N Shopland

Designing location-based learning experiences for people with intellectual disabilities and additional sensory impairments

The research reported here is part of a larger project which seeks to combine serious games (or games-based learning) with location-based services to help people with intellectual disabilities and additional sensory impairments to develop work based skills. Specifically this paper reports on where these approaches are combined to scaffold the learning of new routes and ultimately independent travel to new work and educational opportunities. A phased development methodology is applied in a user sensitive manner, to ensure that user feedback drives the ongoing development process. Methods to structure this include group feedback on conceptual storyboards, expert review of prototypes using usability heuristics relating to the main system goals, and finally co-discovery methods with student pairs exploring all three modes of the system in real world contexts. Aspects of developmental and cognitive psychological theories are also reviewed and it is suggested that combining games-based learning approaches with location-based services is an appropriate combination of technologies for an application specifically designed to scaffold route learning for this target audience.

Design and evaluation of a flexible travel training environment for use in a supported employment setting

This article describes the user centred design and development of a virtual environment (VE) to support the training of people with learning disabilities to travel independently. Three separate implementations were built on top of an initial design. Two of these environments implemented intelligent agents to scaffold learners using virtual environments; the third took stakeholder experiences to redesign the initial environment in an attempt to improve its utility.

Design guidelines for interactive multimedia learning environments to promote social inclusion

PURPOSE There is a continuing need for guidelines to aid in the design of Interactive Multimedia Learning Environments (IMLE) to promote effective learning. The project introduced in this paper looks at an important subset of this problem, the design of interactive learning environments to promote social inclusion. METHOD A consortium of six partners contributed toward defining learning material to develop a range of work based skills, including horticulture, IT and catering. These were then developed into IMLE prototypes. Formative evaluation of these prototypes then revealed a range of usability problems, which were grouped into generic types and frequency of occurrence. RESULTS The most important and frequently occurring problems were used to distil a set of design guidelines for the development of effective IMLE. The results from this usability content analysis were also used to refine the initial prototypes to improve their usability and effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS These guidelines, termed the Greenhat Design Guidelines, can be adopted for use by all multimedia developers aiming to promote the social inclusion of vulnerable or socially disadvantaged groups of people. The refined IMLE can be accessed via the Greenhat Server to improve the employment-related skills of socially excluded people.

Designing Serious Games for People with Disabilities: Game, Set and Match to the Wii™

Serious games are effective and engaging learning resources for people with disabilities, and guidelines exist to make games accessible to people with disabilities. During research into designing accessible interfaces and games, it was noted that people who are blind often report enjoying playing Wii Sports. These games are pick-up-and-play games for casual and non-gamers. They have simplified rules and a natural and intuitive feel. Games designed specifically for players with particular disabilities are often not of interest to other players and take a lot of development time. Because of their niche market, these games are not widely available, developed, or maintained. In contrast, games like Wii Sports are cheap and available, and represent an exciting opportunity as inclusive games. Two blind players were introduced to the games and found Wii Tennis the most accessible. The blind players learned to play the game quickly and easily, found it enjoyable and engaging, and could play competitively against each other, as well as a sighted opponent. Small accessibility enhancements of the existing game could enhance the game for other players. In this paper, implications for the design of accessible, inclusive games are discussed. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-1864-0.ch010

Our people has got to come to terms with that: changing perceptions of the digital rectal examination as a barrier to prostate cancer diagnosis in African-Caribbean men

African‐Caribbean men in the United Kingdom in comparison with other ethnicities have the highest incidence rate of prostate cancer. Psychosocial aspects related to screening and presentation impact on mens behavior, with previous studies indicating a range of barriers. This study explores one such barrier, the digital rectal examination (DRE), due to its prominence within UK African‐Caribbean mens accounts.

Virtual Travel Training for People with Learning Disabilities Accessing Employment Including the Introduction to the Special Thematic Session Virtual Reality

The purpose of this project is to develop a Virtual Learning Environment to assist in the travel training of a group of people with learning disabilities to enable them to gain access to training and employment opportunities. To achieve this a realistic Virtual Travel in Sutton Package will be developed to assist people with special needs to learn independent travel skills, and to assess the effectiveness of the software in achieving this aim.

PROCEE: a PROstate Cancer Evaluation and Education serious game for African Caribbean men

Purpose Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK. Black men are in a higher prostate cancer risk group possibly due to inherent genetic factors. The purpose of this paper is to introduce PROstate Cancer Evaluation and Education (PROCEE), an innovative serious game aimed at providing prostate cancer information and risk evaluation to black African-Caribbean men. Design/methodology/approach PROCEE has been carefully co-designed with prostate cancer experts, prostate cancer patients and members of the black African-Caribbean community in order to ensure that it meets the real needs and expectations of the target audience. Findings During the co-design process, the users defined an easy to use and entertaining game which can effectively raise awareness, inform users about prostate cancer and their risk, and encourage symptomatic men to seek medical attention in a timely manner. Originality/value During focus group evaluations, users embraced the game and emphasised that it can potentially have a positive impact on changing user behaviour among high risk men who are experiencing symptoms and who are reluctant to visit their doctor.

A Comparison of Humanoid and Non-humanoid Robots in Supporting the Learning of Pupils with Severe Intellectual Disabilities

Previous research has shown that the humanoid NAO robot can enhance learning as well as improve communication in children with intellectual disabilities. However, most special needs schools cannot afford the humanoid NAO robot due to high costs. Could a cheaper non-humanoid Lego Mindstorm robot be an alternative way of achieving the same learning objectives as the humanoid NAO robot? A single case study experimental ABAB design was used consisting of 16 sessions over 5 weeks: eight with the humanoid and eight with the non-humanoid robot. All sessions were video recorded and analysed for percentage engagement and percentage errors made by each of four students. For each student individually, these outcome measures were then compared between the two conditions. The teachers were interviewed at the end of the study. Three out of four students were significantly more engaged with the non-humanoid robot than the humanoid robot, whilst one student was found to be equally engaged with both robots. There was no significant difference between the two robots in terms of percentage errors for all four participants who managed to complete the study.

Literacy and Numeracy Edutainment Packages for Disaffected Young Learners

The UK Government has conducted research into skills gaps within the UK population. It has concluded that there is an alarmingly large proportion of the population with low literacy and numeracy skills.

Co-design of a Prostate Cancer Serious Game for African Caribbean Men

Co-design is a process for creating interventions with representative participants of the target group. The co-design process ensures that the technologies are aligned with peoples needs and removes the designer subjectivity. This paper discusses the co-design methodology and evaluation of the Pro-CEE serious game, an innovative intervention which is aimed to raise the awareness of prostate cancer among African Caribbean men. The serious game provides information and risk evaluation based on the users profile and symptoms. Feedback from focus group evaluations of the serious game revealed that it is an effective tool which can potentially have positive impacts on changing user behaviour among those who are at high risk of prostate cancer and experience symptoms. The co-design approach adopted for the development of Pro-CEE ensured that an effective and culturally sensitive intervention was developed.