Developing a curriculum and mobile application to deliver training and information relating to Assistive Technology by Karel Van Isacker, Jacqui Lewis and Stavroula Papavasiliou

1. ATLEC - ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
LEARNING THROUGH A UNIFIED
CURRICULUM
518229-LLP-1-2011-1-UK-LEONARDO-LMP
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Developing a Mobile Application to Deliver
an Assistive Technology Assessment
Wizard
Presented at ITAG 2013, 17-18 October 2013
Prof. C. Mourlas, S. Papavasiliou, M. Saridaki, K. Van Isacker

2. (e)Inclusion stops where the beneficiary cannot
understand or afford (ICT Based) AT solutions.
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3. ATLEC PROJECT OBJECTIVES
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To contribute to increased participation in lifelong
learning by people of all ages, including those with
learning and/or physical needs and from
disadvantaged groups, regardless of their socioeconomic background.
To support the development of innovative ICT based
content, services, pedagogies and practice for lifelong
learning.
To support participants in accessing training
activities that will enable them to gain and use
knowledge, skills and qualifications to facilitate
personal development, employability and
participation in the European labour market.
To promote the development of ICT AT skills among
people with disabilities within a lifelong learning
perspective.
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4. REFERENCE MODEL FOR TRAINING:
ACTORS AND PATHS
Policy makers
Employment
Schools
Vocational
training
Education
Carers
Vocational
training
centres
AT providers
Support needed
Life long learning +
career
Employers +
self
employment
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5. PROJECT CONSORTIUM
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Oak Field School and Sports
College (UK) – project contractor
PhoenixKM BVBA (Belgium) –
project coordinator
Αναπηρια Τωρα (Disability
Now) (Greece)
Associazione Italiana
Assistenza Spastici (A.I.A.S.)
Della Provincia Di Bologna
onlus (Italy)

Greenhat Interactive Ltd (UK)

University of Athens (Greece)
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6. RATIONALE
 One
of the major barriers that people with
disabilities (PwD) encounter when attempting
to enter the regular labour market is their
limited knowledge of ICT AT (assistive
technologies).
 This is addressed by the development of a
customised curriculum, training materials
and an accessible mobile application to
support learning in an engaging way to meet
visual learning styles.
 ATLEC focuses on training the learners in
specific skills tailored to their individual
and employability needs, whilst also creating
the job profile of the ICT AT trainer.
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7. ATLEC MOBILE APPLICATION
The aim of the application is to provide an
accessible, easy to use a mobile platform
where people with disabilities, trainers/teachers
and family/carers can access information on
ICT AT, according to their individual needs and
preferences.
 In developing this application, a user centered
design approach has been followed to ensure
the usability, accessibility, engagement and
effectiveness of the software.

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8. DESIGN PHASE

The design process was divided in two categories:
The Information architecture and the visual
design.

The first category refers to the organization of the
available information, the classification of content
and the navigation paths.
User Requirements analysis
 Personas and Case Studies
 Personalisation requirements
 Task analysis

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The visual design refers to the graphical elements
and visual representation of the system’s
functionality.

Usage of pictograms by Sclera Symbols (follows Creative
Commons License)
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9. VISUAL DESIGN PROCESS

Prototyping:
Draft model (or mock-up) of the application that
allows the design team to explore ideas before fully
implementing them. A prototype can range from a
paper mock-up to interactive html pages.
 Paper and html mock-ups.
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Parallel design:
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Technique where multiple designers create mockups of the user interface and the best aspects of
each design are used in the final design.
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10. APPLICATION FEATURES

Multilingual support

English, Dutch, Italian, Greek
Designed for Android mobile devices (phones &
tablets).
 Android 4.X (ice cream sandwich) onwards, while
ensuring compatibility with older android
versions.
 Android 4.X provides features that would better
support an application which is designed to be
accessible by all disability groups., and has been
embedded

Voice input engine
 Explore-by-touch mode
 Increase default font size used across the system

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12. ACCESSING INFORMATION ON THE WIZARD

In order to support usability, ATLEC offers four
different ways of accessing a single item of
information:
Wizard
 Free search
 Profile based search
 List of Favourites

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Registered users are able to upload their own
content (text, video, photo, comment).
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13. ATLEC WIZARD
The wizard focuses on the environment where
the user currently is or the place where he/she
would like to use the recommended AT.
 After answering the following questions, users
are presented with relevant posts:
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For what device do you need support?
What function creates a challenge for you?
For what would you like to use the specific device
(audio, video, etc.)?
What is the main “difficulty” that you face with this
device/function?
Do you face another “difficulty”?
I am able to: (see well, hear well, etc.)
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15. PERSONALISATION
Personalization feature which, after gathering
parameters concerning the type of disability,
presents the user with recommended posts.
 In order to perform a profile based search, the
user will have to define the following:
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Hearing: I cannot hear very well / I cannot hear
Seeing: I cannot see very well / I cannot see
Speaking: I cannot speak very well / I cannot speak
Tactile: - I don’t have full hand and finger control / I
don’t have hand and finger control - I don’t have full
arm control / I don’t have arm control
Understanding: I have severe learning difficulties / I
have mild learning difficulties
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16. CONTENT ANALYSIS MATRIX
Area of device Area of device What I
Interface/ Technology
Device
insufficiency insufficiency can do
Function specification
(MAJOR)
(MINOR)
(ICF)
TV
Audio
output
output
Video

output
General info sheet addressing the
various solutions. Specific models
through web links.
Hearing well Seeing well
Relay system; Hearing aids;
Headphones; …
Seeing
Relay system; Real Time
Captioning + Text to Speech + …
I can see Relay system; Subtitles/Real Time
well
captioning; High Definition…
Hearing
Seeing well
Subtitles/Real Time captioning;
High Definition; Glare guard…
Seeing
Relay system; Real Time
Captioning + Text to Speech…
I can see Subtitles/Real Time captioning;
well
Seeing well Hearing well
Relay system, High Definition;
Glare guard; …
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Outcomes also linked to EASTIN database

17. Add a comment, see comments, mark
as favourite, share, edit content
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18. USABILITY EVALUATION
 During
the evaluation phase, the
following methodologies will help us to
measure whether the application meets
its set goals.
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Heuristic Evaluation: Usability inspection
method where a group of usability experts
evaluate the application against a list of
established heuristics (or guidelines).
Usability testing: One-on-one sessions
where a "real-life" user performs tasks in the
application in order to identify user
frustrations and functionality errors or
accessibility barriers.
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19. FOR MORE INFORMATION
http://www.atlec-project.eu
 http://twitter.com/ATLEC_project/
 http://www.facebook.com/ATLECproject
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The outcomes of the project will be available from
February 2013 onwards in various languages:
English, Dutch, Italian, Greek
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