scholarly journals Assistive Technology to Enhance Access to Information for Student with Disabilities: A Case Study in Surabaya

Author(s):  
Fitri Mutia ◽  
Indah Rachma Cahyani

Access to information becomes an important means of achieving success in various aspects of life. Thus, it is considered the rights of every citizen without being impeded by physical or mental limitations. This study aims to analyze access to information that supports students with visual impairments (blind) in conducting learning activities at the university. This research was conducted at the Social and Political Sciences Faculty of Universitas Airlangga (Unair) Surabaya, involving 11 informants, three of whom are visually impaired students (blind) in the faculty. The results of this study indicate that according to three of the visually impaired informants the assistive technologies they used to support their learning processes, such as mobile phones, laptops, scanners, and recording devices, were provided independently. The technology is very helpful for them to obtain information validly and quickly, as well as to understand the contents of the information more easily and assist them to share the information with other colleagues. The supporting informants are 3 lecturers from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of Universitas Airlangga who teach visually impaired students, 3 friends of the main informant, 1 university representative, and 1 faculty representative. This paper uses an interpretive paradigm, which aims to analyze a social reality and how that reality is formed. This research uses a qualitative type that seeks to understand social or human problems, based on the creation of a complete holistic picture that is formed with words, reports the views of informants in detail, and arranged in a natural setting.

Author(s):  
Juliana Samuel Kamaghe ◽  
Edith Talina Luhanga ◽  
Michael Kisangiri

In the past decades, the world has experienced major changes in the advancement of learning technologies which has enabled learners to engage in their learning activities anywhere. The penetration of mobile phone internet users in Tanzania has been increasing from 2 million in 2011 to 23mil in 2017 The adoption of mobile-based learning (M-learning) for students who are visually impaired in Tanzania has become a major bottleneck since most of the e-learning contents assume that learners have sight and thus include a lot of visualizations. This causes visually impaired students in higher learning Institutions (HLIs) to face challenges such as technical knowledge gaps. Lack of skills and inaccessibility of online contents, which then lead to drop out of the university. The aim of this study is to determine the awareness and usage levels of existing mobile assistive technologies for visual impairment, and the remaining challenges that visually impaired students face, when using such tools on smartphones to access m-learning content from HLIs. in Tanzania. The research was conducted an observational and contextual inquiry study at three major HLIs. We found that 67% of respondents did not have knowledge of m-learning assistive technologies, and their technology barriers for visually impaired students. Also, knowledge, accessibility of Assistive technology and affordability can hinder the adoption of m-learning in Higher Learning Institutions


Mousaion ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy Eneya ◽  
Dennis N. Ocholla ◽  
Bertha Janneke Mostert

This paper investigates the University of Zululand Library’s response to the university’s inclusive education agenda with respect to the accessibility of library services to students with disabilities. This was a qualitative study within the interpretive paradigm that used Michael Oliver’s social model of disability as an underpinning theory. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from students with disabilities and library staff. In addition, physical inspection of the library building was also conducted. Data analysis was done by thematic analysis. The study reveals that the University of Zululand Library services are not inclusive. Students with disabilities struggle to access library services. They faced such challenges as inaccessibility of library services, unavailability of resources in alternative formats and assistive technologies, and the lack of a disability policy. The study also found that the library faced the following challenges in providing services for students with disabilities: limited funding, a lack of staff awareness and training, the lack of a disability policy and a lack of collaboration. Formulating regulations to enforce the implementation of disability policy and legislation, developing institutional disability policies, and providing assistive technologies are critical in ensuring the accessibility of library services to students with disabilities at the University of Zululand. Unless students with disabilities have equal access to information, the university’s inclusive education agenda will remain a distant dream. Access to academic library services is critical to the full participation of students with disabilities in education. Likewise, inclusive university education can only be realised when students with disabilities have equal access to information. This aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities, which promote equal access to services and facilities to persons with disabilities. This paper raises awareness for both library staff and university management about the current status of library facilities and services with respect to accessibility for students with disabilities and how to address inclusiveness in library service provision.


Author(s):  
Aydın Kızılaslan

<span>Students with visual impairments face tremendous challenges in daily life while learning life skills as they do not have the benefit of visual cues. The skills that visually impaired students are expected to learn include not only everyday life skills, but also scientific process skills too. In this study, case study was used to develop an instructional design to teaching science concepts to visually impaired students. The aim of this study is to analyze the efficacy of science activities of this developed instructional design. The study consists of three basic stages. In the first stage, visually impaired students’ learning needs are identified. In the second stage teaching materials and activities are designed and developed. In the last stage, these activities were analyzed in terms of scientific process skills through observation forms. As a result, most of the developed activities are suited for development of the scientific process skills.</span>


INFORMASI ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Ika Hariyani

Campaigns nowadays are oftenly carried through social medias, including campaigns concerning the environment. Based on previous studies, effectivity of campaigns through social medias were affected by many factors, such as the activity of the online administrator, additional socialization that were carried off- line, and also the involvement of the active followers in social medias. However, this paper views environmental campaign in social medias could be effective if viewed from another side,that is social network. This study sees how social network can improve the effectivity of environmental campaigns in social medias,therefore it’s safe to say that this study brings an addition to previous studies related tofactors that influenced the effectivity of environmental campaigns that utilized social medias as a channel of communication. The method used for this paper is qualitative method, with case study on Melawan Asap (Fight the Haze) campaign initiated by BEM UI (Executive Board of Students of University of Indonesia) in 2015 to form an alliance consisting several organizations from inside and outside of the university. Collection of data for this study was done with in-depth interviews with certain informants, based on a criteria established previously by the author, beside an observation upon social media accounts that were used for Fight the Haze campaign. The result shows that the involvement of networks in social media affects the effectivity of Fight the Haze campaign. Also, the social relation between organizations that are united under the alliance of Fight the Haze campaign are based on sentimental network.Kampanye kian marak dilakukan dengan menggunakan media sosial, tidak terkecuali kampanye lingkungan. Berdasarkan kajian-kajian sebelumnya, keefektifan kampanye dengan menggunakan media sosial dipengaruhi oleh berbagai faktor seperti adanya administrator online yang aktif, adanya sosialisasi tambahan yang dilakukan secara offline, dan juga terlibatnya pengikut/followers di media sosial secara aktif. Namun, tulisanini melihat kampanye lingkungan di media sosial dapat efektif dari sisi lain yaitu dari jaringan sosial. Kajian ini melihat bagaimana jaringan sosial berperan dalam membuat efektif kampanye lingkungan di media sosial, sehingga dapat dikatakan bahwa kajian ini menambahkan penemuan dari kajian-kajian sebelumnya yang berbicara mengenai faktor yang membuat efektif kampanye lingkungan dengan menggunakan media sosial sebagai media komunikasinya. Metode yang digunakan dalam tulisan ini adalah metode kualitatif dengan studi kasus pada kampanye melawan asap yang diinisiatori oleh BEM UI 2015 untuk membentuk sebuah aliansi dengan menggandeng beberapa organisasi di UI dan juga dari luar UI. Pengambilan data dalam studi ini dilakukan melalui wawancara mendalam dengan informan- informan tertentu berdasarkan kriteria yang penulis tetapkan dan melakukan observasi terhadap akun media sosial yang digunakan untuk menyebarluaskan kampanye melawan asap. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan bahwa keterlibatan peran jaringan di media sosial mempengaruhi efektifitas kampanye melawan asap, serta hubungan sosial antar organisasi yang tergabung dalam aliansi gerakan melawan asap terbentuk berdasarkan jaringan perasaan/sentiment.


Author(s):  
Olga Borisova ◽  
Natalya Styopina

The service-oriented approach of the university academic library is highlighted: The social institution of services is to increase quality of living, to be a tool of socializing and adaptation. The authors conclude that in the context of the education new paradigm the services make the focus of Prioksky State University Library to foster efficient library operation and coordination within the university divisions.


Author(s):  
Xhimi Hysa ◽  
Vusal Gambarov ◽  
Besjon Zenelaj

On-campus retailing is a spread practice, but academia has almost underestimated its potential. Nevertheless, not every type of retail activity adds value to customers and society. When the proposed value is society-driven and sensitive to consumers' wellbeing, customers' engagement increases. One business model, through which it is possible to exploit the benefits of on-campus retailing by adding social value, is the Yunus Social Business. This is a case-based study aiming to describe, through the Social Business Model Canvas, the founding of an organic shop within a university that is supplied by administrative staff of the university that are at the same time also local farmers. Further, the shop aims to resell organic food to university staff and students. The case study is theoretically enriched by traditional Porterian frameworks and new service frameworks such as the service-dominant logic by emphasizing the role of value proposition, value co-creation, and value-in-context.


Author(s):  
Maria Eduarda De Melo Silveira ◽  
Glaucia Cabral Moraes

Este artigo apresenta um estudo realizado na disciplina de Trabalho de Curso em Matemática, do Curso de Matemática – Licenciatura, da Univesidade de Santa Cruz do Sul – UNISC, o qual originou-se a partir do intuito de estudar como se constitui a aprendizagem em diferentes níveis de escolaridade em relação aos cálculos diários presentes em seus contextos, desde sujeitos que frequentaram a escola por um curto período até os que possuem formação básica completa. Os procedimentos adotados basearam-se no estudo de caso, na aplicação de  questionários e na problematização de uma situação prática com os sujeitos da pesquisa, possibilitando verificar o cenário em que estão inseridos e quais as relações que são estabelecidas entre a matemática, suas aplicações e vivências.This article presents a study performed for the graduation task of the course of Mathematics in the University of Santa Cruz do Sul and aims to study how learning is acheved at different levels of education in relation to the daily calculations present in their contexts: from subjects who attended school for a short period to those with complete basic education. The study is based on qualitative research, application of questionnaires and problematization of a practical situation with the participants, taking in consideration methods such as case study. From this study one may observe that the people dominate the mathematical contents that are necessary to them, besides that this learning is a construction from the social coexistence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 515-529
Author(s):  
Luciana Londero Brandli ◽  
Amanda Lange Salvia ◽  
Leila Dal Moro ◽  
Vanessa Tibola da Rocha ◽  
Janaina Mazutti ◽  
...  

Purpose This paper aims to highlight the contribution of ecological fairs to the promotion of sustainability in university campuses, based on a case study carried out at the University of Passo Fundo, located in Southern Brazil. Design/methodology/approach Producers and consumers of the ecological fairs were interviewed to analyse how the social, economic and environmental spheres of sustainable development are impacted by these fairs. In total, 24 interviews were conducted. Findings The results showed how fairs positively impact the academic and local community while bringing sustainability into university campuses. Research limitations/implications The main limitations of this study were the number of interviews and the short period during when the study was conducted. Practical implications This case study demonstrated how the promotion of ecological fairs on a university campus plays an important role in the implementation and practice of sustainability and can serve as an example for other institutions that intend to work on similar projects. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature by providing a discussion on how ecological fairs represent a good addition in the process of universities to become more sustainable and which aspects of each sustainability sphere are involved.


1989 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duane F. Shell ◽  
Christy A. Horn ◽  
Mary K. Severs

Compensatory Augmentative Communications Technology is the use of computers and related technology to augment written or verbal communication. In this paper we describe augmentative writing systems for physically disabled and visually impaired students and augmentative communication systems for nonverbal speech impaired students. The components used in creating augmentative systems are detailed with specific examples of the systems used in the Educational Center for Disabled Students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Issues in assessment, system selection, and training and system limitations are discussed.


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