ILSIG On-Line 1.30 to 2.30 pm Blackboard Collaborate 28 th June 2012

Welcome!

Steering Group Terry McAndrew – Chair Shirley Evans – Secretary Steering Group Committee Nick Jeans Julia Waines Ron Mitchell Donal Fitzpatrick

Agenda Apologies Minutes of last meeting Matters arising ILSIG Update – including survey ACTOER update GEUG12 – Google event for users in HE INBook and The DART Project (Trevor Mobbs – Beaumont College) Disabled Students and Social Networking (Sarah Lewthwaite – Kings College London) News from ILSIG members ILSIG and CMALT AOB Date of next face to face meeting – during ALT Conference – 11 to 13 th September 2012 Date of next on-line meeting – Thursday 27 th September 2012

Apologies Minutes of last meeting Matters arising

ILSIG Update

ACTOER Accessibility Challenges and Techniques for Open Educational Resources Evaluating OERs in context with specialists in HE, FE, WBL, Specialist Colleges Improved tools for OER producers Raise profile of accessible open access New Wiki building at actoer.referata.com

Geug12 GEUG12, the Google Apps for Education European User Group meeting, was held at the University of Portsmouth, UK, on June 15th 2012; GEUG12 followed on from GUUG11, an event for UK Google Apps for Education users in The site gathers together the presenters' slides and in many cases streamed recordings of the sessions using Google's Hangouts on Air; Topics covered at GEUG12 included developing for Google App Engine, transition to and current use of Google Apps at institutions, VLE integration and replacement, legal issues and the Google Apps Marketplace, mash ups and other creative uses for Google products, and pedagogical feedback from use of Google+ in teaching and learning AND accessibility.

Student experiences of disability and Facebook 9 Social networks matter to students: “If you haven’t got Facebook, you don’t exist” (Edward). Methods: 34 internet-enabled interviews with 19 students Over-the-shoulder, co-located, participatory accessible methods Drivers: Necessity of Network for Social Information Critical Mass ‘Network Creep’ Effects: Unknown audience/Context collapse Consolidation of Identity / Loss of anonymity Extent of the Network / Contraction in Degrees of Separation

The InBook Project The Pilot has gone well o Students have contributed to feedback and development o Students have developed an InBook code of conduct o Students have visited and video-conferenced between the three pilot colleges

InBook A ‘walled garden’ safe social networking training tool

The InBook Project InBook is a pilot project run by o JISC RSC NW o JISC TechDIS o Three Partner Colleges Beaumont College (main developer) Bridge College Lancaster and Morecambe College

The InBook Project The project aims to: o Provide a safe social networking tool o Have a more controlled (limited access) membership o To be used in both a classroom environment and more widely o Be a training tool for establishing the principles of safe social networking o Provide much of the familiar web 2.0 functions o Provide a forum for e-safety discussions The project is not aiming to: o Replace other social networks such as Facebook

The InBook Project The project is based on open source software Runs on a standard web server: o Uses PHP / MySQL o Utilises the Word Press CMS (Content Management System) o Buddy Press is installed on top of Word Press o Other theme and module customisations are made on top of this platform

The InBook Project

A second stage extended pilot is being undertaken This process is being overseen by JISC TechDIS Test the system with a larger number of users Will feature improved accessibility Will enable issues to be identified and addressed Colleges will be invited to take part in the second pilot by JISC TechDIS If you wish to express an interest in taking part please let us know – cannot guarantee places

The InBook Project The intention is to scale the project There are a number of options o Centrally hosted instances of InBook perhaps for different age groups or clients o Making available an FAQ and the Word Press Custom Theme so the system can be replicated o Providing configured virtual machines so that other providers can ‘roll their own’ instances of InBook o The pilots will answer some of this and will address other issues as well

The InBook Project InBook has been designed with students who have learning difficulties and disabilities in mind May have an application beyond the original client group to a wider audience such as younger people The second round pilots will begin around October 2012 and conclude by Easter 2013 The project will be developed by Beaumont, JISC RSC NW and JISC TechDIS A report will be made available

The InBook Project The Project website o Will shortly be updated with more information Thank you for listening Any Questions? Interested in AT? We are kevinhickeyuk

The InBook Project The Project website o Will shortly be updated with more information Thank you for listening Any Questions? Interested in AT? We are kevinhickeyuk

DART Creating a sustainable future for Assistive Technology in Education

The DART Project DART – ‘Disseminating Assistive Roles and Technology’ Working in partnership, Beaumont College and National Star College Original project was funded by the LSIS flexibility and innovation fund between 2010 and 2012 The new project is funded by JISC Advance Crucially this means we can work with partners across the UK The original project was oversubscribed and we wanted to integrate it with the JISC service offer

The DART Project DART - Creating a sustainable future for Assistive Technology in Education The project aims to: o Improve Assistive Technology practice in the sector o Enable the replication of the innovative Assistive Technologist role o Disseminate the Beaumont College Technology service model o Produce Assistive Technology case studies for the sector

The DART Project The DART2 Project Provider Colleges: o Beaumont College, National Star College, Henshaws College Also working with both Scotland's Colleges NATSPEC (The association of National Specialist Colleges) We are now inviting expressions of interest from either Sector Colleges with an LLDD provision or other Independent Specialist Colleges. In addition to direct work with colleges a workshop series is planned.

The DART Project Beaumont College is the lead partner and will work with four providers Henshaws and National Star college will engage with three providers each NATSPEC to undertake research to inform the development of three workshops The workshops will run in central Scotland and in central England. An end of project conference will include a presentation of case studies by supported providers

The DART Project The project is being run by a project board: o Partner college members o JISC RSC and TechDIS members We are now taking expressions of interest from colleges who wish to participate The project will run for the academic year

The DART Project Identify what the college wishes to develop as part of the project, could include: o Elements of the Technologist role to be embedded in an existing role o Transfer of assistive technology knowledge to specific staff, work shadowing etc o Training and development for staff in the partner colleges o Advice on sourcing equipment, software etc o Advice on adapting mainstream hardware

The DART Project The Project website o Hosts information about the project o Will be updated regularly o Has a number of case studies available now o More case studies to be added soon Thank you for listening Any Questions? Interested in AT? We are

Student experiences of disability and Facebook 30 Social networks matter to students: “If you haven’t got Facebook, you don’t exist” (Edward). Methods: 34 internet-enabled interviews with 19 students Over-the-shoulder, co-located, participatory accessible methods Drivers: Necessity of Network for Social Information Critical Mass ‘Network Creep’ Effects: Unknown audience/Context collapse Consolidation of Identity / Loss of anonymity Extent of the Network / Contraction in Degrees of Separation

Disabled Experience 31 So could you show me your profile page? Yeah. I hate it. I really, I worry about it all the time. I just, I just hate the thought of being judged so much. (Gemma, student with unseen spina bifida) Yeah, I mean during the, the time that I was not very well, my Status didn’t show that at all. You know, it was 'Naomi is.' I never put 'is so depressed she wants to go home and never come back to uni'. It was just left blank, it wasn’t, I never put anything, it was just dot dot dot. (Naomi, student with visual impairment)

Conclusions 32 Facebook is normative. It propels users towards disabled or non-disabled perspectives. Users are compelled to adopt non-disabled interactions or maintain disability within strict discursive limits. For those who adopt non-disabled interactions, disability is confirmed as a deficit, discredited identity. For those who cannot or will not perform a non-disabled self, the network is experienced as punitive and disabling. In each case, experiences of impairment and the recognition of disability as part of normal human experience becomes inhibited. In this way, social networks produce disabled subjectivities whilst systematically erasing them from view. Dr Sarah

Updates from network members AOB Next Steps……..

Face to face meeting – during ALT Conference – 11 to 13th September 2012 On-line meeting – Thursday 27th September 2012 Date of Next Meetings

Any questions?

ILSIG reference If anyone asks... interest-groups-0http:// interest-groups-0