A Systematic Analysis of Accessibility Education Within Computing Disciplines

Accessible technologies improve the usability for all users, including 1 billion people in the world who have a disability. Although there is a demand for accessible technologies, there is currently no requirement for universities to integrate this content within the computing curriculum. A systematic comparison of teaching efficacy is important to effectively prepare future computing professionals with the skills to create accessible technologies. This dissertation contains a mixed-methods cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of undergraduate Software Engineering and Information Technology students’ learning of accessibility. Four teaching conditions were assessed at Rochester Institute of Technology: content lectures, projects, exposure to stakeholders with a disability, and collaboration with a team member who had a disability. Evidence of student learning was obtained through questionnaires, project reports, and interview data. Student learning was quantified by a knowledge of programming techniques, awareness of accessible technologies, and attitudes towards individuals with a disability. The cross-sectional analysis spanned three years (spring 2016-2019), fourteen courses, and seven distinct professors. We found that students in all conditions gained an increased knowledge of implementation methods. Students who were exposed to a stakeholder with a disability obtained significantly higher scores in their prosocial sympathetic attitudes, awareness of accessible technologies, and knowledge of programming techniques following the course. Students in the other conditions obtained significant changes in only a subset of these measures. While students in all conditions obtained significantly higher knowledge scores in the short term, only students who had a project or a team member with a disability sustained significantly higher knowledge scores two years after exposure. In interviews, senior-level students revealed that there were multiple factors outside the classroom that dissuaded them from furthering their learning of accessibility. Students mentioned a lack of person-centered topics in major software development processes (e.g., agile, waterfall) and workplace tasks. Without direct reinforcement, students focused on functional software requirements and expressed that accessibility would only be necessary in select front-end development career paths or domains. While current work in computer accessibility education evaluates learning during, or immediately following, one course, this dissertation provides a systematic comparison of student learning throughout multiple courses and instructors. The findings within this dissertation may be used to inform future curriculum plans and educational initiatives

Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based method to track user satisfaction without the need for devices to monitor users physiological conditions. User satisfaction is the key to any product’s acceptance; computer applications and video games provide a unique opportunity to provide a tailored environment for each user to better suit their needs. We have implemented a non-adaptive fuzzy logic model of emotion, based on the emotional component of the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) proposed by El-Nasr, to estimate player emotion in UnrealTournament 2004. In this paper we describe the implementation of this system and present the results of one of several play tests. Our research contradicts the current literature that suggests physiological measurements are needed. We show that it is possible to use a software only method to estimate user emotion

Smart and Pervasive Healthcare

Smart and pervasive healthcare aims at facilitating better healthcare access, provision, and delivery by overcoming spatial and temporal barriers. It represents a shift toward understanding what patients and clinicians really need when placed within a specific context, where traditional face-to-face encounters may not be possible or sufficient. As such, technological innovation is a necessary facilitating conduit. This book is a collection of chapters written by prominent researchers and academics worldwide that provide insights into the design and adoption of new platforms in smart and pervasive healthcare. With the COVID-19 pandemic necessitating changes to the traditional model of healthcare access and its delivery around the world, this book is a timely contribution

The harmonization of accessibility standards for public policies

Today, Individuals Can Access An Ever-Increasing Number Of Services Via The Internet. However, Only When All People Are Able To Completely Access The Internet Can A Digital Society Be Considered Universal. We Present A Proposal To Harmonize Accessibility Standards That All Countries Must Adhere To.This work is supported by the DeepEMR project (TIN2017-87548-C2-1-R) and the Spanish Subtitling and Audio Description Center

What common design principles can be distilled out from literature in the field of technologies and learning difficulties that might inform the design of technologies within the EU funded ARCHES Project?

The focus of this research report is people who have diverse access needs associated with perception, memory, cognition and communication- those who are frequently ascribed the label of ‘learning difficulties’1 and the technologies that may help to enhance their access to and inclusion into cultural and heritage sites (including digital assets)

UX research: uma proposta baseada no desenvolvimento do portal da UA

As a process inherent to the HCI area, UX Research can be seen as a strategy that supports the development of digital products, namely when usability and accessibility guidelines are used to drive the approach adopted. Practices and strategies based on user experience can facilitate understanding the generation of inputs to drive the digital products development as well as support requirements. In this context, this research is focused on the observation of the UX Research process in the development of the new web portal of the University of Aveiro aiming to investigate how UX Research practice can support the methodological approach used, regarding requirements support, identification of typology interface problems, and collection of information towards the continuous improvement of the development of the University of Aveiro (UA) New Portal. For this purpose, a Mixed Methodology was used based on the Grounded Theory framework, by the inductive process of data observation, delimited to the observation of the new News area of the web portal. Data saturation allowed us to know which UX Research sources had more capacity to raise data from the end-users, support requirements, identify types of interface problems, and supply the development of product solutions. As a consequence of the data processing, this research presents a UXR flow proposal to support data collection and engage stakeholders with the end-user needs and interests.Como um processo inerente à área de Interação Humano-Computador (HCI), a Investigação em Experiência do Utilizador (UX Research) pode ser vista como uma estratégia de apoio ao desenvolvimento de produtos digitais quando princípios de usabilidade e acessibilidade são utilizados para impulsionar a abordagem adoptada. Práticas e estratégias baseadas na coleta de dados relativos à experiência do utilizador podem facilitar a geração de inputs para impulsionar desenvolvimento de produtos digitais bem como suportar a defesa de requisitos. Neste contexto, esta investigação está centrada na observação do processo de UX Research no desenvolvimento do novo portal web da Universidade de Aveiro com o objetivo de compreender como a prática da Investigação em UX pode apoiar a abordagem metodológica utilizada, no que diz respeito ao suporte de requisitos, identificação de tipologias de problemas da interface, e recolha de informação para a melhoria contínua do desenvolvimento do Novo Portal da Universidade de Aveiro (UA). Para este fim, foi utilizada uma Metodologia Mista, Qualiquantitativa fundamentada na estrutura de Grounded Theory, em que parte-se do processo indutivo da observação dos dados, delimitado à observação da nova Área de Notícias do portal web. O tratamento estatístico permitiu saber quais as fontes da UX Research com maior capacidade para levantar dados dos utilizadores finais, qual delas mais dá suporte aos requisitos, ajuda na identificação de tipos de problemas da interface, e apoia o desenvolvimento de soluções de produto. Como consequência do processamento de dados, esta investigação apresenta uma proposta de fluxo de Investigação em UX para apoiar a recolha de dados e motivar os envolvidos no processo para atender as necessidades e interesses dos utilizadores finais.Mestrado em Comunicação Multimédi