Adaptive Content Presentation Extension for Open edX. Enhancing MOOCs Accessibility for Users with Disabilities

In this paper, we propose a three-layer architecture to extend the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform Open edX to enhance course content accessibility for users with disabilities. Because of their open nature and global scope, MOOCs are a great opportunity for people with disabilities that might not be able to engage in learning otherwise. The goal of the proposed extension is to enhance MOOCs’ accessibility by adapting course content to student needs, preferences, skills and situations. In this approach, the user does not need to know what adaptations should be applied to the MOOC to make it more accessible for them. The user only needs to keep updated their accessibility preferences in their user profile. The extension automatically applies all the necessary adaptations as commanded by the adaptive engine and provides the presentation layer with the content best suited for the user

Adaptive activities for inclusive learning using multitouch tabletops: An approach

Proceedings of the International Workshop on Personalization Approaches in Learning Environments. Girona, Spain, July 15, 2011.Also published online by CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org, ISSN 1613-0073)People with cognitive disabilities have some difficulties with memory, literacy skills, attention and problem solving. Computers and specifically, adaptation mechanisms can be used to improve their learning. The adaptation allows fitting the learning process to each user. This paper presents a proposal to adapt learning activities while people are interacting using multitouch tabletops. The adaptation mechanism takes into account structural aspects, content adaptation and the interaction provided.This work has been funded by the Spanish Government (ASIES Project - Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España, TIN2010-17344). The D2-Player has been funded by Fundación Sindrome de Down Madrid

Ubi-App: A Ubiquitous Application for Universal Access from Handheld Devices

Universal access from a handheld device (such as a PDA, cell phone) at any time or anywhere is now a reality. Ubicomp Assistant (UA) (Sharmin et al. in Proceedings of the 21st annual ACM symposium on applied computing (ACM SAC 2006), Dijon, France, pp 1013–1017, 2006) is an integral service of MARKS (Sharmin et al. in Proceedings of the third international conference on information technology: new generations (ITNG 2006), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, pp 306–313, 2006). It is a middleware developed for handheld devices, and has been designed to accommodate different types of users (e.g., education, healthcare, marketing, or business). This customizable service employs the ubiquitous nature of current short range, low-power wireless connectivity and readily available, low-cost lightweight mobile devices. These devices can reach other neighbouring devices using a free short-range ad hoc network. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the UA service is the only service designed for these devices. This paper presents the details of Ubi-App, a ubiquitous application for universal access from any handheld device, which uses UA as a service. The results of a usability test and performance evaluation of the prototype show that Ubi-App is useful, easy to use, easy to install, and does not degrade the performance of the device

Reversed Multi-Layer Design as an Approach to Designing for Digital Seniors

The personal computer (PC) has been around for more than 35 years by now. Today, we find early adopters of the PC who have been using computers at home for 25 or 30 years and are now themselves in their eighties or nineties. Despite this there is still a lot of research focusing on how to introduce and teach the use of information technology to older people. In this paper we argue that it is time for a shift to designing for digital seniors, i.e., older long-time computer users. Over time this will be the dominating user group and we need to design for continued use of IT rather than guiding older computer novices. The paper also presents the concept Gracefully adaptive user interfaces and provides a case study in the form of a prototype re-design of Facebook aimed at exploring and illustrating how designing for digital seniors can be approached

You Poor Thing: A Retrospective Autoethnography of Visible Chronic Illness as a Symbolic Vanishing Act

In this autoethnography, I outline a framework for understanding illness as deviance, contextualizing general sociological theory on sick role dynamics to the specific case of chronic conditions that manifest with visible physical differences. I demonstrate two distinct ways in which chronic conditions can foster labeling and stigma. First, I explore how social norms can result in sanctions for showing physical evidence of chronic conditions. I describe sanctions I have experienced for violating conventional ideas about youth and female beauty, and associated behavioral expectations. Second, I explore how double jeopardy can result from failing to meet usual social expectations for sickness. I describe sanctions I have experienced for violating ideas of what abilities a person with a chronic illness should possess, and how they should behave in relation. I conclude by illuminating how normative social discourse can simultaneously sensationalize and efface people with visible chronic diseases

Ability-Based Design: Concept, Principles and Examples

Current approaches to accessible computing share a common goal of making technology accessible to users with disabilities. Perhaps because of this goal, they may also share a tendency to centralize disability rather than ability. We present a refinement to these approaches called ability-based design that consists of focusing on ability throughout the design process in an effort to create systems that leverage the full range of human potential. Just as user-centered design shifted the focus of interactive system design from systems to users, ability-based design attempts to shift the focus of accessible design from disability to ability. Although prior approaches to accessible computing may consider users’ abilities to some extent, ability-based design makes ability its central focus. We offer seven ability-based design principles and describe the projects that inspired their formulation. We also present a research agenda for ability-based design.Engineering and Applied Science

Palavra e imagem: quando o livro ilustrado atravessa o tempo e o Atlântico

No período da Revolução Industrial os livros destinados ao público infantil ganhavam espaço e qualidade, passando por importantes transformações e ganhando em excelência, no século passado, com o aprimoramento da indústria gráfica e o uso de imagens. A ilustração é uma linguagem que transcorre paralelamente com a linguagem textual e que dificilmente se separa dela. Com o transcurso do tempo, os textos passaram a interagir mais e mais com as ilustrações, constituindo-se em um excelente recurso didático que tornaria mais ameno o texto corrido