Using Information Communications Technologies to Implement Universal Design for Learning

The purpose of this paper is to assist Ministries of Education, their donors and partners, Disabled Persons Organizations (DPOs), and the practitioner community funded by and working with USAID to select, pilot, and (as appropriate) scale up ICT4E solutions to facilitate the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), with a particular emphasis on supporting students with disabilities to acquire literacy and numeracy skills. The paper focuses primarily on how technology can support foundational skills acquisition for students with disabilities, while also explaining when, why, and how technologies that assist students with disabilities can, in some applications, have positive impacts on all students’ basic skills development. In 2018, USAID released the Toolkit for Universal Design for Learning to Help All Children Read, section 3.1 of which provides basic information on the role of technologies to support UDL principles and classroom learning. This paper expands upon that work and offers more extensive advice on using ICT4E1 to advance equitable access to high quality learning. Like the UDL toolkit, the audience for this guide is mainly Ministries of Education and development agencies working in the area of education, but this resource can also be helpful for DPOs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) wishing to pilot or spearhead ICT initiatives. Content for this paper was informed by expert interviews and reviews of field reports during 2018. These included programs associated with United Nations, Zero Project, World Innovation Summit, UNESCO Mobile Learning Awards, and USAID’s All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development. Relevant case studies of select education programs integrating technology to improve learning outcomes for students with disabilities were summarized for this document

Adult Human Keratinocytes Migrating over Nonviable Dermal Collagen Produce Collagenolytic Enzymes That Degrade Type I and Type IV Collagen

Human adult keratinocytes migrating on a nonviable dermal substrate in cultures without fibroblasts induce thinning and degradation of the collagen substrate beneath the migrating epithelium. Further, unconcentrated conditioned medium from the cultures exhibit collagenolytic activity against both type I and type IV collagen which is inhibited by EDTA but not by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride or N-ethylmaleimide. Since the migrating epithelium and dermal substrate do not contain fibroblasts, this study shows that migratory keratinocytes in contact with interstitial collagen are capable of producing collagenases against type I and type IV collagen. Moreover, migratory keratinocytes appear to be similar to highly metastatic cells in their ability to degrade basement membrane collagen

Surfing the spectrum - what is on the horizon?

Diagnostic imaging techniques have evolved with technological advancements - but how far? The objective of this article was to explore the electromagnetic spectrum to find imaging techniques which may deliver diagnostic information of equal, or improved, standing to conventional radiographs and to explore any developments within radiography which may yield improved diagnostic data. A comprehensive literature search was performed using Medline, Web of Knowledge, Science Direct and PubMed Databases. Boolean Operators were used and key-terms included (not exclusively): terahertz, X-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infra-red, magnetic resonance, dental, diagnostic, caries and periodontal. Radiographic techniques are primarily used for diagnostic imaging in dentistry, and continued developments in X-ray imaging include: phase contrast, darkfield and spectral imaging. Other modalities have potential application, for example, terahertz, laser doppler and optical techniques, but require further development. In particular, infra-red imaging has regenerated interest with caries detection in vitro, due to improved quality and accessibility of cameras. Non-ionising imaging techniques, for example, infra-red, are becoming more commensurate with traditional radiographic techniques for caries detection. Nevertheless, X-rays continue to be the leading diagnostic image for dentists, with improved diagnostic potential for lower radiation dose becoming a reality

Augmentative and alternative communication emerging trends, opportunities and innovations: introduction to the special thematic session

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) technologies, training and support have benefitted from significant emerging trends in recent years to cope with the changing environments experienced by many users. The landscape of inclusion, whether it means different forms of digital accessibility, tele-support or more built-in assistive technology in everyday devices, has helped many more individuals with speech and language difficulties communicate effectively. There has also been an increased use of artificial intelligence, including machine learning and natural language processing with improved multilingual automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text to speech, location capturing apps and the Internet of Things being just a few of the technologies providing the world of AAC with a wealth of exciting emerging trends, opportunities and innovations. This special thematic session aims to provide an insight into some of the trends developing across Europe and the wider community

Open licensed AAC in a collaborative ecosystem

Book coverInternational Conference on Computers Helping People with Special NeedsICCHP-AAATE 2022: Computers Helping People with Special Needs pp 483–488Cite asOpen Licensed AAC in a Collaborative EcosystemDownload book PDFDownload book EPUBOpen Licensed AAC in a Collaborative EcosystemE. A. Draffan & David Banes Conference paperFirst Online: 01 July 2022424 Accesses1 AltmetricPart of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS,volume 13341)AbstractA collaborative ecosystem that encompasses the use of open-licensed augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) solutions and systems has the potential to provide positive outcomes for children with severe speech and language difficulties. This has been shown through a project that highlighted the willingness to provide a considerable amount of teamwork and participation of families and carers involving 124 children with complex communication needs across three Eastern European countries. Participation was based around a UNICEF hub in each capital city. The hub provided support for small groups of AAC experts sharing their knowledge with limited resources and widely varying groups of other professionals, families and carers of potential AAC users. Initial face to face training sessions provided introductory sessions to open licensed AAC solutions and systems. These sessions were backed up by ‘anytime’ access to an open licensed eLearning platform containing freely adaptable interactive AAC online training resources to be translated into modules by participants in each country. The level of content was based on the first three levels of the European Qualifications Framework. There followed the development of pictographic symbol sets to enhance the localization of already available sets suitable for children. Cultural, linguistic, and social settings were catered for within an open-source communication app. Feedback and formal evaluations provided by parents, carers and professionals showed that the benefits to the children were not just in AAC use, but also in their social competency levels, self-esteem and adaptability

Democratisation of AAC symbol choices using technology

The use of an online voting system has been developed to enable democratic choices of newly designed symbols to support speech, language and literacy skills in a localisation situation. The system works for those using and supporting Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) symbols on electronic systems by the provision of simplified scales of acceptance and adapted grids. The methodology and results highlighted the importance of user participation at the outset and concrete examples of symbol adaptations that were found necessary to ensure higher levels of user satisfaction. Design changes included appropriate local dress codes, linguistic nuances, social settings, the built environment and religious sensitivities