Enabling Technology - beyond...

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Enabling Technology - beyond assistance

Chris Abbott

Emeritus Reader in Assistive Technologies, King’s College London

Editor, Journal of Assistive Technologies

Chris Abbott NCSE Nov 2015


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Journal of Assistive Technologies


JAT homepage

My hypothesis:

We are moving beyond seeing some technologies only as assistive; and we are learning how to use technology to enable new or better learning.

This is not, for the most part, because the technology is better (although this is true too), but mostly because we understand much more now about how to use the technology to enable learning to take place.


http://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=jat

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LOOKING BACK…How have assistive technologies developed, and what have we learned along the way about benefits and barriers?

LOOKING AROUND…What do we mean by assistive technology anyway – and how is it changing as Universal Design for Living becomes established?

LOOKING AHEAD…What recent developments will offer new possibilities – and what is just over the horizon?


LOOKING BACK…

How have assistive technologies developed, and what have we learned along the way about benefits and barriers?


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Are Assistive Technologies new?



1940s

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LOOKING AROUND…

What do we mean by assistive technology anyway – and how is it changing as Universal Design for Learning (UDL) becomes established?


World Health Organisation

An umbrella term for any device or system that allows individuals to perform tasks they would otherwise be unable to do or increases the ease and safety with which tasks can be performed.

Glossary Of Terms For Community Health Care And Services For Older Persons, 2004


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USA statutory

…assistive technology device means any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities

The Assistive Technology Act of 1998


Foundation for Assistive Technology (UK)

Assistive Technology (AT) is any product or service designed to enable independencefor disabled and older people.


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Alternative input devices Braille embossersKeyboard filtersLight signaler alertsOn-screen keyboardsReading tools and learning disabilities programsRefreshable Braille displaysScreen enlargers, or screen magnifiersScreen readersSpeech recognition or voice recognition programs Text-to-Speech (TTS) or speech synthesizersTalking and large-print word processorsTTY/TDD conversion modemswww.microsoft.com/enable/at/types.aspx

Models of enabling technology

• Medical model leads to Assistive Technology

• Social model leads to Universal Design for Learning

• …or is it really that simple?


http://www.microsoft.com/enable/at/types.aspx

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Learning theories and technology

Behaviourism leads to drill and practice software

Social constructivism leads to learning through social networking and online communication


Technological determinism

“God of technology” or “curing technology” –determinist view

More recently – the practices approach as in multiliteracies – uses rather than devices


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• Truly collaborative …digital technologies …a second wave …which is collaborative rather than individually supportive, holistic rather than skills-based and inclusive rather than separatist. (p. 3)

• Abbott, C. (2007). e-Inclusion: Learning Difficulties and Digital Technologies. Bristol: Futurelab.


Reviewing the literature

Issues of agency, identity, power and culture, familiar topics in disability studies… are almost invisible in the emerging and sometimes simplistic research literature on inclusion in the educational system.


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…frameworks such as activity theory and actor network theory in studies of childhood and technology, and technology and learning, may offer fruitful ways of theorising the relationship between social models of inclusion and digital technologies…

Abbott (2007)


AT is a complex phenomenon that takes place in real life,

involving technology, humans and activity, while taking place

in different contexts… Given the complexity of the whole

phenomenon, it is a significant challenge to decide on the

correct [methodology]… It may even be that methodological

compromises in the studies related to children and AT do not

fulfil the criteria of those who fund research or review journal

articles, and thus the whole research area becomes more

marginalised than it deserves.

Salminen (2008, p177)


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Widening the definition

Assistive technology can include a symbol, a puppet, a transitional object or object of reference - or a robot


MY FIRST INCLUSIVE BALLETsupported by the Cultural Institute

Dr Chris AbbottDepartment of Education & Professional Studies


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Supporting the narrationwith signing (BSL)



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Assistive Learning TechnologyAssistive Living Technology

Enabling TechnologyInclusive Technology

Universal Design for Learning

From special devices (low volume, high price) to apps (high volume, low price)


Developing understanding, evolving language

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…the way in which power is conceptualised in research by RECs is based on…

approaches that assume that the researcher… seeks to have power and control

over the researched. …social research is in direct tension with such a position

because social researchers often aim for a greater democratisation of the

research process by sharing power with stakeholders… The tension is perhaps

played out most sharply when considering the involvement of children and

young people in research.

…research ethics practices… have become reified to a degree that potentially

diminishes reflection and innovation by researchers. We suggest this is

something that needs to change…

(Parsons, Abbott, McKnight & Davies 2015)Chris Abbott NCSE Nov 2015

Gaining ethics approval for research

A focus on use not technology

Technology uses to train or rehearse

Technology uses to assist learning

Technology uses to enable learning

(developed from Abbott 2007)


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Key areas of international AT research 2007-2011

User involvement participant design, nothing about us without us, from tokenism to shared decision-making

Mobile mainstream devicessmartphones and tablets, driven by built-in accessibility and user demand

Visibility of AT usepartly through move of speech synthesis, prediction etc into mainsteam use

Interaction and collaborationMultiplying and diversifying routes for collaboration, link to multimodalities literacy research

Developing interfaces and technologiesBrain control, gesture control, eye-gaze, robotics, natural user interfaces

Inclusive designGame engines and disability, ITAG, learning and interaction needs first

(Abbott et al, 2014)

What have we found out recently?


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ICCHP 2014, France14th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needswww.icchp.org

500 participants from more than 50 countries

Keynotes on mobile technologies & ULD

Many papers on use of AT to enable people to be included in everyday life – public transport accessibility etc

Papers on autism mainly focused on AT for social interaction

Many papers on research with and for older people

Most of the papers dealing with school environments were looking at aspects of tablet use


AAATE 2015, HungaryAdvancing Assistive Technology and eAccessibility for People with Disabilities and the Aging Populationwww.aaate2015.eu

European event with international participation

Keynotes on AAC, robotics, pervasive inclusion, rehabilitation

Historically linked to rehabilitation but increasing papers on learning with AT

Ambient Assisted Living – smarthomes and robots

Paper on barriers to AT uptake identified 4 domains: Telehealth, Telecare, AAC, Education – with minimal sharing between them (Bentley et al, Southampton & Sussex)

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Eye gazeMuch interest but some problems

Expensive and can be difficult to calibrate

Cheaper alternatives but these are less accurate leading to frustration

Eye movement control difficult for people with some disabilities

BCI (with gaming or Dasher) potentially less tiring and falling in price

(P. J. Standen et al, University of Nottingham & Nottingham Trent University, AAATE 2015)


Involving young AT users in research


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AT in the mainstream world


Social interaction as learning


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LOOKING AHEAD…

What recent developments will offer new possibilities –and what is just over the horizon?


From icons (like trains in Sweden) to earcons (like stations in Japan)


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Hapticons – communicating through touch


Emerging interfaces


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Communicating through thought


How might

schools use

this

technology?

How might

committees

work

differently?

Robotics


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From special to mainstream


Changing expectations


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3D printers

The majority of AT research is linked to uses for older people


Prompts and reminders

Communication

Leisure

Safety

www.atdementia.org.uk

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Robots in the classroom – current research in Nottingham using the NAO robot

Standen investigated 8 teacher/pupil dyads using robots to achieve a learning outcome over 5 sessions.

RQs: behavioural change? Engagement with robot compared to engagement in classroom typically (research shows engagement is learning predictor)


What did the teachers want the robot to do?


To give commands or prompts for the pupils to respond

To produce a behaviour (dancing etc) as a reward

To perform behaviours that were rewarding or enjoyable for pupils

To do something that would help towards a learning objective

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What were the results? (at the time of the AAATE keynote)

Achievement of target behaviour:

When working with the robot, a significantly smaller number of pupils

needed prompting.

Some users were significantly more engaged in the activity when the

robot was involved than without it


edurob.eu


www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AxErdP0YI8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AxErdP0YI8

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Practitioners are researchers too…

MA Inclusive Education & Technology at KCL

A teacher investigating e-mentoring – now advising the UK Dept for Education

An AT consultant now leading a government task-force in Brunei

A speech & language therapist persuading the REC that a non-speaking 5 yr old can give informed consent


If we want assistive technology to enable learning…

If we want assistive technology research to be valid and beneficial…

If we want to make the best use of the new technologies that arrive – and to feel empowered those that do not have potential or are misguided…


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If we want assistive technology to enable learning…

If we want assistive technology research to be valid and beneficial…

If we want to make the best use of the new technologies that arrive – and to feel empowered those that do not have potential or are misguided…

We need to place teachers and other practitioners at the centre of the research, and ensure that users and parents are involved.


We can all be involved in research – and in this way, we will all benefit from better research.

I look forward to reading the research you will all complete in the future.

Thank you for listening.

[email protected]


Enabling Technology - beyond...

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