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<img src="title.gif" alt="UNIVERSAL ADAPTOR: Accessiblity and Difference in the New Media Art Room" style="display:block; margin:auto">
<img src="header1.gif" alt="Illustration: Students sitting at computers watching a lesson on the projection screen. The screen scrolls between doctored photographs from the Soviet Union and doctored advertising images of women." style="display:block; margin:auto"><<if $name is "">> <<set $name to "Teacher">> <</if>><<if $name.length > 20>> <<set $name to $name.substring(0, 19)>> <</if>>
You've just wrapped up the presentation and demo phase of a lesson on image manipulation in culture, and are excited to see what the students do with the remaining hour of exploratory planning and working time, and to see what shapes these projects take down the line. After looking at the often deceitful uses of image manipulation in commercial, political, and internet culture, and the aesthetic ways fine artists digitally transform their identities, you've challenged the students to make their own "deceptive" self portraits - not a cliched image of "who the really are," but an oblique, negative image of who <i>they aren't</i>. You've spent the last 20 minutes or so introducing basic Photoshop manipulations by having the kids go to town on your high school yearbook photo.
"All right, folks, you have the rest of class to develop your idea for your portrait, and then load a selfie onto your desktop to start transforming. Did everyone get a copy of the rubric?"
"I'll be floating around, if you run into any technical problems, or have any questions about your idea or the project, I'm here to help."
Almost before you can finish that sentence, you hear it. "$name, I've got a question!" As the TA turns on the lights, you turn off the projector, and your eyes adjust, you see three faces staring intently at you, and two hands raised high. [[Brenden]] has a problem. So does [[Amayah]]. And [[Denzel]]. Who will you help out first?
<div style="overflow: hidden; margin:auto; width:75%;"><div style="float:left; background:#ee7674; font-size:14pt; padding:15px; width:310px; margin-right:10px; padding-top:300px;"><a data-passage="Denzel"><img src="denzel.gif" alt="image: portrait of Denzel" style="position:absolute; margin-top:-440px; margin-left:25px;"></a>
<b>Denzel</b> is a 10th grader who really likes the Pittsburgh Steelers and "Yu-Gi-Oh." He <i>really</i> likes "Yu-Gi-Oh," to the point that you often catch him sneakily watching episodes of it on his phone. He really likes manipulating images in Photoshop, especially taking existing images of his favorite cartoon characters and remizing them to create his own. He's classified as having a cognitive disability because of the speed at which he processes new information. Sometimes, when you're demoing a new skill, tool, or concept, you find you go a bit fast for him.
</div> <div style="float:left; background:#423139; font-size:14pt; padding:15px; width:310px; color:#f9b5ac; margin-right:10px; padding-top:300px"><a data-passage="Amayah"><img src="amayah.gif" alt="image: portrait of Amayah" style="position:absolute; margin-top:-440px; margin-left:25px;"></a>
<b>Amayah</b>'s hilarious. She tends to finish projects early and then spend the extra class time in Photoshop drawing moustaches on famous paintings or replaceing their faces with Nicholas Cage's face. She has a heaving folder full of these images called "LHOOQ." Last year, in Digital Arts I, she wore glasses, but this year hasn't been. You assumed she had contacts, but you also have noticed her complaining about headaches, and she chose a seat much closer to the display at the front of class than last year, which makes you wonder if she doesn't still need glasses...
</div> <div style="float:left; background:#75b9b3; font-size:14pt; padding:15px; width:310px; padding-top:300px"><a data-passage="Brenden"><img src="brenden.gif" alt="image: portrait of Brenden" style="position:absolute; margin-top:-440px; margin-left:25px;"></a><div style="position:absolute; margin-top:-420px; margin-left:25px; width:250px; font-size:19pt; speak: none; pointer-events:none; text-align:center">Hey,<br>$name!</div>
<b>Brenden</b> is constantly drawing his own comics and cartoon characters in his notebooks (sometimes when he's supposed to be working on his projects for class, naturally). He's really interested in digital illustration, and he's already taught himself how to use the digital tablet & stylus at his computer to paint over scans of his illustrations. While he excels with the stylus, Brendan was born with a limb difference that most computers weren't designed to accomodate. His arms end just past the elbow, and he has fewer fingers than most of his classmates and teachers.
</div></div><img src="amayah1.gif" alt="Illustration: Close-up image of Amayah's eyes, squinting at the computer screen." style="display:block; margin:auto">
You check in on Amayah.
"$name, is there any way to make the font bigger?"
"Well, in the 'text' tool you can change your text's size, color-"
"No, not in my picture, in the program! How do I make the words in the menus and stuff bigger?"
You realize Amayah is squinting at the screen, leaning into it - clearly she's having trouble seeing and reading what's on it.
[["I've got an idea..."|magnifier]] <img src="denzel1.gif" alt="Illustration: Denzel looking at the computer screen with a frustrated expression on his face." style="display:block; margin:auto">
"$name, I totally don't know what I'm doing."
"Well, show me what you've got so far. What part of the demo was tricky for you?"
"I don't know. I got lost. You were going too fast."
You notice Denzel has the demo images open on his computer, but past that, it looks like he wasn't following along with the demo at all. Last class, he was really excited to talk about his ideas for how he would transform his self-image, but clearly the technical aspect is frustrating him, and your mode of presentation didn't help.
"Why didn't you raise your hand when I checked in with the class, to make sure everyone was doing all right?"
"I'm not going to look stupid in front of everybody!"
You understand why Denzel is self-conscious about this. While your room has been a relative safe space for him, you know from talking to his mother that he still faces a lot of bullying, and before high school, when he was placed in a segregated learning program due to his neurodivergence, he experienced some awful treatment from his siblings who were on the "normal" educational track.
[[No problem. Let's give it another try, together, not too fast this time. But I've got an idea we can try that should help if you get stuck again...|screencast1]]<img src="brenden1.gif" alt="Illustration: A non-specific teacher figure, on the left, is looking over Brendan, who is sitting at his computer with his hands resting on the keyboard." style="display:block; margin:auto">
"Hey, $name, I can't get that shortcut to work!"
Brenden already got a jump-start on the project last week, and the process he's developed for the really detailed image he's working on involves meticulously generating dozens of layers of slightly altered elements of his images, then flattening the layers and applying effects to them before repeating the process.
The end result is elaborate, weird and gorgeous, but the process is time-consuming. In today's demo you included a keyboard shortcut to instantly flatten all the layers, specifically with Brenden's project in mind.
"Try again, and I'll see what's going wrong with the program - remember, you just press ctrl + alt + shift + E to flatten all the layers..."
"No, $name, that's the problem. <i>I can't use that shortcut.</i>"
You realize you've made an oversight. While you considered Brendan's <i>project</i> when you included the shortcut in the lesson, but you didn't consider his <i>body</i>. When you have three fingers on your hand, pressing down four buttons at once isn't a trivial task - especially when you're using the mouse with your other hand.
"Also, it's not a big deal, but I have to drag these layers around a lot. I never noticed it before, because I've never had to drag so much with computer stuff, but it's kind of hurting my hand to hold the button down for a long time over and over."
[["I've got something we can load onto the computer to make that shortcut work with different buttons, and it could help with a lot of other stuff, too..."|autohotkey]]
[["Are you up for a mini-project? I think we can build something to take the load off on the mouse problem. It'll also give you an advantage on our Physical Computing project later this year..."|makeymakey]]<<set $name to "Teacher">><img src="title.gif" alt="UNIVERSAL ADAPTOR: Accessiblity and Difference in the New Media Art Room" style="display:block; margin:auto">
What do your students call you?
<<textbox "$name" "" "start">>
When you're ready, click [[here to start|start]].
[[About this project|about]] <img src="denzel2.gif" alt="illustration: You, the teacher, seen from behind, helping Denzel work on his computer.">
You know you're going to have to walk Denzel through your whole demonstration again, but as insurance against having to do so a third or fourth time, you hop over to the <a href="https://screencast-o-matic.com/">"Screencast-O-Matic"</a> website and start recording the screen. You also plug in a microphone, which means after you and Denzel are done going over the material you'd covered with the class, he now has a video saved to his desktop recording the whole process, with full audio narration of you and he talking through.
"Now it's time to work on your personal project, Denzel. If you forget where something is, or how to do something, remember, you've got that video on your computer, and you can check with it anytime, even if I'm busy helping someone else out."
<img src="denzel3.gif" alt="illustration: An animated image, looking over Denzel's shoulder at his computer screen, where he is scrolling the time back and forth to see different parts of the video.">
As you circulate around the studio for the remainder of class, you notice Denzel has his headphones connected to his workstation, and that he's occasionally opening up the screencast video and scrubbing back and forth to review different parts of the process*. His progress is slow, and he got a bit of a late start, but by the end of class his project is well underway: He's found a high-resolution scan of a Yu-Gi-Oh playing card, and succesfully digitally removed all the text and imagery, and his plan for next class is to bring in a selfie to insert into the card and stylize as a new character within the game/show's world, and then type new game and narrative information onto it to create a new playable card that would actually function within the rules of the game.
Before the bell rings, you make sure Denzel has written in his assignment notebook to take and bring a selfie to upload next class period, and let him know what when he finishes this project, he can print it out on card stock on the color printer and make it into a physical playable card. He's super pumped.
[[How can I actually do this in my lab? (tutorial)|screencasttutorial]]
[[What happens next?|screencastUD]]
<span style="font-size:14pt">*Note: Even "interacting" with a video in this rudimentary way - by pausing, scrubbing back and foth, and proceeding through at your own speed - has been shown to have a pedagogical benefit for students with a variety of cognitive needs. Schwan and Riempp (2004), for example, did a study where students' ability to interact this way with videos of complex nautical knots beign tied actually led to them being better able to tie those knots themselves.</span>
<ul style="font-size:14pt"><li class="ref">Schwan, S., & Riempp, R. (2004). The cognitive benefits of interactive videos: Learning to tie
nautical knots. <i>Learning & Instruction, 14</i>, 293–305.</li></ul><img src="brenden3.gif" alt="Illustration: Close-up image of Brendan's hand moving the mouse in one panel, and his feet pressing the buttons on a custom controller under the desk." style="display:block; margin:auto">
"Okay, this is a bit of a project, but I think you could do something really cool with it, and hopefully not have to struggle with the mouse buttons so much."
You show Brendan the introductory video for the "MaKey MaKey," a tool that lets you turn any conductive material into a keypress or mouse click.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rfQqh7iCcOU" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Afterward, you mention to Brenden that you bought a MaKey MaKey for the class, and talk about possibilities for him - what would be easier for him than having to hold down the mouse buttons with his fingers while dragging? After cycling through a few ideas, Brenden determines that since his feet are totally free, maybe he could make some kind of "gas pedal and brake pedal" system for the right and left mouse buttons, and then he could just move the mouse itself with his hand without straining his fingers.
The next class, you bring in the MaKey MaKey, as well was some copper tape, tinfoil, and spare matboard. In no time, he knocks together a controller that lets him press mouse buttons with his feet. The stress is off his mouse hand, and you notice during the remainder of the week that, while he still uses the drawing tablet for digital painting, he's been using the mouse much more for general computing and precision work, as it is no longer painful for him to use extensively.
The controller <i>is</i> made out of matboard and tinfoil, though, and looks a little junky. You can tell Brenden, while proud that he built his own computer peripheral, is a bit self-conscious about pulling it off the shelf and hooking it up in view of his classmates.*
After ordering some cheap <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/EG-STARTS-Buttons-Fighting-Joystick/dp/B01N5JRU2R/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1540159397&sr=8-8&keywords=arcade+buttons">arcade game buttons</a>, you show Brenden how they hook up just as well to the MaKey MaKey, and give him the chance to build something a little more polished to use for the remainder of the schoolyear, now that he knows his 'protoype' works. He mounts the buttons in a small, sturdy box some art supplies were delivered in, and designs decals for it which you let him print off on the lab's color printer. The end result is flashy, and looks more like something snapped off of a Space Invaders cabinet than a piece of computing equipment, but that's clearly the look Brenden was going for, and, above all, IT WORKS.
[[So how can you really do this in your classroom?|makeytutorial]]
[[What happens next?|makeyUD]]
<span style="font-size:14pt">*Foley and Ferri (2012) noted what they called the "Speak & Spell Effect" (p. 198) with respect to assistive hardware in classrooms. Typically hardware designed explicitly for use by students classified as disabled is aesthetically unattractive, looks like it was "designed for children, or carry other markers that signify disability in some way" (p. 198), which can be stigmatizing or embarassing for students. Aesthetics and appearance matter, especially for adolescents navigating challenging social environments, which is why it is important to give the student ownership over the design of this kind of improvised assistive technology, and scaffold ways for them to achieve not just functional success, but aesthetic success. A MaKey MaKey controller will never be as slick as an iPad, but it can still serve as a point of pride rather than a marker of disability for a student, if approached properly.
</span>
<ul style="font-size:14pt"><li class="ref">Foley, A., & Ferri, B. A. (2012). Technology for people, not disabilities: ensuring access and inclusion. <i>Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs</i>, <i>12</i>(4), 192–200. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-3802.2011.01230.x </li></ul><img src="brenden2.gif" alt="Illustration: Close-up image of Brendan's fingers pressing the windows key and F key." style="display:block; margin:auto">
You send Brenden to the <a href="https://autohotkey.com/download/">AutoHotKey</a> website, and download the program, then walk him through the process of writing his own scripts to <a href="https://autohotkey.com/docs/misc/Remap.htm">remap the keys</a> and make his own shortcuts.
It takes a little trial and error, but he manages to set up a simple AutoHotKey script that makes pressing "Windows + F" ("F for <i>flatten the image</i>, Brenden explains) activate the "Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E" shortcut to flatten the layers in his project.
With his new shortcut defined, Brenden is able to work at easily double the speed, giving his work more immediacy, and letting him focus on his process rather than fighting the computer.
The next class period, he finishes his piece with time to spare, and you notice that he's back on the AutoHotKey website, reading through the scripting reference, and experimenting with making new keyboard shortcuts. Now his focus is less on accessibility and more on customizing his lab computer to better suit his working style. He's set each key on the numerical keypad to activate a different Photoshop tool, which means when he's working on illustrations using the tablet, he can rest his left hand on the number pad and easily switch between tools as he works.
[[So how can I really do this in my classroom? (tutorial)|AHKtutorial]]
[[What happens next?|AHKUD]]Here's a brief video tutorial explaining how I make and use sreencasting in my Digital Arts classes with students:
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XqP_EPfIjjg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen style="margin-left:75px"></iframe>
[[What happens next?|screencastUD]]<img src="denzel4.gif" alt="illustration: Image of a computer screen scrolling through several icons of video files labelled with various project names.">
To save your own instructional time, and to save Denzel the potential embarassment of you conspicuously helping him individually so much, you've begun recording screencasts of all your demos and uploading them to a school-accessible YouTube account.
This means you have video demos ready to roll for Denzel, and any other student who benefits from going through at their own pace, pausing and rewiding as needed, rather than struggling to keep up with the pace of whole-class demo.
An unanticipated benefit of this is that <b>all</b> of the students are now less reliant on you to repeat or refresh things on following classes, because they have everything at-hand to review, freeing you to help students with questions about new and exciting things they want to try, rather than old things you've already covered and they've forgotten.
Another anticipated benefit is that any time a student is out sick on the day of an important demonstration or discussion of a new project, they have the means to get caught up. In fact, later that year, you have a student who has to work from home for nearly an entire 9-week grading period due to a major medical issue. Because you've been using more and more free/open-source <a href="https://alternativeto.net/">alternatives</a> in your lab, this student has been able to work from home from your screencasts on their family computer.
[[Return to the title page|name]]Here's a brief video tutorial explaining how I use MaKey MaKey in my Digital Arts classes with students:
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3FOlNkAJRC4" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen style="margin-left:75px"></iframe>
In the video, I mention the tutorial for customizing what keyboard buttons your MaKey MaKey can activate. <a href="https://makeymakey.com/pages/remap">Click Here</a> for that tutorial.
[[What happens next?|makeyUD]]<img src="brenden4.gif" alt="Illustration: Several students experimenting with different inventive controllers they have made using the MaKey MaKey." style="display:block; margin:auto">
Once you went through the troubleshooting process with Brenden and saw how easily the students could work with the MaKey MaKey, you planned a unit for the whole class around it, exploring principles of physical computing, and experimenting with different MaKey MaKey implementations.
In addition to looking at artworks like <a href="http://maryflanagan.com/work/giant-joystick/">Mary Flanagan's [giant_joystick]</a> and experimental work from this year's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOwb0inoAWc">"Alt+Ctrl+GDC" conference</a>, you also discussed Microsoft's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fcK19CAjWM">Adaptive Controller</a>, and how its modular design makes it function in many respects like a MaKey MaKey.
Not wanting to make Brendan (or any of your other students in other periods living with limb difference or physical disabilities) into a conspicuous object of curiosity or study for the class, you don't frame the assignment as an "accessibility project," but as a more open-ended art/design challenge, where students can create a physical computing controller for aesthetic and expressive purposes, like the artists you looked at, or for practical purposes, like the designers of the Microsoft controller. But in either case, you remind the students, they'll need to consider the audience experience seriously, test their project, and not rely on presuppositions or assumptions about their eventual user(s).
The project yields a lot of really imaginative, interesting work, and the students across the board have a lot of fun working with physical materials in the digital art lab (which is a bit of a rarity here). You plan to make this unit a regularly yearly experience for all students. However, you note that no one this year approached the project from an accessibility angle (including Brenden). Maybe the pragmatic "design" challenge felt less free and fun than the "art" challenge? Maybe the ethical pressure of serving a vulnerable population/individual made students anxious to go that way? Maybe your normate, "able-bodied" students haven't had opportunities for meaningful interactions with people with physical disabilities, and that option consequently felt unrelatable?
You're not sure whether or how to address that when planning the unit implementation for next year. But, at the very least, the unit went well this year, and Brenden has made some fantastic artwork.
[[Return to the title page|name]]Below is a video tutorial for using a tool called AutoHotKey, which lets you alter what the buttons on your keyboard do, and make custom shortcuts and inputs.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DQ-I7GSm_4Y" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen style="margin-left:75px"></iframe>
While AutoHotKey is a Windows-only program, <a href="http://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/">Keyboard Maestro</a> is a program that gives you similar power over keyboard inputs on a Mac. Unfortunately, I don't have a Mac machine I can install software on, so I don't have a tutorial video available for this specific program.
[[What happens next?|AHKUD]]<img src="ahkUD.gif" alt="illustration: Brendan, sitting at his computer, with a proud look on his face. Classmates look over his shoulder, impressed with the way he's using custom shortcuts on his computer.">
Shortly after you show AutoHotKey to Brendan, some of the other kids are interested in the way he's "hacked" his computer. (This interest is further stoked by Brendan proudly demonstrating a script that makes random letters on the keyboard type unexpected curse words out when pressed!)
You decide to do a brief skillshare at the beginning of the following period, so everyone can see what the tool is, stressing that this isn't a required tool for the current project (or any project), just a way for them to have a little more control over their computer.
Most students don't make use of the tool, but others heavily customize their keys to make their work much easier, <a href="https://www.ctrlpaint.com/blog/your-first-photoshop-controller">assigning different Photoshop tools to the numeric keypad</a>, or <a href="https://www.maketecheasier.com/favorite-autohotkey-scripts/">creating keystrokes that automatically open your class YouTube tutorial page, or open up common digital studio programs you use in class</a>, leading them to spend less time digging through folders for icons and shortcuts, and more time working on their projects.
One of your students, Sørina, is especially excited to set "alt+o" to easily type the "ø" in her name on a U.S. keyboard, as she'd previously had to use more cumbersome keyboard shortcuts, or just misspell it with an 'o'.
[[Return to the title page|name]]<img src="amayah2.gif" alt="Illustration: Amayah moves her mouse up to the menu on the computer, with very small text. She then zooms the screen in and the text is visible." style="display:block; margin:auto">
Directing Amayah to the "Settings" area on the computer, you show her where she can turn on the magnifier for the screen, and how she can set it up so that there's always a "zoomed in" window showing where her mouse is, or a keyboard shortcut she can use to zoom in and out as she needs.
She sets up the latter option, and gets to work. She shows you what she's planning on doing, using the "liquefy tool" to gradually distort and elongate her body more and more, starting with the "beautification" techniques used on women's bodies in fashion magazines, but pushing them further and further to the point the images are unregonizable as bodies. She found a YouTube tutorial on how to create animated GIFs in PhotoShop, and wants to try to turn the series of gradual images into an animation.
Both the "liquefy" tool and the "animation" pane were hidden away in menus featuring tiny text that she was having trouble navigating. Now that she can enlarge her view, she's working uninterrupted, in a real flow-state.
[[How would I actually do this in my computer lab? (tutorial)|magtutwin]]
[[What happens next?|magUD]]Here's a brief video tutorial explaining how I use the Windows screen magnifer settings in my Digital Arts classes with students:
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JxrATP217mQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen style="margin-left:75px"></iframe>
While the computer lab at my school, and at most public schools I've worked in, is a Windows lab, and the above tutorial is based on those machines, the same functionality is available for Mac computers, too. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=88&v=JEpwiTdc0kA">this tutorial</a> will show you how to set up screen zoom on a Mac.
[[What happens next?|magUD]]<img src="zoomUD.gif" alt="illustration: Class is sitting at computers, watching teacher present lesson on large screen, displaying PhotoShop layout. At the top of the screen is a zoomed in window, following the mouse, making the small menu text readable.">
Realizing that Amayah had moved to the front of the room to better see your presentation screen during demos, you realize that the magnifier isn't just something that she should use personally on her screen, but something you should introduce into your presentation practice during lessons.
You set up the magnifier on your presentation computer, either using a magnified on-screen window to show code as you type, or zooming in on your mouse cursor as you navigate menus and tools in different programs in demonstrations.
Across the board, you're noticing you have to pause less to reiterate to individual students or point things out on their screens that they missed on yours - clearly there were other students who were also having trouble seeing what you were doing, whether or not they needed glasses.
You also took a few minutes at the start of the next period after helping Amayah to show the whole class where they can find and turn on the magnifier tool in case they need it. This has turned into a semi-regular "tool tips" activity you try to do at least once a week where you spend a few minutes at the top of the period showing a small, but useful skill, 'hack,' or trick (starting with the different accessibility options) that isn't necessarily related to the project at hand. Armed with this "secret" knowledge, the students feel a bit more power and agency over the computers beyond the software they're explicitly using for class, and occasionally you'll see a student deploy one of these "tricks" in a new way to experiment with a new way of working.
<a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows">Additional Information on Windows Accessibility Options</a> (focusing on Windows 10, but many of the specified options can also be found in Windows 7 and 8.)
<a href="https://www.apple.com/accessibility/mac/">Additional Information on Mac Accessibility Options</a>
[[Return to the title page|name]]<img src="title.gif" alt="UNIVERSAL ADAPTOR: Accessiblity and Difference in the New Media Art Room" style="display:block; margin:auto">
<i>Universal Adaptor</i> is an online resource, structured as a nonlinear graphic narrative, presenting a variety of tools and strategies for inclusive practice in New Media Art Education. I wanted to experiment with presenting the material as a graphic narrative rather than a traditional website or research paper, as sequential art juxtaposed with text has been regularly used as an effective means of instruction (Cohn, N, 2014; Nakazawa, 2005; Nalu & Bliss, 2011; Short et al., 2013; Priego, 2016), as well as a medium for the presentation of scholarly research (Sousanis, 2015).
Using a New Media Art classroom/lab as a setting, <i>Universal Adaptor</i> presents several narrative options each following a student <i>misfitted</i> (Garland-Thomson, 2005) in a different way by pedagogical and technological norms. The narrative then illustrates potential technical and pedagogical strategies for recognizing and including each student's difference, derived from my research (e.g. Corn, 2014; Ellcessor, 2016; Foley & Ferry, 2012; Hayes, 2018; Oravec, 2012; Sabharwhal, 2012; Taylor, 2005) as well as my own teaching experience. A goal is to leverage digital media's potential for multimodal presentation (Wegerif & Mansour, 2010) by including not only textual descriptions of practices, but video tutorials of software-based solutions (such as the use of screen magnifiers for visibility, or programs like AutoHotKey to develop bespoke keyboard shortcuts).
In addition to presenting information on accessibility, the media components are designed to reflect and embed principles of digital accessibility (e.g. videos have subtitles of adequate size and contrast (Brown, 2018), and the web text itself follows the directives of the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (Henry, 2018/2005)).
The strategies presented in the piece are intended to reflect a Universal Design (UD) ethos (Hamraie, 2013). While I acknowledge that "a significant problem with Universal Design (UD) is that it suggests the possibility of universal access, even when products that have gone through a UD design process might not be universally accessible in practice" (Foley, 2012, p. 196), it has also been observed that students classified as disabled describe accommodations that target and benefit <em>all</em> students as being the least stigmatizing and most effective (Quinlan, Bates, & Angell, 2012). To that end, each strategy presented, while narratively tied to a specific student who is disabled by the learning environment, is also shown to benefit other students in the class (e.g. using the screen magnifier on the class projector allows students sitting in the rear of the lab to see better during class demonstrations, in addition to the same software helping students living with disabilities related to vision). The narratives also illustrate how these strategies can consequently be implemented in a universal way that shares the affordance with the whole group rather than singling out and stigmatizing (Foley & Ferri, 2012) an individual student in need of help.
[[Return to Start|name]]
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">References</span>
<ul style="font-size: 14pt;">
<li class="ref">Brown, M. (2018a, July). <i>Making Games Better for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing</i>. Video File. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/4NGe4dzlukc </li>
<li>Cachia, Amanda (2013). Talking blind: Disability, access, and the discursive turn. <em>Disability Studies Quarterly, 33</em>(4).</li>
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