Empowering Deaf Students: Enhancing Inclusivity with Blackboard Technology

1. Blackboard for Deaf StudentsDisability or Different Ability? John Webber eLearning Development Manager Sussex Downs College, UK

2. Disability or different ability? • Disability presents a challenge • Many disabled people respond powerfully • New abilities are created in response • Try walking with a blind person in the dark! • Deaf people are striking examples • Sign language and lip reading • Working with them opens up our own thinking • Especially about language and communication

3. Creative responses to disability • The project is a first attempt within the college to innovate in this way • It may be we can generalise from it • Interested to hear of other approaches • Relating to any disability • Especially within Blackboard

4. Background to this project • Recent research by LSC reveals Deaf people (90%+) especially eager to learn • Many want to learn at mainstream colleges • New Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) • “Towards Inclusion” DfEE 2001 • Requires Universities & Colleges in the UK to: “make reasonable adjustments to ensure that people who are disabled are not put at a substantial disadvantage to people who are not disabled in accessing education”

5. The College • Large mainstream college with small minority of deaf students who depend on BSL • Existing support • Limited to class times • Emerging technologies in the college • Blackboard • Online video • We aspire to use these to benefit disabled users and thus contribute to inclusiveness

6. The many kinds of deafness • Degree • Age of onset • Oralism vs. signing (and combinations) • Potential impact on literacy (quote research) • Impact on background knowledge • A challenge, with communication at it’s heart

7. The syntax of BSL vs. English With thanks to RNID http://www.rnid.org.uk/ What is the time?

8. Challenges for deaf students in a “mainstream” college • Isolation • Difficulties accessing standard services and information • Dependency on Communication Support Worker (CSW) • Potentially diminishes both self-esteem and self-confidence

9. How Blackboard can make things worse • Lecturers naive assumption (mine too) that it helps to put notes online • Sign language users and text resources • New UK Law (DDA part 4) says we must address this • The defensive and the proactive response

10. Turning this around: Blackboard can help • To provide alternatives to text • To provide general info for deaf students • To support individual study But beyond that we hoped to use it to: • Nurture the sense of community • Communicate a sense of recognition and belonging • Raise the profile of deaf students in college and the awareness of deaf needs

11. With thanks to RNID http://www.rnid.org.uk/

12. We planned a pilot development • And began work • Then we dropped everything To focus on an urgent individual need

13. Nicky - A case study • Intelligent, motivated • But… • Profoundly deaf • Limited conventional literacy • Low level of confidence and organisation • Dependent on presence of signer for almost all study • Hence limited achievements • Under-achieving?

14. Nicky’s final exam preparation • Had passed previous modules but not with much margin • Anxious with approach of final, deciding, exam • Parents sent him away for 3 weeks • Return at start of Easter holidays • Exam early next term • Asked for help with independent study

15. Our response • Revision resource with BSL and subtitles • On Blackboard for access at college • On CD (video-rich) for home study • Demonstration: Health and Social Care Revision • To see a demonstration of the video-rich resource, contact: john.webber@sussexdowns.ac.uk

16. Observations from this pilot • Immediately obvious: Nicky’s delight But we also soon recognised… • His increased self-esteem • Increased engagement and status with hearing peers • Increased confidence and independence in approach to study • Dramatic improvement in his results

17. Why this impact? • A sense of being valued? • Increased morale and commitment • Structure to study materials? • Contrast with relay from interpreter • Enabled to study independently? • Increased confidence • The power of repetition in learning? • At last able to review work without CSW • An encouraging start

18. Back to plan A An online environment for all deaf students

19. Access to Core Information • Normally provided by • Printed and online text • Or word of mouth • Deaf students often excluded • Using Blackboard to address this • Demonstration: Blackboard for Deaf • To see a demonstration of this resource, contact: john.webber@sussexdowns.ac.uk

20. Giving a Voice to Deaf Students? • Handing over some dev to deaf student with media skills • Inviting input on design from other deaf students • Online forums for deaf students • Personal areas? • web pages with video • Webcams for 2 way comms?

21. Steps to Raising Awareness • Opening up area to all students • Presenting information about the nature of deafness • Experimenting with ways of communicating this • Demos: The challenge for lip readers • To see a demonstration of this resource, contact: john.webber@sussexdowns.ac.uk • We aim to broaden programme to other disabilities

22. How we have gained • Stimulated to think and to innovate in our communication • Created an efficient process for online video development and delivery • Learnt we can draw disabled users into the heart of the process • Learnt to see the “different ability” in “disability”

23. The end for now • Questions, suggestions, comments? • My email address: john.webber@sussexdowns.ac.uk