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Digital media for accessibility

A project funded by the JISC Techdis HEAT4Wales project

JISC Techdis blog

HEAT4Wales reports

Update - July 2011

JISC Techdis held a dissemination event as part of the JISC Regional Support Centre Wales Summer Bytes series. Mary Jacob presented about the AU programme as part of the Techdis session. You can view the recording and a PDF of the slide show on the Summer Bytes website, which features a rich panoply of sessions.

Update - June 2011

Our final report for this project has been submitted to JISC Techdis.

Update - February 2011
As part of Information Services Exam Skills Day, we staffed a stall in the entrance to the library to get some more students interested in the equipment.  As a result, the kits have been loaned out for the final time and we have asked the students to report back to us with their thoughts and ideas by the beginning of March.
English poster | Welsh poster

In February, 2010, the E-learning Team applied for funding from JISC Techdis under the HEAT4Wales project to evaluate two different methods of capturing audio and image digitally to see which is most effective in enhancing accessibility for students with different needs. We were successful, and the project began in May 2010 and was underway in earnest with the start of AY2010/11. The text of our bid is below:

The project aims to identify good inclusive practice in the use of portable digital recording devices small enough to carry easily in a pocket (the special paper required for the Smartpen can be slipped into a notebook). We aim to help students with a range of learning disabilities enhance their learning, especially in laboratory work, experiments, practical sessions and fieldwork that can be extended to work-related learning. The technology will be useful for students for whom short-term memory, working with text, or the ability to record information in real time is a problem. It will facilitate learner independence as students take responsibility for making audio and video recordings they can later use to aid recall. 

The special feature of this study is a comparison between two techniques – video recording (sound and moving image) and the Pulse Smartpen (sound and student handwriting/drawing). We hope to find out which is preferable and under what circumstances both in terms of the individual student and the learning activity/subject area. We want to understand what difference, if any, is made to the learner by the added visual element in the video.

The project will be jointly managed by staff in Information Services and Learner Support. Students with learning disabilities or other special needs will be invited to use each device for a period of several months and then compare their effectiveness. We will recruit from six to eight students from a range of academic departments including Lifelong Learning. Students will be shown how to use the equipment and given suggestions for situations when they might want to use it. Some examples include lecture recording, audio enhancement of lecture notes, video observations from fieldwork, recording procedures for laboratory experiments, videoing physical activities for later analysis (e.g. practice-based theatre modules or sports and exercise science), audio/video reflective journal, recording a voice-over while copying down a diagram or formula. 

Evaluation is a key component of the project. After using both devices, students will be interviewed to gather their responses. Subsequently the Flip camcorders and Pulse Smartpens will be put into loan stock on an ongoing basis. 

The E-learning Team will encourage mainstreaming of good inclusive practice by highlighting results of the study in our general e-learning training courses, consultations with staff, and the Aberystwyth University Nexus good practice website. Our message is that good inclusive practice enhances learning for all students, not only those with special needs.

Two types of small digital devices will be trialed and compared in this project. 

The Pulse Smartpen captures audio (such as a lecture or conversation) while the student writes on special paper. The student then taps on an item written in his or her notes to replay the portion of the audio clip recorded while the student was writing those words or diagrams. The page is calibrated and synchronized by location to the audio recording.

The Flip camcorder is about the size of a mobile phone but provides two hours of high quality video with sound. Recordings made with both devices can be transferred onto the student’s computer for repeated viewing/listening.

This project will help learning technologists advise academic staff on effective use of digital recording devices and thus mainstream good inclusive practice in learning and teaching at the module level. If the study shows that particular disciplines or learning activities especially lend themselves to enhancement by one or both technologies, learning technologists can provide suitable advice to staff in the relevant departments.

The project will help learner support specialists advise students which technologies and approaches would be useful to adopt in their individual cases. Learner support specialists can then provide guidance to students in gaining access to the equipment.

The project will provide the HEI sector as a whole with on-the-ground data about the usefulness of the technologies in different contexts. It is hoped that it will provide information about the range of activities which can benefit from the addition of personal recording devices as well as those students most helped by the ability to control their own recording of learning activities. 

It will contribute a deeper understanding of learning processes in general, and what types of activities promote effective learning by all students. It will raise awareness among academic departments and senior management so that they can mainstream inclusive practice in their institutions.