ATLEC - ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

LEARNING THROUGH A UNIFIED

CURRICULUM 518229-LLP-1-2011-1-UK-LEONARDO-LMP

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

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(e)Inclusion stops where the beneficiary cannot

understand or afford (ICT Based) AT solutions.

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ATLEC PROJECT OBJECTIVES

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 socio-economic 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. 3

REFERENCE MODEL FOR TRAINING:

ACTORS AND PATHS

Education

Vocational training

Employment

Life long learning + career

Schools

Vocational

training

centres

Carers

Policy makers

Employers +

self

employment

Support needed

AT providers

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PROJECT CONSORTIUM

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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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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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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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

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) 8

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.

Parallel design:

Technique where multiple designers create mock-

ups of the user interface and the best aspects of

each design are used in the final design.

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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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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

Registered users are able to upload their own

content (text, video, photo, comment).

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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:

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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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:

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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CONTENT ANALYSIS MATRIX

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Device Interface/Function

Technology specification

Area of device insufficiency (MAJOR)

Area of device insufficiency (MINOR)

What I can do (ICF)

General info sheet addressing the various solutions. Specific models through web links.

TV Audio output Hearing well Seeing well Relay system; Hearing aids; Headphones; …

Seeing Relay system; Real Time Captioning + Text to Speech + …

- I can see well

Relay system; Subtitles/Real Time captioning; High Definition…

output Hearing Seeing well Subtitles/Real Time captioning; High Definition; Glare guard…

Seeing Relay system; Real Time Captioning + Text to Speech…

- I can see well

Subtitles/Real Time captioning;

Video output Seeing well Hearing well Relay system, High Definition; Glare guard; …

Outcomes also linked to EASTIN database

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Add a comment, see comments, mark

as favourite, share, edit content

USABILITY EVALUATION

During the evaluation phase, the

following methodologies will help us to

measure whether the application meets

its set goals.

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. 18

FOR MORE INFORMATION

http://www.atlec-project.eu

http://twitter.com/ATLEC_project/

http://www.facebook.com/ATLECproject

The outcomes of the project will be available from

February 2013 onwards in various languages:

English, Dutch, Italian, Greek

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