Widgets to support the concept of an Adaptable Personal Learning Environment.

Elaine Pearson, Voula Gkatzidou,Steve Green

Accessibility Research CentreTeesside University,

Middlesbrough,UKs.gkatzidou@tees.ac.uk

Introduction Widgets for Inclusive Distributed Environments

(WIDE)- JISC funded project- Teesside University, Techdis, Portland College

Use a community-based approach to make e-learning resources accessible and inclusive to disabled students

Meet the needs of students with diverse needs to create an environment suitable for all learners

Suite of bespoke W3C compliant widgets

Widgets definition Widgets can serve as front-end applications for

distributed learning aids and services in mash up personal learning environments

(Taraghi et al., 2009)

Widgets represent discrete tools, applications, assistive technology or other learning supports to perform specific functions.

Widgets to support disabled learners’ specific requirements- Symbols-based calendars with students with learning

disabilities - Widgets that support learners with motor difficulties in

completing web forms etc

Methodology Participatory design and agile development

Involved community of practice (CoP)

Informal team approach:- Designs formulated (learning designs produced in workshops)

- Specification outlined (designs classified and prioritised, additional content identified)

- Prototypes developed (by ARC developers)

- Feedback obtained (designers)- Amendments made

- Widget released for evaluation, use, adaptation

WIDE Workshops Participants worked in groups with a facilitator

- Staff involved directly in teaching or support of disabled students, disabled students, researchers, practitioners from HE, FE, specialist colleges.

Participants specified their widget ideas with the aid of a set of learning design and storyboard templates- A0 laminated posters - Include prompts and principles- Suggestive rather than prescriptive

Learning designs were photographed, archived digitally and made available on the WIDE wiki where the final widgets are available for download- WIDE wiki: http://arc.tees.ac.uk/wide

Classification of widget

By types

– tools, applications and learning objects.

By purpose

- task management, time management, learning aids,

assistive technology, social network tools, content-free

applications.

By features

- access to database, on top of application, access to OS,

access to user area, mobile device.

Development environment

Apache Wookie (http://incubator.apache.org/wookie):

– Java server application to upload and deploy widgets

Based on the W3C Widgets specification

Compatible with many VLEs

Widgets can be deployed and run in 3rd party

applications using Wookie

Wookie has a REST API that can be used to get or

create instances of widgets

Visual shopping list (Wookie)

Discussion Workshops produced more ideas than we expected

Wookie as a development platform worked well in most cases- Original intention was to create all widgets using Wookie- Required to create Opera and Mobile apps.

Managed to develop (still ongoing) all the designs

Preliminary evaluation with the CoP- Positive results- Designers are enthusiastic about their widgets- The learning designs have been translated succesfully into widgets

and met the expectations of the designers

Future Work WIDE findings demonstrate need for personalised

applications to enhance the learning experience of students with disabilities

Recognise the simplicity of widgets- Nevertheless the development of new widgets is likely to

be beyond the means of most teachers or tutors.

Need a set of authoring tools- Libraries of templates, services, APIs and a repository)

WIDGaT- Widget Authoring Toolkit- Enable academics without technical skills to develop,

modify, adapt and share widgets- http://arc.tees.ac.uk/widgat

Widgets to support the concept of an Adaptable Personal Learning Environment.

Elaine Pearson, Voula Gkatzidou Steve Green,

Accessibility Research CentreTeesside UniversityMiddlesbrough,UK

s.gkatzidou@tees.ac.uk

Community activism (Opera)

Touch screen/ one click timer (adaptation)

Magnifying glass (windows app)

A simple widget that magnifies text and images.

Windows app because it needs access to the client screen memory