Changing Realities for Accessibility in 3D Virtual Worlds

Denise Wood (UniSA) , Charles Morris (UniSA and VHH)

Janyth Ussery (vTSTC & VHH)

Charles MorrisDenise Wood Janyth Ussery

Objectives:

•Access to Education

•Opportunities for Employment

•Increased Socialization

•Social Networking

•Entertainment

•Equal Access for everyone

Benefits of 3D Virtual Worlds

Social Networking

Attend Meetings and Conferences

3D virtual worlds can:

•Provide a more engaging environment

•Allow more flexibility in attendance

•Create a sense of community

•Develop problem-solving skills

•Simulate things not possible in ‘physical life’

•Allow increased creativity

•Build team work and communication skills

Benefits of Working and Teaching in 3D Virtual Worlds

Experiencing Dance in Second Life

Why teach in virtual worlds?

•Responding to a changing demographic

•Students working more

•Spending less time on campus

•Feeling more isolated

•Need to create a sense of community

•Students growing up with digital technology

•Need for life long learning skills

Why Teach in Virtual Worlds?

UniSA Students Creating Adventures in Second Life

Activities possible:

•Artificial simulations

•Games design

•Theatre and opera

•Machinima (video production)

•Quests and historical re-enactments

•Politics, Governance, Civics

•Business & financial modelling

Benefits of Teaching in 3D Virtual Worlds

vTSTC Students Practicing Business Etiquette

• Steep learning curve for students

• Some students found communication difficult

• Many students found interface challenging

• Bandwidth restrictions

• Need for students to have access to Second Life to join in classes

• Identified accessibility concerns

Issues Encountered in Trials

• Virtual Word Viewers are generally not accessible to screen readers

• Graphical texture based interfaces need alt text like descriptions and controls

• User interfaces of clients are not accessible to screen readers and do not support alternative accessing devices

• User generated content is not accessible

• Tab-indexes need to be provided and organised

into a logical order between links and options

Accessibility Issues Identified

• Provision of an audio message

• Text list of avatars names in the vicinity of the user

• Solution enabling users to add descriptive labels to objects and longer descriptions for posters and slides

• Synchronized streaming captions for videos (Closed Captioning)

• Text transcriptions for streaming audio and voice chat

Accessibility Issues Identified

Existing Accessibility Solutions

Existing Accessibility Solutions

• Alternate Viewers, Text SL, etc.

• Max Voice Plus Application

• Virtual Guidedog Project

• SecondAbility Mentors

• User contributed tools and solutions

• Other organizations and projects

• The community at large

Virtual Helping Hands

• Investigate accessibility issues for students with disabilities

• Identify available accessibility solutions

• Extend existing solutions to develop an open source accessible 3D virtual learning platform

• Create accessible teaching tools

• Develop guidelines for teaching in 3D virtual worlds and designing accessible learning technologies

Aims of the Project

• Development of an accessible open source viewer (AccessGlobe) which features:

• Enhanced accessibility of menus

• Alternatives to mouse driven interface elements

• Audio notification of on-screen events

• Text-to-speech

• Visual notification of sound events

Design Solutions

• Web based system enabling 3D presentations to be presented and / or attended

• Access to Chat and Messaging

• Screen readable display of slide text

• Support for mobile devices such as iPhone etc.

• Audio stream information for connecting to presentation audio

Design Solutions

• Text-to-speech and other adaptations providing access to the 3D environments via screen readers and other accessibility aids

• Developing a set of tools and guidelines to make it easy for teachers to incorporate these features into their content

• Continued development of an open source platform licensed under either GPL or Creative Commons

Design Solutions

Extending the Project in Africa

Extending the Project in Africa

• Studies undertaken by the Centre for Multi-Grade Education (CMGE) in nine rural provinces in South Africa (Joubert, 2009) reported that most of the learners in rural schools come from poor environments and attrition is high (80%).

• The strategies adopted by teachers are teacher-centric and the learners have poor communication skills. The current curriculum does not make provision for appropriate teaching strategies for rural schools and the schools struggle with accommodating learners with physical or other disabilities

Extending the Project in Africa

• Similarly, in the Sub-Saharan context, especially in the rural and remote areas, children from low socio-economic backgrounds receive education in multigrade classrooms.

• This leads to higher levels of teacher stress resulting from increased demands on teachers and impacts on teaching quality. Such demands exist in both South Africa and Sub-Saharan countries, and in both mono and multigrade schools in these developing countries where class sizes are large and teachers are unprepared to meet the individual needs of children of mixed ability levels.

Aims of the Project in South Africa

• Demonstrate the benefits of using an accessible 3DVLE in mainstream and special primary schools.

• Compare the learning outcomes for children using the accessible 3DVLE with those undertaking learning using existing approaches.

• Determine the extent to which the 3DVLE is motivating and engaging for children participating in the trials.

• Identify the benefits and challenges reported by teachers.

• Develop guidelines for the effective use of 3DVLEs.

• Develop training materials for teachers.

• Identify technical challenges and solutions.

Research Team in South Africa

International multi-disciplinary team with track record in:

• curriculum development & educational technologies;

• educational leadership;

• accessible and inclusive design;

• health sciences and nutrition;

• economic development;

• entrepreneurship;

• sustainable farming;

• programming and 3D design.

Research Team in South Africa

Research Team in South Africa

Australia team members:

Dr Denise Wood – Project Leader

Professor Noel Lindsay – Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Dr Charles Kivunja – Educational Leadership

Dr Sheila Scutter – Health Sciences

USA team members:

Janyth Ussery – Educational Technology & Accessibility

Charles Morris – Programming & Inclusive Design

Jake Blehm – Ecology, Sustainable Farming & Nutrition

Research Questions

• Demonstrate the benefits of using an accessible 3DVLE in mainstream and special primary schools.

• Compare the learning outcomes for children using the accessible 3DVLE with those undertaking learning using existing approaches.

• Determine the extent to which the 3DVLE is motivating and engaging for children participating in the trials.

• Identify the benefits and challenges reported by teachers.

• Develop guidelines for the effective use of 3DVLEs.

• Develop training materials for teachers.

• Identify technical challenges and solutions.

Methodology

• Design 3DVLE in collaboration with local teaching experts to embed NCS curricula in a game-like environment.

• Collect baseline data on children's performance in NCS curricula areas (Foundation Phase – Grades 1-3 and Intermediate Phase – Grades 4-6).

• Trial the 3DVLE for 6 months in ten mainstream and special schools and measure achievement of curricula objectives mid way through the trials and at the conclusion of study.

• Compare learning outcomes against baseline data.

• Undertake semi-structured interviews and surveys with children who participate in trials and their teachers to determine reported learner engagement and motivation using the 3DVLE, and teachers' experiences using the 3DVLE in the classroom.

• Develop guidelines for teachers and for use in pre-service education.

Progress

• Funding in cash and kind secured from:

• University of South Australia;

• University of Adelaide;

• University of New England;

• SANZEF (NGO) in Gauteng Province;

• Limpopo Provincial Government

• Prototype 3DVLE developed

• Preliminary visits to schools and demonstrations conducted in Gauteng Province

• Preliminary visits to mainstream and special schools and demonstrations conducted in Limpopo Province

• Curriculum development underway

Workshops Conducted

Workshops Conducted

Visits to Schools in Gauteng Province

Next Steps

• Accessibility and usability testing of accessible client and Web 2.0 interface.

• Develop accessibility and pedagogical guidelines for higher education.

• Develop the 3DVLE for use in developing countries addressing the identified priority areas in collaboration with local experts.

• Collect baseline data prior to trials in South Africa.

• Implement trial in third and fourth terms of 2011.

• Obtain measurements at regular intervals.

• Conduct follow up visits in October 2011 and January 2012.

• Design guidelines for use in schools and teacher education programs in universities.

• Extend project to Sub-Saharan countries