. This paper presents results from a practitioner-oriented usability inspection of FanFiction.net, investigating challenges students with disabilities might encounter as they participate. Operating this website with screen reader assistive technology reveals navigation, social connection, and reading barriers users may face when trying to engage in typical fanfiction practices. This study offers implications for media literacy educators to consider as they work to bring online media into classrooms without further marginalizing students with disabilities

The present paper represents the results of the studies done at the Udmurt State University with assistance of the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Fund (project 14-16-18004). In the course of studies e-learning educational methods for the students with special educational needs were developed, approved and implemented in educational process. Features of training and educational activity motivation, as well as attention span, time history of working efficiency and interpersonal relations, peculiar properties of logical thinking and coping behavior of the group of the students of "Law" department were revealed in the process of stating experiment. On the basis of psychology and educational features of the group under study, we developed the integrated educational methods of training matching the features of disabled students. The technology includes both traditional and innovative methods of training. During the pedagogical experiment it was proved that application of active methods of training in educational process increases educational motivation makes active informative activity and improves the interpersonal relations that positively influences the process of professional adaptation in modern society. The results received during the experiment can be used by the teachers realizing e-learning of disabled students, managers of educational sphere organizing e-learning of students.

This article describes and evaluates a technological approach to support a preservice teacher of visually impaired students with extremely low vision to conduct essential assessments for a learner with multiple disabilities and visual impairment with limited distraction to the child and classroom. The selected technology discussed here was purchased with funds provided by a departmental grant, but it would be relatively affordable to an individual living on the average salary of a teacher working in the United States. In addition, as the demand for streaming sports cameras and tablets rises, basic economics indicate that the cost of such items should continue to reduce. Experimental research is needed to address whether the technology described in this paper can be used to decrease distractions and increase the quality of assessments completed by teachers of students with visual impairments who are visually impaired themselves. Concurrently, other uses of live-streaming video and bug-in-ear communication could prove beneficial for other pre-service or professional teachers with visual impairments who may need assistance in working with learners with or without visual impairments and with or without additional disabilities for assessment, classroom management, or academic instruction.

Students with disabilities have significantly lower graduation rates in four-year postsecondary institutions than students without disabilities. Although there are many barriers associated with persistence and graduation, for students with vision loss, additional accessibility challenges exist. This paper describes a pilot study that examined the impact of a training program designed to enhance functional skills (e.g., white cane use, public transportation use, money management) that may aid in the transition to postsecondary settings. Differences in pre-/posttest results indicate statistically significant gains in functional skills reported by students and their parents, as measured by an experimental scale developed from the curriculum. Using the Snyder et al. (1991) Trait Hope Scale, "there was no statistical difference in measured pre-/posttest overall hope scores. Statistically significant relationships were found between hope scores and differences in pre/posttest student functioning," however. Given preliminary findings, this program shows promise for enhancing college readiness among high school students with vision loss.

The Research in Disabilities Education Synthesis Project (RDE-SP), a four-year mixed methods research project, assessed a decade of funded projects (2001-2011) under the National Science Foundation's Research in Disabilities Education program which is aimed at increasing participation and retention of students with disabilities (SWD) in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and careers. One of the primary goals of the project was to create a collection of challenges, lessons learned, and suggested practices for SWD and those working with SWD in STEM education and STEM fields. This paper presents those findings, which lend first-hand experience to the challenges and successes of working with students with disabilities in postsecondary STEM education programs. The authors relate the findings to current literature in the field.

Scholarship on instructive technologies in higher education has emphasized the use of high-tech facilitative technologies for long-term use, and low-tech props to illustrate single topics. This paper, on the contrary, discusses the use of a long-term, low-tech instructional technology: Llewelyn the Lynx was a soft animal used to assist with discussions in first year seminars. In-class questionnaires and anonymous online reviews on RateYourLecturer show Llewelyn was popular, facilitated equal contribution to discussion, and made seminars less intimidating and more enjoyable. Llewelyn may have functioned as a tactual or kinaesthetic stimulus, and an assistive technology for students with learning difficulties. His use does not seem to have infantilized most of the students although there was some disagreement here.

Practical solutions are needed to ensure that communication centers remain viable resources for the 21st century student (Nair, 2011). In order to preserve the communication center's status as a necessary campus space, and to increase its influence beyond a single physical location, technology must be employed as a means to enhance student communication skills. This paper proposes utilizing virtual reality, augmented reality, and wearable technology as solutions to common concerns facing communication centers as they seek to increase the public speaking and general multimodal communication skills of students. To guide the potential usage of the aforementioned technologies, and as a lens through which their effects can be better understood, cognitive theory of multimedia learning and digital literacy are applied here.

Action and identification problems are the challenges that visually impaired people often encounter in their lives. The high price of existing commercial intelligent auxiliary equipment has placed enormous economic pressure on most visually impaired people in developing countries. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes a smart wearable system that performs image recognition. The system adopts the method of cloud and local cooperative processing. The cloud server mainly performs image processing, while the local unit only uploads images and feedback results. Therefore, the processor of the system does not need to use expensive high-performance hardware, and the cost is greatly reduced. Moreover, the algorithm running on the cloud server can also guarantee the speed and accuracy of recognition. In addition, we have changed the traditional video continuous scanning strategy to a mechanism for capturing points of interest, reducing power consumption. The attitude correction mechanism based on error codes of the system can effectively help the visually impaired to cope with the common living scenes, and the multiple priority feedbacks and arbitration mechanism will ensure real-time feedback of the system. The proposed smart wearable device has been tested in the actual scene, which proves to be helpful to the visually impaired people. It helps them find the right people and objects and read text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the needs of parents with children with hearing loss (HL) is necessary to best support both the children and their families beyond what they have received in early intervention programs. The objective of this paper is to present the perspective of parents regarding their participation in a group intervention with their child and the impact this had on them as the parent of a child with HL. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews completed after the group intervention. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically. Two main themes emerged: (1) opportunities and the need for continued support, and (2) connections and joy. These results support the need for programs that offer ongoing strategies, resources, and connectedness for families beyond early intervention initiatives.

Children on the autism spectrum (AS) often struggle with writing tasks at school. They commonly experience difficulty with two key aspects of writing: the skills required for handwriting (fine motor and perceptual) and the conceptual and language skills required for written composition. Specialist intervention to assist with written expression is, therefore, often needed for students on the AS to succeed academically. This research evaluated the impact of using self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) in combination with assistive technology on the quality and length of written compositions of students on the AS. It also investigated how students felt about using the SRSD writing strategy. Eight primary school students on the AS between the ages of 9 and 12 participated in this single-subject study. An ABAC study design was used to evaluate student writing performance across three conditions. Baseline handwriting measurements were collected during condition A. During condition B students used assistive technology alone; in condition C, students applied their understanding of SRSD while using assistive technology. Results from this study show that, in many cases, the quality and/or length of written compositions and feelings of self-efficacy towards persuasive writing of students on the AS improved when they received physical and/or conceptual writing supports. This paper presents the research design, methods and results from this single-subject study followed by a discussion of the results and final thoughts and areas for future research.

The focus of this paper is on a group of pupils with reading and writing difficulties who have been participating in an intervention study using assistive technology. That intervention study contained supervised training sessions with reading and writing tasks using an iPad with special supportive applications. The current study is a qualitative investigation of whether there has been any transfer from the intervention, to the pupils' everyday school activities. Interviews with pupils and their teachers and observations during classroom lectures have been used to collect data. The results show that the pupils were positive to the assistive technology (the applications on the iPads), they found the apps easy to learn how to use and they appreciated the benefits they could give. Even so, only a few of the pupils had found use for and continued to use the tools after the intervention period finished. Possible reasons are that when the novelty wore off, students reverted to their usual study habits and that older students with many teachers and different classrooms were less able to adapt to using the apps. To improve transfer, it is suggested to introduce assistive technology earlier to students, in the younger grades, before study habits have been formed and to inform teachers about the use of AT in the classroom, including what is available and how it can benefit students.

An increased focus on science instruction and science learning for students with special education needs has been growing over the past decade. Research studies, particularly meta-analyses focused on science for students with disabilities, show investigators are interested in what science strategies and approaches (e.g., graphic organizers, inquiry-based instruction,) work for students regardless of identified need (e.g., learning disabilities). However, researchers have noted that science instruction can often rely heavily on text and have burdensome reading demands that may cause students with disabilities to struggle. Research suggests that incorporating Universal Design for Learning (UDL), multimodal representation, the arts, and communicative technologies can reduce the language load for learning science content and phenomena for students with special education needs. The purpose of this paper is to provide resources and suggestions for reducing the language barriers in science for students with special education needs through the use of multimodal representation and communication technologies.

Disability or impairment in general does not deprive one of the rights to basic human needs and care. However, often people with disabilities encounter barriers such as unfriendly infrastructure to access basic services such as education and health care. In this paper the authors explore the experiences of learners with visual impairment on the implementation of blended learning to thwart the challenges of COVID-19 in institutions of higher education. This narrative case study employed a telephonic semistructured interview guide to collect data on a visually impaired learner enrolled with the University of Eswatini (UNESWA). There were two research questions that the study sought answers for: what was the learning experience of a visually impaired learner regarding blended learning during COVID-19? And, how did a visually impaired learner cope academically during the emergency blended learning and teaching? The study found the following: a) incompatible devices; b) poor internet connection; c) challenges to log onto and manoeuvre Moodle and d) a need for a step-by-step guide to help the visually impaired learner to master the Moodle platform. Thus, the study recommends a) awareness creation on disability issues; b) installation of JAWS software in the computer labs; c) intensive Moodle training for visually impaired learners; d) a need for a resource centre that caters for different impairments, e) technologically savvy lecturers to troubleshoot and f) institutional opportunities for learners to procure affordable devices.

The purpose of this study was to assess the convenience and accessibility of library services to users with disabilities at Aligarh Muslim University in India. The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods through questionnaires, interview and remarks applying the IFLA checklist to investigate the scenario. The study established that AMU has a purpose-built library to accommodate users with disabilities; however, additional funds were not allocated for developing library facilities, assistive technologies and collections in the accessible formats that lead to the delivery of inadequate services to users with disabilities. Despite the availability of some specialized services, the study found that users with disabilities face numerous obstacles when using library services due to unavailability of library materials in convenient formats, lack of assistance from the trained library staff and lack of adequate training to users. The paper concludes with the recommendations to implementing guidelines of IFLA and UNESCO regarding access to library services for users with disabilities.

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The purpose of this letter to the editor is to comment on several review papers recently published in the current "Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Special Issue on Technology: Software, Robotics, and Translational Science." These reviews address a variety of aspects relating to technology-aided intervention and instruction for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Here, I comment on and evaluate the overall status of research and development in this area, including reflection on current challenges in this area in the context of previous challenges and resolutions in behavioral intervention research. From these reviews and the current evaluation, I further discuss important next steps for the field which may be critical for guiding progress toward meaningful impacts upon individuals with ASD.

Access or assessment accommodations and arrangements exist to enable students with disabilities to be included in high stakes examinations, and to comply with Equality legislation and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This article explores the accessibility of digital versions of Question Papers offered by UK awarding bodies for high stakes externally assessed examinations. It raises concerns that question papers from five out of six providers are not adequately accessible for candidates with visual impairment who use screen reader technologies and so asks broader questions about ways in which, even in high income countries with a strong espoused commitment to equality, disadvantage can be compounded rather than addressed. Access arrangements offered by awarding bodies should reflect candidates' 'normal way of working'; this article presents original and unique data from a survey of Qualified Teachers of the Visually Impaired in respect of technologies and strategies used by 325 students with visual impairment and finds that up to 16% of these learners are using screen reader tools in school. These candidates may, therefore, be disadvantaged in examinations because the technology they use to access learning resources cannot be successfully utilised to access assessments. The article concludes with recommendations for regulators and providers of assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fatigue is common in individuals with a variety of chronic health conditions and can have significant negative effects on quality of life. Although limited in scope, recent work suggests persons with hearing loss may be at increased risk for fatigue, in part due to effortful listening that is exacerbated by their hearing impairment. However, the mechanisms responsible for hearing loss-related fatigue, and the efficacy of audiologic interventions for reducing fatigue, remain unclear. To improve our understanding of hearing loss-related fatigue, as a field it is important to develop a common conceptual understanding of this construct. In this paper the broader fatigue literature is reviewed to identify and describe core constructs, consequences and methods for assessing fatigue and related constructs. Finally, our current knowledge linking hearing loss and fatigue is described and may be summarised as follows: (1) Hearing impairment increases the risk of subjective fatigue and vigor deficits; (2) Adults with hearing loss require more time to recover from fatigue after work, and have more work absences; (3) Sustained, effortful, listening can be fatiguing; (4) Optimal methods for eliciting and measuring fatigue in persons with hearing loss remain unclear and may vary with listening condition; and (5) Amplification may minimize decrements in cognitive processing speed during sustained effortful listening. Future research is needed to develop reliable measurement methods to quantify hearing lossrelated fatigue; explore factors responsible for modulating fatigue in people with hearing loss; and identify and evaluate potential interventions for reducing hearing loss-related fatigue.

Documents use tables to communicate multidimensional information clearly, summarise and present data in an easy-to-interpret way. Tabular information in scanned PDF due to its nature without further processing is not accessible for vision-impaired people who use assistive technology such as screen readers. The lack of access to table contents limits educational and workplace opportunities for people with vision impairment. They require a complete equivalent to access table. This paper describes techniques which apply to scanned PDF document for table detection, extraction and cell segmentation to retrieve cell contents and represent them in a navigable manner to vision-impaired. The output is in mark-up format and provides navigation ability to access content of a table.

Assistive technology is defined by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004 as "any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability" (IDEIA, 2004). This broad definition includes devices and software that are beneficial in supporting the instruction of students with disabilities in special education (Duhaney & Duhaney, 2000). This paper reports on a study that examined special school teachers and their experiences with the assistive technology-assessment process in Singapore. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried out at the Lighthouse School, the only school for visually impaired students in Singapore. Four teachers of elementary grade students with visual impairments volunteered and consented to participate. An open-ended interview guide was developed to inquire as to how teachers considered assistive technology in their practice: How do you assess the assistive technology needs of your students? What processes does the school adopt in assistive technology consideration? Can you describe the decision-making process in acquiring assistive technology for your students? To what extent do you collaborate with partners to support assistive technology needs? The findings are summarized in four themes: making a decision, accessing assistive technology, working together, and increasing capacity. Overall, findings point to gaps in assessment, collaboration, and knowledge among teachers about assistive technology.

This paper reports the findings of a thematic narrative review of peer‐reviewed articles exploring innovation in UK independent homecare services published between January 2009–August 2021. Our analysis of 15 papers reveals four broad innovation types: personalised funding, operational models, workforce development and assistive technology. We conclude that research focused on innovation in independent homecare offers important insights into the positive and negative outcomes of different types of innovation for providers, care workers and people receiving care. There are, however, also areas which are neglected and need further elaboration, including more robust evidence of outcomes and clearer articulation of innovation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the development of a Next Generation First Responder (NGFR) communication platform with the key goal of embedding it into a smart city technology infrastructure. The framework of this approach is a concept known as SmartHub, developed by the US Department of Homeland Security. The proposed embedding methodology complies with the standard categories and indicators of smart city performance. This paper offers two practice-centered extensions of the NGFR hub, which are also the main results: first, a cognitive workload monitoring of first responders as a basis for their performance assessment, monitoring, and improvement; and second, a highly sensitive problem of human society, the emergency assistance tools for individuals with disabilities. Both extensions explore various technological-societal dimensions of smart cities, including interoperability, standardization, and accessibility to assistive technologies for people with disabilities. Regarding cognitive workload monitoring, the core result is a novel AI formalism, an ensemble of machine learning processes aggregated using machine reasoning. This ensemble enables predictive situation assessment and self-aware computing, which is the basis of the digital twin concept. We experimentally demonstrate a specific component of a digital twin of an NGFR, a near-real-time monitoring of the NGFR cognitive workload. Regarding our second result, a problem of emergency assistance for individuals with disabilities that originated as accessibility to assistive technologies to promote disability inclusion, we provide the NGFR specification focusing on interactions based on AI formalism and using a unified hub platform. This paper also discusses a technology roadmap using the notion of the Emergency Management Cycle (EMC), a commonly accepted doctrine for managing disasters through the steps of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. It positions the NGFR hub as a benchmark of the smart city emergency service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial discusses the need for innovative healthcare solutions to meet the complex needs of the growing elderly population. It emphasizes the importance of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, immersive technologies, and the Internet of Things in the healthcare sector. The document provides a summary of research papers submitted to the topic, including studies on video-based ambient assisted living technologies and evaluating individuals' processing speed. The research papers explore advancements in cross-disciplinary studies in fields such as ambient assistive technology, immersive technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, signal processing, healthcare solutions, and medicine. The papers contribute to the understanding of cognitive processing, motor functioning, and brain rehabilitation, and highlight the potential of artificial intelligence-driven applications in healthcare. [Extracted from the article]

As technology is an integral part of modern teaching and learning processes, teacher-candidates need to fully achieve a new set of technology competencies through ongoing and timely supports provided by teacher preparation institutions, state offices of education and school districts. This study measured the current technology-competency levels of 242 special and general education teacher-candidates in teacher preparation programs through a self-assessment survey that was developed based on the ISTE Educator Standards. The results show that teacher-candidates perceive that they have not yet reached a proficient level of technology-competency according to ISTE standards. Special education teacher-candidates with team-teaching experience reported a significantly higher level of technology-competency than any other groups. This paper provides insightful recommendations to teacher preparation institutes as to how they can reform their credential program curricula to support teacher-candidates in acquiring the technology competencies they need in the field of education.

Writing is essential for all students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills across various subject areas and tasks. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) indicate that first graders should write opinion papers, explanatory texts, and narratives. Further, the CCSS requires students beginning in kindergarten to explore digital tools to produce and publish writing, making the use of digital tools for reading, writing, and communicating a requirement rather than a preference. The integration of technology into the classroom has been a long-stated goal of policy makers in the United States, as the use of technology in schools is believed to enhance learning and prepare students for jobs of the future. However, researchers report that a majority of teachers said they never use some technologies for writing instruction. Effective strategies for teaching writing to students with disabilities in Grades 4 to 12 include strategy instruction with and without the self-regulated strategy development model, collaborative writing, setting goals for writing, and word processing. The WEGO (Writing Efficiently with Graphic Organizers) team at George Mason University were awarded the Stepping-Up Technology Implementation grant from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in 2012. As a result, a series of technology-based graphic organizers (TBGOs) was developed. This article describes the incorporation of WEGO TBGOs in classrooms.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of the study is to explore students' encounters with digital tools and how they account for their experiences of using digital tools within formal education. Background: While computers have a long history in educational settings, research indicates that digital tools function both as affordances and constraints, and that the role of digital tools in schools continues to be debated. Taking into consideration student perspectives can broaden the understanding of knowledge formation practices. Methodology: The study is part of a larger ethnographic project, focusing on agency at all levels with respect to digitalization in schools. The present exploratory study is built primarily on interviews with 31 secondary school students at five different schools (15 girls and 16 boys). The analytical framework was a Nexus Analysis, focusing on discourses in place. Contribution: The paper shows how digital tools are conceptualized as being formed by and fitted into the traditions and habits of the institution, rather than acting as a transformative force to change knowledge formation practices in schools. Findings: From the students' narrative accounts, the following key themes emerge: (1) Action in contexts, (2) Agency in contexts, and (3) Equality in contexts. The first deals with the use of digital tools in school and the interaction order as it is accounted for in the use of digital tools in schools. The second frames human agency with regards to usage of digital tools and how agency fluctuates in interaction. The third deals with the compensating role digital tools are supposed to play for students who are identified with special needs and for students with divergent backgrounds, especially socioeconomic standards. Recommendations for Practitioners: For teachers, the recommendation is to engage in dialogue with the stu-dents on how and when to use digital tools and the affordances and con-straints involved from a student's point of view. For school leaders, the recommendation is to review how organizational structures, culture, and processes hinder or support the development of new practices in digitalization processes. Recommendation for Researchers: The three key themes that emerged in this study emphasize the need to reflect upon how a panopticon view of contemporary classrooms can be challenged. Involving students in this work is recommended as a means to anchor ideas and results. Impact on Society: This study is part of a larger project at Jönköping University, focusing on agency at all levels with respect to digitalization in schools. The overall goal is to increase our understanding of how to improve digitalization and implementation processes in schools. Future Research: Future studies that address digital technologies in schools need to pay special attention to the interaction between students, teachers, and various kinds of tools to map the nature of the education process, with the aim of challenging the panopticon view of the classroom. Future studies need to focus upon processes themselves, rather than accounts of processes.

There is much literature focused on supporting students diagnosed with learning difficulties within higher education, in particular those with dyslexia. However, there is relatively little that discusses perceptions of and support for academics who have been diagnosed with the same learning difficulties. Although statistics from the Higher Education Statistics Authority suggest that percentages of staff declaring that they have dyslexia are much lower than those of undergraduate or postgraduate students, anecdotally media and social media suggest there is a sizeable population of academics who have this neurodiversity. In this paper we explore perceptions of dyslexia, and suggest practical ways in which to support new academics with or without a diagnosis.

Purpose: This paper aims to raise the question of how end-user product innovation is developed by exploring the underlying learning mechanisms that drive such idea realization in practice. A trialogical learning perspective from educational science is applied as an analytical approach to enlighten the black box of learning dynamics in user innovation (UI). Design/methodology/approach: The field study of organizational ethnography is based on in situ observations of the testing and development phase of an adapted aid, an electro-mechanical device for completely hands-free dressing/undressing for people with no arm function. Findings: The results suggest that UI materializes through what this researcher conceptualized as "circuits of learning" around shared objects that are collaboratively mediated and shaped in interplay between three forces identified as "user requirements", "interdisciplinary co-creation" and "object transformation". Research limitations/implications: This in-depth study of UI realization has only started to open the research area of such practices. Further advancement is needed on users as inventors and learners. Cross-fertilization with other fields, such as pedagogy, and particularly branches of theory derived from a socio-material stance, seems fruitful. Practical implications: To cultivate UI through "circuits of learning", "users as learners" should pay attention to their shifting roles as teachers, co-learners and co-creators in interdisciplinary collaborative practices to enhance efficient work processes. Originality/value: This study shows the relevance of bringing in learning as a crucial underpinning that contributes to enhancing our understanding of how user innovators create new products. The paper contributes to the UI literature by elaborating on the concept of "circuits of learning" as a novel framework of learning mechanisms within UI.

At Wake Forest University, a student who is blind enrolled in a second course in statistics. The course covered simple and multiple regression, model diagnostics, model selection, data visualization, and elementary logistic regression. These topics required that the student both interpret and produce three sets of materials: mathematical writing, computer programming, and visual displays of data. While we did find scattered resources for blind students taking mathematics courses or introductory statistics courses, we found no complete account of teaching statistical modeling to students who are blind. We also discovered some challenges in stitching together multiple partial solutions. This paper outlines our specific approach. We relied heavily on integrating the use of multiple existing technologies. Specifically, this paper will detail the extensive use of screen readers, LATEX, a modified use of R and the BrailleR package, a desktop Braille embosser, and a modified classroom approach.

This paper will explore the effect that creative, non-traditional uses of audio description (AD) have on the audience during a performance, and how they trouble normative understandings of aesthetics and representation. This will be done by analysing two pieces created by Extant Theatre, the UK's only professional theatre company of visually impaired people. Both pieces use highly visual forms of performance in order to highlight the necessity of descriptive access for both practitioners and spectators experiencing these pieces, as well as the effect that description can have on the comprehension of an image. I will dissect these performances by juxtaposing my experience as a practitioner in these pieces with some of the methodological structures inherent within disability studies and identity politics, such as Rosemary Garland-Thomson's research on staring. AD, in its standard form, is an access tool for blind and visually impaired spectators that is almost always placed on top of an already completed performance, and hidden from the view of those not using the service. When that dynamic is shifted to allow for everyone, performer and audience alike, to experience and potentially contribute to the descriptions being given, regardless of visual status, the perceptions around the performance can change. This paper argues that the creative input of AD into a theatrical piece can open up wider questions around how aesthetics are viewed by performer and audience alike. Also, by making an access tool into a collaboration between audience and performer, the story that is communicated and the way the characters within that story are represented can break away from normative methods of performance. This then opens up possibilities for new ways of thinking about and perceiving how performance is made, why it is done and what it might become.

Haptic devices transmit information to the user, using tactile stimuli to augment or replace sensory input. People with limited sensory abilities, such as vision or hearing can receive supplementary information by relying on them. This review analyses recent developments in haptic devices for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals by extracting the most relevant information from each of the selected papers. The process of finding relevant literature is detailed using the PRISMA guidelines for literature reviews. In this review, the devices are categorized to better understand the review topic. The categorization results have highlighted several areas of future research into haptic devices for hearing-impaired users. We believe this review may be useful to researchers interested in haptic devices, assistive technologies, and human–computer interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a definition, Human–Machine Interface (HMI) enables a person to interact with a device. Starting from elementary equipment, the recent development of novel techniques and unobtrusive devices for biosignals monitoring paved the way for a new class of HMIs, which take such biosignals as inputs to control various applications. The current survey aims to review the large literature of the last two decades regarding biosignal-based HMIs for assistance and rehabilitation to outline state-of-the-art and identify emerging technologies and potential future research trends. PubMed and other databases were surveyed by using specific keywords. The found studies were further screened in three levels (title, abstract, full-text), and eventually, 144 journal papers and 37 conference papers were included. Four macrocategories were considered to classify the different biosignals used for HMI control: biopotential, muscle mechanical motion, body motion, and their combinations (hybrid systems). The HMIs were also classified according to their target application by considering six categories: prosthetic control, robotic control, virtual reality control, gesture recognition, communication, and smart environment control. An ever-growing number of publications has been observed over the last years. Most of the studies (about 67%) pertain to the assistive field, while 20% relate to rehabilitation and 13% to assistance and rehabilitation. A moderate increase can be observed in studies focusing on robotic control, prosthetic control, and gesture recognition in the last decade. In contrast, studies on the other targets experienced only a small increase. Biopotentials are no longer the leading control signals, and the use of muscle mechanical motion signals has experienced a considerable rise, especially in prosthetic control. Hybrid technologies are promising, as they could lead to higher performances. However, they also increase HMIs' complexity, so their usefulness should be carefully evaluated for the specific application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated teachers' and educational consultants' perceptions of ICT integration in Québec English Schools, specifically with regards to the benefits and challenges of ICT integration therein. 23 teachers and educational consultants from seven different school boards participated in the focus group sessions. Results revealed higher student engagement levels, glocalization of the 21st century education and enhancement of the learning process as the main benefits of integrating ICT in English Québec Schools. In addition, participants highlighted the following challenges: lack of supporting school leadership, inconsistent investments in ICT equipment, infrastructure and resources, inflexibility of funding, the need for additional professional development and support and incorporation of technology in evaluations and curricular plans.

The paper describes an e-learning system called Advanced Learning Space that was developed at the Technical University of Liberec. The system provides a personalized virtual work space and promotes communication among students and their teachers. The core of the system is a module that can be used to automatically record, store and playback lectures. Recently, we extended the system by new features such as sound websites and lecture recordings with a sign language interpreter. This further enables students with disabilities to study the same courses as other students.

For many educators, working with students who were deaf or hard of hearing was the need to have "access." Access to technology was the tool of choice for providing integration that has come to be so much more than gadgets. It is intercurricular--math software incorporates reading, science websites support language skills. It is multimodal--requiring not just clicking and reading but filled with visual, kinetic, and interactive information. It requires students to think more critically, not only to connect to content but to get more from the content than they would if they didn't have technology. In this article, the author notes that the key to "powering up technology" is integrating technology that supports and enhances learning goals and follows four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and real-world connections. All students, regardless of hearing ability, should have full access to the technology available today--just like they have access to pencils and paper. Integrating educational technology allows students to construct their own learning from where they are and with what they have. Moving beyond technology incorporation to technology integration ensures deaf and hard of hearing students are getting every opportunity to flourish as young people in the 21st century.

This paper studies the standards of higher Distance Education, focusing on the Hellenic Open University, for people who have visual impairments, so that it becomes fully accessible and thus helps reduce social exclusion. Specifically, it aims to study the operational context of Distance Education, the possibilities that modern technology provides the educational needs of the visually impaired and the factors that prevent their full social integration.