[vicsireland] e-Access bulletin extracts
- From: "Gerry Ellis" <gerry.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "VICS" <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 14:20:45 -0000
Hi,
the extracts below are from an email bulletin I receive each month. Joining
details are at the bottom for anyone interested.
take care,
Gerry ellis
+06: Audio Culture: Podcasts of classic novels have been made
available for free on the Open Culture website from Stanford
University in the US. Authors including Dickens, Chaucer and Austen:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/audbk1 .
+12: Sticky By Name, Sticky By Nature
by Mel Poluck.
Audio and other accessible games for the blind have been around for
some time and many have a loyal following. But although they could
provide the ideal medium to engage children while learning, they are
rarely used in the classroom.
Very soon that may be set to change however, with the launch of BBC
Jam's new accessible learning materials: a set of online, fun and
compelling games for learning National Curriculum topics, some of
which were showcased for the first time last week at BETT, the
world's largest conference on educational technology.
Sonic Science, to name one of these resources, aimed at vision
impaired and sighted children of around seven years old, is a game
using graphics and speech output for learning about Physics, providing
teachers and pupils with a lesson about pressure. Using stereo sound
and the directional keys - and peppered with puns perhaps only
children could appreciate - the player, in the form of protagonist Harris
Hotle must 'push' a cart by holding down the 'up' key for the correct
amount of time before releasing to hit another cart at just the right
speed so as not to cause a nasty accident. A talking power meter speaks
the results to players.
"Usually people create resources then try to make it accessible. We're
trying to work out something that will work for a lot more children,"
Jonathan Hassell told delegates at BETT.
But this development phase hasn't always been easy, particularly as far
as Maths and Science-themed games are concerned. "How do you
visualise an abstract concept? That was the challenge," said Hassell.
One aspect of the project Hassell and his team have found particularly
tough was creating literacy materials for vision impaired pupils he said.
"It's different for them - they always have to have someone to give
them feedback." Despite this daunting challenge, the team has devised
'Benjamin's House,' named after its narrator, British poet Benjamin
Zephaniah, which lets blind children develop Braille reading and
writing skills as they explore Zephaniah's virtual house.
Using his vivid poems, he introduces us to rooms and objects in his
home including the hoover, a spider and even well-known literary
characters such as Dr Zeus, who happens to be in the sauna at the time.
The whole game, which was tested among schoolchildren in Surrey,
England, is replete with sound effects, activities and stories.
"We're trying to produce materials children can use on their own,"
Hassell said, although notes for teachers and parents will be available.
And these resources encourage learning outside of the classroom too as
users will be able to log in from any computer and everything
previously created can be accessed again.
The Jam team have received assistance on accessible gaming by the
Bartiméus Accessibility Foundation in the Netherlands where
developers have created such games as Demor
( http://www.demor.nl/ )
which uses Global Positioning System (GPS) and 3D sound to guide
players around a large physical area in which the game takes place.
Throughout Jam's development, learners with various disabilities have
been considered, including hearing impaired pupils who will soon have
access to a literacy game whose animated characters use British Sign
Language. "We can do something a lot of companies are afraid to do -
take into account children with all kinds of needs," Hassell told
delegates.
All materials will be available for free, since the entire project was
funded by BBC licence-payers, although the downside of this is that
materials will not be available for users beyond the UK, although
Hassell said this could change in future. "People in other countries
who've seen what we've done are desperate for this," he said.
"We're re-imagining everything that happens in computer games," said
Hassell. "We're re-inventing computer games for people that may have
never used them before."
NOTE: BBC Jam's accessible games for learning go live in March.
+How to Receive the Bulletin.
To subscribe to this free monthly bulletin, email
eab-subs@xxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'subscribe eab' in the subject header.
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message. Please encourage all your colleagues to sign up! To
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Please send comments on coverage or leads to Dan Jellinek at:
dan@xxxxxxxxxxxx .
Copyright 2007 Headstar Ltd
http://www.headstar.com .
take Care,
gerry Ellis
t/a Feel The BenefIT
Tel. (+353-1) 282 7791
Mob. (+353-85) 716 8665
email gerry.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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