Online e-learning and cognitive disabilities: A systematic review

International audienceFor decades now, as the issue of social progress has come to the fore, the drive to improve access to education has been behind the growth in research into e-learning. The current systematic literature review raised the question of the existence of studies addressing the specific needs of persons with cognitive impairments. Indeed, e-learning is expected to be one of the critical tools for improving access to education and ultimately aiding social inclusion. The systematic literature review was performed through a four-step process including an exhaustive search of scientific literature databases, the selection of studies through exclusion and inclusion criteria, and literature analysis and synthesis. The main results are: 1) a lack of e-learning studies addressing the issue of accessibility for people with cognitive impairments (N = 29) with a purpose dominated by design guidelines rather than effectiveness assessment; 2) a weak inclusion of accessibility standards (N = 5) and 3) a weak inclusion of special education findings (N = 3), with a focus on specific neuropsychological disorders or syndromes (dyslexia, ADHD, etc.) rather than on impairments of cognitive function (attention, memory, etc.) as promoted by the International Classification of Functioning (World Health Organization, 2001); 4) the identification of five families of accessibility function (adaptive systems, game elements, accessible content, virtual agents and accessible interfaces or environments) and their dependency with activity-domain of learning. Results are discussed in terms of both design and assessment recommendations, promoting a multi-disciplinary approach combining educational sciences, cognitive sciences and computer science to develop more accessible e-learning systems

Erlen : Une interface tangible pour la réduction de la consommation énergétique sur le poste de travail

International audienceIn this demonstration paper, we present the Erlen environment. A set of tangible interfaces dedicated to raising awareness of employees and the workplace’s energy consumption reduction.Dans cette article de démonstration, nous présentons l’environne- ment Erlen. Un ensemble d’interfaces tangibles dédiées à la prise de conscience des employés et à la réduction de la consommation énergétique d’un poste de travail

Erlen : Une interface tangible pour la réduction de la consommation énergétique sur le poste de travail

International audienceIn this demonstration paper, we present the Erlen environment. A set of tangible interfaces dedicated to raising awareness of employees and the workplace’s energy consumption reduction.Dans cette article de démonstration, nous présentons l’environne- ment Erlen. Un ensemble d’interfaces tangibles dédiées à la prise de conscience des employés et à la réduction de la consommation énergétique d’un poste de travail

Medical image computing and computer-aided medical interventions applied to soft tissues. Work in progress in urology

Until recently, Computer-Aided Medical Interventions (CAMI) and Medical Robotics have focused on rigid and non deformable anatomical structures. Nowadays, special attention is paid to soft tissues, raising complex issues due to their mobility and deformation. Mini-invasive digestive surgery was probably one of the first fields where soft tissues were handled through the development of simulators, tracking of anatomical structures and specific assistance robots. However, other clinical domains, for instance urology, are concerned. Indeed, laparoscopic surgery, new tumour destruction techniques (e.g. HIFU, radiofrequency, or cryoablation), increasingly early detection of cancer, and use of interventional and diagnostic imaging modalities, recently opened new challenges to the urologist and scientists involved in CAMI. This resulted in the last five years in a very significant increase of research and developments of computer-aided urology systems. In this paper, we propose a description of the main problems related to computer-aided diagnostic and therapy of soft tissues and give a survey of the different types of assistance offered to the urologist: robotization, image fusion, surgical navigation. Both research projects and operational industrial systems are discussed

Reuse of medical face masks in domestic and community settings without sacrificing safety: Ecological and economical lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic

The need for personal protective equipment increased exponentially in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. To cope with the mask shortage during springtime 2020, a French consortium was created to find ways to reuse medical and respiratory masks in healthcare departments. The consortium addressed the complex context of the balance between cleaning medical masks in a way that maintains their safety and functionality for reuse, with the environmental advantage to manage medical disposable waste despite the current mask designation as single-use by the regulatory frameworks. We report a Workflow that provides a quantitative basis to determine the safety and efficacy of a medical mask that is decontaminated for reuse. The type IIR polypropylene medical masks can be washed up to 10 times, washed 5 times and autoclaved 5 times, or washed then sterilized with radiations or ethylene oxide, without any degradation of their filtration or breathability properties. There is loss of the antiprojection properties. The Workflow rendered the medical masks to comply to the AFNOR S76-001 standard as “type 1 non-sanitory usage masks”. This qualification gives a legal status to the Workflow-treated masks and allows recommendation for the reuse of washed medical masks by the general population, with the significant public health advantage of providing better protection than cloth-tissue masks. Additionally, such a legal status provides a basis to perform a clinical trial to test the masks in real conditions, with full compliance with EN 14683 norm, for collective reuse. The rational reuse of medical mask and their end-of-life management is critical, particularly in pandemic periods when decisive turns can be taken. The reuse of masks in the general population, in industries, or in hospitals (but not for surgery) has significant advantages for the management of waste without degrading the safety of individuals wearing reused masks

Conception, intégration et validation de systèmes numériques d'enseignement accessibles aux personnes en situation de handicap cognitif

The proportion of disabled persons decreases sharply over time in the educational system. This results in lower levels of qualification, which further impedes employment opportunities and reinforces their exclusion from the social sphere. Moreover, this situation is even more acute in the case of persons with cognitive impairments. The considerable evolution of online training, as reflected in the massive growth of MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) platforms, could provide a real opportunity to address the training needs of disabled persons. Unfortunately, similarly to many digital devices, these systems suffer from a lack of accessibility. Starting from a state of the art on the accessibility of e-learning systems, we initiated a co-design process involving students with cognitive impairments (N = 6) and professionals in the field of cognitive disability and accessibility (N = 13). This work has led to the development of a framework for the design of accessible e-learning systems that arose from the various needs and recommendations that emerged during the process. It resulted in the development and implementation of a first prototype of an accessible MOOC player named Aïana. A field study, based on a MOOC broadcasted on the national FUN platform was conducted to evaluate Aïana's effectiveness in terms of learning performances, cognitive load, induced self-determination, usability and efficiency of person-system interactions among a fairly large sample of participants (N = 1087 of which 150 reported a disability). The results confirm the good usability of our player and its positive impact on the learning and self-determination of disabled persons, particularly those with cognitive disabilities, which supports the relevance of the design principles we have introduced.La proportion de personnes handicapées décroit fortement tout au long du parcours scolaire. Cela a comme conséquence de plus faibles niveaux de qualification, ce qui amène un obstacle supplémentaire aux possibilités d'emploi et renforce leur exclusion de la sphère sociale. De plus, ce constat est aggravé lorsque la situation de handicap implique des troubles cognitifs. L’importante évolution des formations en ligne, comme en témoigne la croissance massive des plates-formes MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) pourrait fournir une réelle opportunité afin de répondre aux besoins de formation des personnes handicapées. Malheureusement, comme pour de nombreux autres dispositifs numériques, ces systèmes souffrent d’un déficit d’accessibilité. Sur la base d’un état de l’art sur l’accessibilité des systèmes numériques d’éducation, nous avons mis en place un processus de co-conception auquel ont participé des étudiants ayant des déficiences cognitives (N = 6), ainsi que des professionnels du domaine du handicap cognitif et de l’accessibilité (N = 13). Celui-ci a permis le développement d’un cadre de travail pour la conception de systèmes d'apprentissage en ligne accessibles, découlant des différents besoins et recommandations qui ont émergé au cours de ce processus. Il a donné lieu au développement et à l’implémentation d’un premier prototype de lecteur de MOOC accessible nommé Aïana. Une expérimentation en environnement écologique autour d’un MOOC diffusé sur la plateforme nationale FUN a été réalisé afin d’évaluer l’efficacité d’Aïana en termes de performances d’apprentissage, de charge cognitive, d’auto-détermination induites, d’utilisabilité et d’efficience des interactions personne-système, et ce auprès d’un échantillon assez large de participants (N = 1087 dont 150 ont déclaré un handicap). Les résultats confirment la bonne utilisabilité de notre lecteur ainsi que son impact positif sur l'apprentissage et le soutien à d’autodétermination des personnes handicapées, notamment celles ayant des troubles cognitifs, renforçant ainsi la pertinence des principes de conception mis en œuvre

Design, integration and validation of digital education systems accessible to people with cognitive disabilities

La proportion de personnes handicapées décroit fortement tout au long du parcours scolaire. Cela a comme conséquence de plus faibles niveaux de qualification, ce qui amène un obstacle supplémentaire aux possibilités d'emploi et renforce leur exclusion de la sphère sociale. De plus, ce constat est aggravé lorsque la situation de handicap implique des troubles cognitifs. L’importante évolution des formations en ligne, comme en témoigne la croissance massive des plates-formes MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) pourrait fournir une réelle opportunité afin de répondre aux besoins de formation des personnes handicapées. Malheureusement, comme pour de nombreux autres dispositifs numériques, ces systèmes souffrent d’un déficit d’accessibilité. Sur la base d’un état de l’art sur l’accessibilité des systèmes numériques d’éducation, nous avons mis en place un processus de co-conception auquel ont participé des étudiants ayant des déficiences cognitives (N = 6), ainsi que des professionnels du domaine du handicap cognitif et de l’accessibilité (N = 13). Celui-ci a permis le développement d’un cadre de travail pour la conception de systèmes d'apprentissage en ligne accessibles, découlant des différents besoins et recommandations qui ont émergé au cours de ce processus. Il a donné lieu au développement et à l’implémentation d’un premier prototype de lecteur de MOOC accessible nommé Aïana. Une expérimentation en environnement écologique autour d’un MOOC diffusé sur la plateforme nationale FUN a été réalisé afin d’évaluer l’efficacité d’Aïana en termes de performances d’apprentissage, de charge cognitive, d’auto-détermination induites, d’utilisabilité et d’efficience des interactions personne-système, et ce auprès d’un échantillon assez large de participants (N = 1087 dont 150 ont déclaré un handicap). Les résultats confirment la bonne utilisabilité de notre lecteur ainsi que son impact positif sur l'apprentissage et le soutien à d’autodétermination des personnes handicapées, notamment celles ayant des troubles cognitifs, renforçant ainsi la pertinence des principes de conception mis en œuvre.The proportion of disabled persons decreases sharply over time in the educational system. This results in lower levels of qualification, which further impedes employment opportunities and reinforces their exclusion from the social sphere. Moreover, this situation is even more acute in the case of persons with cognitive impairments. The considerable evolution of online training, as reflected in the massive growth of MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) platforms, could provide a real opportunity to address the training needs of disabled persons. Unfortunately, similarly to many digital devices, these systems suffer from a lack of accessibility. Starting from a state of the art on the accessibility of e-learning systems, we initiated a co-design process involving students with cognitive impairments (N = 6) and professionals in the field of cognitive disability and accessibility (N = 13). This work has led to the development of a framework for the design of accessible e-learning systems that arose from the various needs and recommendations that emerged during the process. It resulted in the development and implementation of a first prototype of an accessible MOOC player named Aïana. A field study, based on a MOOC broadcasted on the national FUN platform was conducted to evaluate Aïana's effectiveness in terms of learning performances, cognitive load, induced self-determination, usability and efficiency of person-system interactions among a fairly large sample of participants (N = 1087 of which 150 reported a disability). The results confirm the good usability of our player and its positive impact on the learning and self-determination of disabled persons, particularly those with cognitive disabilities, which supports the relevance of the design principles we have introduced

Accessibility of Immersive Serious Games for Persons with Cognitive Disabilities

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Accessibilité numérique des systèmes d'enseignement en ligne pour des personnes en situation de handicap d'origine cognitif

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Accessibility of Immersive Serious Games for Persons with Cognitive Disabilities

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