The document discusses the development of inclusive educative gaming aimed at improving learning outcomes for people with disabilities through a games-based learning approach. It emphasizes the importance of user involvement in the design process and presents evidence from current projects, including the Virtual Portal for Interaction (VIPI), which shows positive impacts on ICT skills and engagement levels among users. Additionally, the document outlines guidelines for creating accessible serious games to better meet the needs of diverse learners.

1. INCLUSIVE EDUCATIVE GAMING:
A HOLISTIC VIEW
1
Prof. David Brown (NTU)
Prof. Penny Standen (NU)
Karel Van Isacker (PhoenixKM)
With the financial support of:

2. OVERVIEW
A
mosaic of needs and initiatives
 Approach to Inclusion, Disability and User sensitive
Design
 Why we adopt a games based learning (GBL)
approach for people with disabilities
 The importance of engagement for our target
audiences
 Current GBL projects and initial evidence of
effectiveness
 A focus on GBL for improving mathematical skills
 A case study approach to evaluating the ViPi project
2
 Guidelines for accessible serious games
Media and Learning, 13/12/2013

3. THE START:
… A MOSAIC OF
NEEDS AND INITIATIVES
ICT skills,
digital inclusion
ICT AT
competences
Empowerment
Social
competences
Efficient Caregiver
support
3
Media and Learning, 13/12/2013

4. MANY INITIATIVES TOWARDS ICT TAKE-UP
ViPi (Virtual Portal for Interaction and ICT Training for
People with Disabilities)
 e-MENTORING (European Mentoring Network for
Disadvantaged Adults)
 ATLEC (Assistive Technology Learning Through A Unified
Curriculum)
 SGSCC (Serious Games for Social & Creativity
Competence)
 DICE (Digital Inclusion Champions in Europe)
 Future initiatives that are in the pipeline:

M-CARE (Mobile Training for Home and Health Caregivers For
People with Disabilities and Older People)
 ACAD2 (Accessibility in Accommodation & Catering Sectors
for Disabled People)

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5. INVOLVEMENT END-USERS &
STAKEHOLDERS ACROSS ALL PROJECTS
1
•Collection user requirements
2
•Testing
3
•Validation
4
•Exploitation
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6. “SOCIAL INCLUSION CAN BE ACHIEVED BY REMOVING THE BARRIERS
THAT TURN IMPAIRMENTS INTO DISABILITY”
“IT….. HAS THE ABILITY TO MINIMIZE IMPAIRMENTS OR TURN THEM
INTO DISABLING FACTORS. AS THE IT PROFESSIONAL BODY, WE
THEREFORE HAVE THE ETHICAL OBLIGATION TO MAXIMIZE THE RAPIDLY
INCREASING POTENTIAL OF TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE SOCIAL INCLUSION
BY BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS PRESENTED BY CURRENT SOCIAL
STRUCTURES AND PHYSICAL OR MENTAL IMPAIRMENTS.”
DR GEOFFREY BUSBY MBE FBCS CENG, ADVISER TO THE BCS ON DISABILITY
ISSUES
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7. INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF
FUNCTIONING, DISABILITY AND HEALTH
•
•
•
“Functioning and disability are viewed as a complex
interaction between the health condition of the
individual and the contextual factors of the
environment ………..”
“How can we make the social and built environment
more accessible for all persons, those with and without
disabilities?”
Information technology should be able to be designed so
that it is more accessible to people with disabilities and
can provide an aid that minimises the effect of an
impairment
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8. INVOLVEMENT OF USERS IN THE DESIGN
PROCESS
 User
sensitive inclusive design (USID) combines established
guidelines on User Centred Design with those from
contemporary HCI and product design research
 Six stage, iterative, design process with users involved at each
stage of the process.
 Multidisciplinary Usability Team: guides the application of
the user sensitive design methodology.
 User team propose design requirements and how these could
be met in potential design solutions and giving feedback on
the prototypes developed.
 May reduce number of devices distributed but never used: in
UK national survey said that 29.3% of all AT was abandoned
by users.
Media and Learning, 13/12/2013

9. WHY WE ADOPT A BLENDED GAMES BASED LEARNING
APPROACH
Value of learning through playing
computer or video games
 Earlier work on computer games
tended to focus on negative aspects
 Play and games recognized as having
important role in early learning
 More recently, the positive aspects of
games in formal education explored
 Ability of games to engage learner
voluntarily in sufficient repetitions
 They provide immediate feedback an activity is easily linked with a
learning outcome

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10. ….AND GAMING IN A MOBILE ENVIRONMENT
The significance of this particular technology and
the status it carries with peers
 First uses of mobile devices was in prompting
individuals to complete everyday tasks
 As part of a programme to improve employability
iPhone app to teach fire safety
 Supports learning in any environment the learner
chooses
 Particularly important for a target audience
described as ‘concrete thinkers’:
 Moving the environment of learning to a real
world context might also help to compensate for
the poor memory skills
 Recognizing the social dimension of learning

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11. THIS IMPORTANCE OF ENGAGEMENT FOR STUDENTS
WITH COMPLEX LEARNING DIFFICULTIES AND
DISABILITIES
Engagement is the single
best predictor of successful
learning for children with
learning disabilities
(Iovannone et al., 2003).
 Without engagement,
there is no deep learning
(Hargreaves, 2006),
effective teaching,
meaningful outcome, real
attainment or quality
progress (Carpenter,
2010).




Engagement Profile and Scale allows teachers to focus on the
child’s engagement as a learner and
create personalised learning
pathways
Engagement is multi-dimensional,
and encompasses awareness,
curiosity, investigation, discovery,
anticipation, persistence and
initiation
Technological interventions &
adaptations made, and the effect
on the student’s level of
engagement can be recorded on
the engagement scale

12. RESEARCH IN GAMES FOR DISABILITY
AND INCLUSION
Serious games for use by
students with ID and those at risk
of exclusion (Game
On/GOAL/GOET)
 Two current EU projects:

RISE: To change attitudes to migrant
workers and refugees and to develop
their employability skills
 SGSCC: to develop social competences
and creativity in students with mild and
moderate disabilities


Standen and Brown – Choice
Reaction Time, Independent
Decision Making, Working
Memory and Maths Skills

13. EVALUATION STUDY FOR DGBL: CAN PARTICIPATING
IN DGBL IMPROVE MATHS SKILLS?







DGBL (Digital Games Based Learning ) to improve
working memory and maths skills
Maths is a functional skill – use to make them
effective and involved.
Students with severe maths cognition deficits
often possess underlying deficits in working
memory
Particularly suited to this heterogeneous
population is matched pairs design to allow
impartial comparison between intervention &
control by matching individuals into pairs for a
given variable and randomly assigning.
Matching pairs – BPVS and P-scales
Any differences between groups is due to
intervention and not differences between groups.
Trade offs between external and internal validity.
Internal/eternal validity scale. Initial priority given
to internal validity.

14. EVALUATION STUDY:
MATHEMATICAL SKILLS






Research Question: Can participating in
SG improve the understanding of
fractions, percentages and decimals in
students with ID?
Participants: 16 key stage 2-5 students
with ID.
Study design: matched pairs; 8 students
using intervention software, 8 students
using battery of control games, 5, 20
minute weekly sessions
Baseline Measures - tests understanding
of underlying language of fractions and
whole-part concept in fraction notation
Intervention Group – Cheese Factory
Control Group - Hidden Shapes Game

15. EVALUATION STUDY: RESULTS








BASELINE TEST 1: intervention group
achieves far better results
BT1: In the control group – pre and post
intervention tests for baseline 1 are
extremely similar
BT1: In the Intervention Group: significant
difference between post and pre
intervention results for intervention group
at 5% level
BASELINE TEST 2: intervention group
performed better than control
BT2 : control group improves but not
significantly so
BT2: significant at the 5% level for the
intervention group for baseline 2 measure
Qualitative Analysis of individual
performance - any variation in ability can be
taken into consideration during analysis
The external validity of this study is
somewhat limited, but positive evidence

16. VIPI - VIRTUAL PORTAL FOR INTERACTION AND
ICT TRAINING FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
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Media and Learning, 13/12/2013

17. VIPI PILOTING: DATA AND METHODS






RQ: Can the ViPi components improve ICT skills in people with
disabilities?
Materials Tested: ViPi training curriculum, exercises, games and
platform
Data for each Participant – collected at each pilot site (Age,
Gender, Disability, …)
Competences and Skills Progress Radars - to record changes over
baseline measures after repeated intervention (Basic ICT Skills,
Physical interaction with ICT, Confidence in use of ICT, self esteem,
numeracy, literacy, timekeeping).
Observational Checklist: identifies remaining usability/accessibility
issues, engagement, cultural appropriateness etc.
Likert Scale Questionnaire: effectiveness of each element of all
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ViPi resources and how it met their needs.
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18. PILOTING SITES
Country
Period
Target group(s)
Training course units Games
BE
May-November
2013
People with learning
difficulties, mixed
with intellectual
disabilities (18+),
teachers, trainers
People with vision
and mobility
impairment (16+),
teachers, trainers.
People with mobility
impairments (18+),
teachers, trainers.
People with
intellectual
disabilities (18+),
teachers, trainers.
Unit 1 (and 2)
CY
GR
LT
UK
May-October 2013
May-October 2013
May-November
2013
May-October 2013
Online and offline
Unit 2 and 3
Online and offline
Unit 2 and 3
Online and offline
Unit 1
Online and offline
Desktop and mobile
games
Desktop and mobile
games
Desktop and mobile
games
Desktop and mobile
games
People with
Customised version Desktop and mobile
intellectual
of unit 1
games
disabilities (16+),
Online and offline
Media
teachers, trainers. and Learning, 13/12/2013
Local end-user
organisation
In cooperation with
various end-user
groups
School for the Blinds
“Ayios Varnavas”, G.E
English Center and
individuals
Disability Now /
ΑΝΑΠΗΡΙΑ ΤΩΡΑ
Valakupiai
Rehabilitation
Centre, the
association of
people with mental
retardation “VILTIS”
(“Hope”).
Older students and
18
ex students from
Oak Field School &
Sports College.

19. PILOT DETAILS: UK & BELGIUM
 In


 In


UK:
17 Participants at Oak Field School, key stage 5 and
ex-students, 16-19 years and 2 in mid 30s with
severe/moderate intellectual disabilities
Voluntary participation, up to 4 sessions, and
1hr/session
Belgium:
20 trainees and 6 teachers/trainers, mostly in
sheltered work schemes, moderate-severe
learning/intellectual disabilities
Bi-weekly sessions 50 mins. each (3 sessions per day
combined with lunch)
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20. HEADLINE RESULTS
 Enables
retention of information,
increased measures of engagement and
confidence and communicational skills
 Identification of barriers to use of ICT and
methods to overcome these
 Improved evaluation Methods for those
with severe intellectual disabilities
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21. CASE STUDIES - UK
 Case
Study 1: 17 with Downs Syndrome – learnt
to turn on a tablet, start apps, take photos; use
input technology on a PC and improve confidence
 Case Study 2: 16 with physical disabilities, and
intermediate ID – was engaged by the games,
retained info between sessions, and used TTS
 Case Study 3: 18 with mod ID – used games to
maintain focus, retained information between
sessions and could identify peripherals and
remember procedures
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22. CASE STUDIES - BELGIUM
 Case
study 4: 37 with Williams Syndrome – very
focussed on Facebook and training developed
email, doc creations and editing skills. Training
also developed awareness of online security
 Case study 5: 47 mod/severe ID in sheltered
workshop, lacking confidence – prospect of new
PC at work was causing anxiety. Training
developed skills needed and overcame anxiety
and become more confident, and supported other
members of the group
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23. APPENDIX 1: GUIDELINES FOR ACCESSIBLE SERIOUS GAMES:
FROM BROWN DJ, STANDEN PJ, EVETT L, BATTERSBY S AND SHOPLAND N. (2010).
DESIGNING SERIOUS GAMES FOR PEOPLE WITH DUAL DIAGNOSIS: LEARNING
DISABILITIES AND SENSORY IMPAIRMENTS. IN EDUCATIONAL GAMING. CHAPTER IN
ZEMLIANSKY, P AND WILCOX, D. M., (EDS), EDUCATIONAL GAMING, IGI GLOBAL
 Ensure presentation at appropriate speed – it is essential that
speed of presentation is appropriate for the particular target
group, and may be modified during the iterative user-centred
design process
 Allow users to go back – essential for all users, and especially
those who may have organisational, information processing
and/or memory difficulties
 Allow User Control – allow for user customisation based on user
preference; for example, some users with dyslexia or visual
impairment have distinct colour and contrast requirements, others
may wish to slow things down, or to use keyboard access
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24. Text – make any text plain text (rather than images or graphics),
follow Clear Text for All guidelines (Evett & Brown, 2005, and see
WCAG 2.0, W3C, 2008a), no dense blocks of text, plain English
 Text Alternatives: Provide text equivalents for non-text content,
including auditory and visual components, so that it can be
changed into other forms people need, such as Braille, speech,
symbols, other languages including sign language
 Colour – never convey information by colour alone
 Contrast – ensure sufficient contrast so that it is easier to
distinguish items, both visual and auditory (cf. WCAG 2.0, W3C,
2008a)
 Navigable – help users navigate, find content and know where
they are: by placing navigation information in the same place
(usually at the top) and ensuring that it is consistent and simple,
using maps when appropriate, using home and back buttons,
providing context and orientation information

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25. Maintain organisation – instructions, buttons, clearly displayed
and in the same place (often at top) throughout presentations
 Links – use unique and informative text descriptions for any
hyperlinks (never click here!)
 Use accessibility features – HTML/XML have inherent accessibility
features (e.g., alt text, long desc) which should always be used;
other formats (e.g., Java, Flash, Games environments) are not
necessarily accessible, although this is improving with more recent
versions having accessibility features, which should be used;
provide alternatives where possible
 Design simply – in simple layouts, it is relatively easy to draw
attention to important features and differences; in more complex
layouts it becomes harder to highlight features, thus making
presentations even more complex
 Use fallbacks – provide alternatives, provide equivalent content as
accessible html when possible and design for graceful
transformation (such as reflowing)

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26. Robust – make systems consistent and error free, provide
appropriate error messages and error catching
 Aim for compatibility with assistive technologies – e.g.,
screenreaders, text-to-speech, zoom features
 Allow keyboard access – ensure the system can be controlled
from the keyboard and not just by using the mouse
 Seizures – do not include elements that are known to cause
seizures, for example by having elements that flash or have
particular spatial frequencies

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27. 27
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28. CONTACT DETAILS
 Prof.
David Brown
 Computing and
Technology Team
 Nottingham Trent
University
 Clifton Campus
 Nottingham, NG118NS
 david.brown@ntu.ac.uk
 www.ntu.ac.uk
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29. CONTACT DETAILS
 Prof.
Penny Standen
 Professor of Health
Psychology and Learning
Disabilities
 School of Community Health
Sciences, Division of
Rehabilitation and Ageing,
Learning Disabilities Section,
University of Nottingham
 P.Standen@nottingham.ac.uk
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30. CONTACT DETAILS
 Karel
Van Isacker
 PhoenixKM BVBA
 CEO, Project manager
 karel@phoenixkm.eu
 Amersveldestraat 189
8610 Kortemark
Belgium
 karel@phoenixkm.eu
 www.phoenixkm.eu
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