Tag: access

The article “The Embodied Classroom: Deaf Gain in Multimodal Composition and Digital Studies” discusses the concept of body communication expressing more than just words or art. Leeann Hunter, a university professor, draws from her personal experiences of being raised with two deaf parents. Hunter reflects on how she was more in tune with using facial expressions and body language to communicate as a child, but her studies as an English major minimized this behavior focusing on speech and sound. A story of when her parents came to visit her classroom exemplified this point. Hunter asked her students to focus on nonverbal communication when giving their presentations to help engage her parents, but even this failed to keep her parents connected. From this experience, Hunter tells the lesson she learned. Nonverbal communication extends past captions and visual aids. “Nonverbal communication is the story we tell with our bodies.” (Hunter, 2015) Her parents further inform that nonverbal skits play a large role in American Sign Language (ASL) storytelling. Hunter’s experience expresses the importance of in person communication through body language rather than slide shows or other digital interfaces. Her understanding of sign language led her to make this discovery for nonverbal communication, thus creating the embodied classroom.

Hunter, Leeann. “The Embodied Classroom: Deaf Gain in Multimodal Composition and Digital Studies.” The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, 17 Dec. 2015, https://jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-embodied-classroom-deaf-gain-in-multimodal-composition-and-digital-studies/.

The concept that an impairment is something that must be solved, in medical assistive technology, has allowed for the normalization of certain bodies while creating a divide between users and designers. To combat this, participatory design promotes the development of technology that addresses the needs of users rather than healthcare providers or governmental agencies by placing an emphasis on user involvement.

With the growing number of accessible technology, more disabled users and able to develop and modify technology. However, there are still existing barriers within the realm of accessibility.

#OpenAPS started due to the long wait for the FDA to approve an artificial pancreas. Since the start of the project, several developers have been formulating their own pancreas systems.

The Nightscout Project began when Jon Costik, father of a diabetic child, discovered a way to transmit glucose levels over the internet. Costik’s system allows caregiver to monitor children’s glucose levels. Which, in return, gives them more independence. Though a person must be able to read and write in several programming languages to directly participate in development, those lacking these qualification can be a apart of the process by offering suggestions through the Facebook group, for example. In less than a year, the member count of said Facebook group doubled. With geographical diversity, developers and users offer a variety of skill and talent. Ultimately, Nightscout aims to create technology that considers the numerous roles that assistive technology plays in an individual’s life. For troubleshooting, Nightscout has a forum which covers technological challenges and how to navigate around them.

Nightscout Projects serves as an example regarding how the increase of democracy in the development of assistive technology, allows for greater possibilities and user autonomy. However, Nightscout also mentions the barriers in furthering user and community driven developments. The idea of various agencies making training in skills related to design more accessible to those with disabilities, serves as a possible solution to aforementioned barriers.

Kane, Laura. “#OpenAPS, Nightscout, and User-Driven Design for Type 1 Diabetes Technology.” The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, 17 Dec. 2015, https://jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/openaps-nightscout-and-user-driven-design-for-type-1-diabetes-technology/.

Hunter, Leeanne. “The Embodied Classroom: Deaf Gain in Multimodal Composition and Digital Studies.” The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, 17 Dec. 2015, https://jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-embodied-classroom-deaf-gain-in-multimodal-composition-and-digital-studies/.

In her essay, Leeanne Hunter discusses how drawing from Deaf culture and the concept Deaf Gain and implementing this into the classroom can have a positive affect on the learning environment for all students. Hunter begins by explaining that she has two deaf parents and she has already been immersed in the Deaf culture because of this. Hunter wanted to explore how sign language – and all the gestures involved with it – can be used for educational purposes in diverse classrooms. She talks about her personal experience from when her parents came to one of her classes and were not impressed by her students’ presentations in “deaf-friendly” formats. She learned from her parents that nonverbal communication is the art of storytelling through the human body, which her dad demonstrated when he performed a humorous skit involving a teacher and a student. Through practicing this nonverbal communication by using a skit of her own, Hunter realized that all of her students were totally engaged with her, as opposed to looking at their phone or laptop screens. Hunter took this concept and ran with it, including several multimodal assignments into her courses and found that students were able to both articulate through the written word, but also with visual and spatial metaphors shown through nonverbal modes. She goes on to talk about her own course and how she combines literature and digital technology, showing how the exposure to different modes and affordances allows her students to think and feel more deeply than before. By drawing from Deaf Gain, students are able to engage with the works and professor more than if they did not have these multimodal assignments and coursework. They are also learning about valuing all types of people, regardless of any disability or differences.

https://jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/weigh-of-showing/
Weigh of Showing is an Interesting article that shows readers a research paper doesn’t have to be the typical ten-pages. Jenna Freedman writes in the form of a ‘zine’, so it is written to look like a magazine. She does this to drive in the point that there are different ways to show knowledge than by writing a research paper. Jenna focuses on the readers attention to the interactivity of having feelings and how the same old ways of learning, and teaching do not benefit the complex lives of humans. People are different and have much going on in their lives. The formulaic teaching process is shown through Jenna’s life growing up. This shows readers how often she would have to read about ” A lot of white guys, some of them dead” (pg. 2) and how dry it is to learn about them. It also shows how her personal experiences helped her learn differently from others. For example she mentions how one of her most memorable things she learned came from acting. It taught her about emotional intelligence, specifically how to pay attention to what was in front of her and to answer questions when being asked. Jenna doesn’t really answer much in this paper but she questions what it means to learn and teach and leaves it open for discussion.

Kent, Mike. “Disability, Mental Illness, and ELearning: Invisible Behind the Screen?” The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, 17 Dec. 2015, jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/disability-mental-illness-and-elearning-invisible-behind-the-screen/.

For people with disabilities learning can be very difficult. ELearning can be very helpful to those with disabilities but some individuals are reluctant to disclose their disabilities. Open Universities Australia, or OUA, is a way that students can access education entirely online. OUA wants to make sure they have the most universal access to education that they can offer. OUA surveyed 352 students, the survey contained 17 questions. The second stage of the research was an Skype interview with 11 of the 352 students. Research showed that the problems students with disabilities face when attending a traditional school could be helped by attending online school. There will always be barriers for these students but they will lessen. with eLearning the biggest concern will still be that the students disabilities will disappear behind the screen making it harder for them to get the access they need for their education.