Blackboard for Deaf Students
Disability or Different Ability?
John Webber
eLearning Development Manager
Sussex Downs College, UK
Disability or different ability?
Disability presents a challenge
Many disabled people respond powerfully
New abilities are created in response
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Try walking with a blind person in the dark!
Deaf people are striking examples
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Sign language and lip reading
Working with them opens up our own thinking
Especially about language and communication
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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
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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)
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“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”
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The College
Large mainstream college with small minority
of deaf students who depend on BSL
Existing support
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Limited to class times
Emerging technologies in the college
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Blackboard
Online video
We aspire to use these to benefit disabled
users and thus contribute to inclusiveness
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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
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The syntax of BSL vs. English
With thanks to RNID
http://www.rnid.org.uk/
What is the time?
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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
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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
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Turning this around:
Blackboard can help
To provide alternatives to text
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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
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With thanks to RNID
http://www.rnid.org.uk/
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We planned a pilot development
And began work
Then we dropped everything
To focus on an urgent individual need
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Nicky - A case study
Intelligent, motivated
But…
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Profoundly deaf
Limited conventional literacy
Low level of confidence and organisation
Dependent on presence of signer for almost all
study
Hence limited achievements
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Under-achieving?
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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
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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
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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
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Why this impact?
A sense of being valued?
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Increased morale and commitment
Structure to study materials?
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Contrast with relay from interpreter
Enabled to study independently?
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Increased confidence
The power of repetition in learning?
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At last able to review work without CSW
An encouraging start
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Back to plan A
An online environment for all deaf
students
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Access to Core Information
Normally provided by
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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
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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?
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web pages with video
Webcams for 2 way comms?
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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
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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”
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The end for now
Questions, suggestions, comments?
My email address:
john.webber@sussexdowns.ac.uk
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