Enhancing Learning with Assistive Technology for Students with Disabilities in Community College Setting

1. Intellectual Disability, Literacy, & Assistive Technology in the Community College Setting Applied Research in Innovation and Education Grant (ARIE)

2. Researchers Mohawk College Brock University Dr. Kimberly Maich, PhD Co-Investigator / Writer Memorial University Dr. Camille Rutherford, EdD Co-Investigator Brock University Jennifer Curry Jahnke, M.Ed. • Principle Investigator • Professor – CICE & Career Pathways • Professor/Coordinator – Accessible Media Production

3. Agenda • CICE programs • ARIE grant • Research study • Sample student • Results • Discussion • Future studies

4. Community Integration through Cooperative Education (CICE) Provides students who have intellectual disabilities and other significant learning challenges the opportunity to pursue a postsecondary education, develop skills to help prepare for employment, and experience college life. *Not study participants

5. Mohawk College CICE Promotional Video

6. CICE Programs Mohawk College – Hamilton, ON CICE Programs in ON 20 CICE Programs in Ontario 14 Colleges Multiple Campuses Multiple Intakes Spring Fall Winter 2 year/4 semester programs • Fall (September) intake – 2 years/4 semesters • Spring (May) intake – 18 months/4 semesters • 1 cohort/intake • 20 students/cohort

7. CICE Students • 18-35 years old • Intellectual disability + • Desire to be in College • Some are comfortable with technology, most are not • Most have low reading and writing levels • Some are verbose, others are quiet • Few are independent with their school work *Not study participants

8. Mohawk College ARIE Grant 2015/2016 Assistive Technology Training For Students With Intellectual Disabilities In An Inclusive Post-Secondary Program

9. Industry Partnership • John DeLuca • George Nicholis Provided complimentary WordQ and training

10. Problem Statement Mohawk College CICE students are heavily dependent upon the Learning Facilitators (LF) for support with the completion of homework, assignments, projects and sometimes use of age-appropriate social communication skills. Providing an assistive technology enriched environment would significantly support the CICE students’ independent learning and improve their overall learning outcomes. *not study participants

11. Objective The applied research team anticipates demonstrating that assessment, training and use of assistive technologies will increase the CICE students’ academic learning outcomes and overall academic and social media independence. The desired outcome will be for the research to demonstrate that the students will have significantly higher learning outcomes and independence when using assistive technologies.

12. Quantitative & Qualitative Assessments Pre & post-intervention reading and writing assessments Readability Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA) Post-test with Assistive Technology (AT) Qualitative focus groups Student participants Learning Facilitators

13. Sample Study Student

14. Sample Student • Intellectual disorder • Verbose student • Good social skills • Verbal skills above reading and writing • Student will only write correctly spelled words

15. Student: Writing Sample no AT My cat muffin is so cute in the world she’s the cutest cat I love my cat muffin the funniest thing that she has aver done chase a fly around the house for 20 minutes she is so funny.

16. Sample Student: Training Introduced and trained on: • Dragon Naturally Speaking • WordQ • Natural Reader • Smart Technology (iPhone)

17. Sample Student: Writing with AT  Vancouver I booked a trip for an independent experience trip where I booked my own hotel and my own plane ticket I booked my own flight and hotel one day and my parents did not even know that I booked a flight and hotel to Vancouver I booked a nice short vacation for nine days I booked the plane through WestJet and I booked my hotel through booking.com and I'm staying at the super eight in downtown Vancouver with an airport shuttle I research I did some more research and I'm also going to see gross mountain which has a lift up to the mountain I'm also going to visit Vancouver Island when I'm in Vancouver I always want to get my final trip and before I got a job because once I get full-time employment I can't take much vacation time off I really enjoy traveling travelling is one of my favorite recreational activities I like to do I love to travel because it is another form of leisure time I was save up my money so I have enough money to travel I booked my plane ticket and hotel without my parents even knowing I know I'm an adult and I don't have to tell them because once I turned 18 I don't have to tell them anything because I am an adult in Ontario when a person reaches 18 years of age or older they are considered a legal adult and do not have to tell anybody anything what they're doing because 18 in Ontario is age of majority what is age of majority age of majority is when the person reaches the legal age and this can make legal decisions on their own they can be Jerry and they can make other decisions such as voting in city elections provincial election and federal election and they're responsible when the person turns the legal age legal drinking age in Ontario is 19 in some provinces the age of majority may be different and maybe 19 or older depending on the province or territory the person resides in in Ontario you must be at least 18 years of age to book a flight in Ontario you should also check with the hotel you're staying with each hotel has a minimum age of checking some hotels require you to be the age of 21 to 25 you should always phone ahead of time some hotels are 18 or 19 so it's always good to check with them what is minimum age of checking minimum age of checking is the age required and is set by the hotel so minors do not book they want someone with a credit card and someone who is responsible and if there's any damages and that person is held liable for the property so they can pay for any damages hotels also require that you have a valid credit card and valid photo ID at the time of checking the hotel may also pre-authorize your credit card which takes the available credit and locks it and then at the time of checkout they complete transaction and the charges are billed to your credit card why does hotels preauthorized credit cards well it's present at the time of checkout they don't want cards coming back as decline and people can't pay for the hotel and they have to send them a bill and they may not be able to pay it so what hotels do is they pre-authorize a credit card so that way the credit card company will send the available credit so if hotel is $400 for the weekend they will pre-authorize that 400 that 400 will come off your available credit let's say your credit is $1000 that 400 will be deducted and they will hold it until then at the time of check out the transaction be complete and the charges will be billed to your credit card you should always check your credit card for suspicious and unauthorized transactions the reason why am traveling to Vancouver is because it has lots of pretty mountains and beautiful architectural designs throat the city and has different cultures also I have a photography business and I find this will be more than just an independent trip it will also be taking photos for my business and I can take him have them develop and sell them which is also a great financial incentive to my small business I love taking photography and I also make a bit of revenue from the business traveling isn't my favorite thing and I really enjoy it and I want Vancouver to do more traveling before I get older and I can't be able to travel anymore in other words before my health deteriorates which is a part of age and my parents weren't too happy with the Vancouver trip but I told him that I am legally and I can do whatever I want and I'm no longer a minor they also reminded me they can kick me out of the house but they have to provide a 30 day notice what's they already know and that's required by law I told my parents I want to be more independent but they said maybe next time you should tell us about your travel plans

18. Student: Written Paragraph Comparison Microsoft Word Readability Scores With no AT Microsoft Word Readability Scores With AT

19. Focus Group 1Student Quotes “Siri helps with some of the harder words that I don’t know, and a lot of the simple words now since WordQ’s taught me, … I don’t even need Siri, it’s cut down quite a bit.” “…[assistive technology] makes my work go faster, I guess increases my independence.” “I would put it on my own computer … Dragon or NaturalReader … why struggle when you can have [them] … WordQ teaches you words that you wouldn’t be able to, like, I’ve learned words that now that I didn’t know before.”

20. Focus Group 2Student Quotes “I find it’s kind of, you know … embarrassing that I have to ask someone in … my type of age, oh I don’t know how to spell one word or two.” “[AT] it’s like a second brain. Which makes you feel more professional and independent and makes it, you know, makes you look more smarter, right? Which I always … everybody, it’s boosted your self-esteem, right?” “There’s like hundreds of other students that need their [Learning Facilitator’s] help, so it’s kind of hard to get that one on one time with them when you need it. So it’s just easier if you learn to do it yourself and have the technology to help you.”

21. Results

22. Pre-Post Reading & Writing Paired t-tests were completed for all 10 participants: • Small sample size impeded detection of significant change • Individual average percent change showed increasing trend for most participants • All male participants showed improved Readability scores (4/4) • Focus group feedback cautiously positive

23. Focus Group Overall Themes • Efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity develop • Skills for life emerge • Willingness and capability are intertwined • Ease of use impacts use at all • Too little too late Focus Group 1 Student participants Learning Facilitators Focus Group 2 Student participants Learning Facilitators

24. Discussion • Use of speech-to-text assistive technologies can enhance writing productivity – results consistent with literature • Participants noted use of AT reduces homework completion time • Using AT with word prediction increases communication and reduces keystrokes – saving time and preventing mistakes • AT reduces cognitive load resulting in students focusing on structure and complexity rather than spelling & grammar • Results regarded with cautious enthusiasm

25. Future Studies • Include more students • Multiple data points (standardized assessments midway) • Control group (same or different college) • Individual perception + needs = technology choice • LF collection of data to determine direct support time • Scaffolding AT use and implementing into studies • Ongoing training for students and LFs • Use low/no cost AT alternatives (Google tools, smart devices)

26. AT in the CICE Program Now! *Not study participants

27. References The full article and research can be found in the 2018 Journal on Technology and Persons with Disabilities Maich, K., Jahnke J., & Rutherford, C. (2018). Intellectual disability, literacy, & assistive technology in the community college setting. Journal on Technology and Persons with Disabilities, Volume 6.