Avoiding communication barriers in the classroom: the APEINTA project

Abstract

Education is a fundamental human right, however unfortunately not everybody has the same learning opportunities. For instance, if a student has hearing impairments, s/he could face communications barriers in the classroom, which could affect his/her learning process. APEINTA is a Spanish educational project that aims for inclusive education for all. This project proposes two main accessible initiatives: (1) real-time captioning and text-to-speech (TTS) services in the classroom and (2) accessible Web-learning platform out of the classroom with accessible digital resources. This paper presents the inclusive initiatives of APEINTA. Also an evaluation of the into-the-classroom initiative (real-time captioning and TTS services) is presented. This evaluation has been conducted during a regular undergraduate course at a university and during a seminar at an integration school for deaf children. Forty-five hearing students, 1 foreign student, 3 experts in captioning, usability and accessibility, and 20 students with hearing impairments evaluated these services in the classroom. Evaluation results show that these initiatives are adequate to be used in the classroom and that students are satisfied with them.

Keywords:

• inclusive education
• education for all
• real-time captioning
• text-to-speech services
• students with special needs

Notes on contributors

Ana Iglesias Maqueda has been a member of the faculty of the Computer Science Department of Carlos III University of Madrid, since February 2006. She obtained a degree in Computer Science from Carlos III University of Madrid in 1999, and her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) in 2004. From January 2005 until August she carried out a postdoctoral stay at the Human Computer Interaction Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. Since 2005, she is collaborating in the Spanish Center of Captioning and Audiodescription (CESyA). She has been working in several National research projects on Inclusive Education, e-Learning platforms, Natural Language Processing and Information Retrieval, Advanced Database Technologies and CASE Environments. She is the main research in the APEINTA project. Her research interests include Inclusive Education, Assistive Technologies, Adaptive Intelligent Educational Systems, Natural Language Processing and Information Retrieval, Database Design and Advanced Database Technologies and Software Engineering.

Javier Jiménez Dorado is currently working in APTENT be accessible! This company explores the use of automatic speech recognition and ICTs for accessibility, in particular automatic live closed captioning in education, theatre and television. Previously he was working for four years as Technician-Researcher at the Spanish Center for Subtitling and Audio Description (CESyA) and at the Displays and Optical Applications Laboratory at the Carlos III University for 2 years. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the Carlos III University. He has several publications as co-author in both national and international conferences and book chapters. His current work and his interests are focused on two fields, both related to accessibility and technical aids: Automatic Subtitling based on Speech Recognition and non-invasive EEG-based Brain–Computer Interfaces.

Pablo Revuelta Sanz obtained his degree in Telecommunication Engineering (2006) at the Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain), obtained his Master's degree in 2008 and Ph.D. in 2013 from the same university. He has published several conference papers and three book chapters focused on assistive products, image processing, sonification and political philosophy.

Lourdes Moreno López. She has a Ph.D. in computer science from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and Mathematician in the specialty of Computation Sciences for the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She has worked with several IT companies, in R+D Departments, working in matters about Infometrics (information measurement) especially in web-channel. Since 2002 she works as an Associate Professor and since 2004 as an Assistant Professor at the Advanced Database group in the Computer Sciences Department at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. She has developed the doctoral thesis in the Design and development of accessible Web applications. She works in several international research projects and is co-author of several publications.

Notes

1. Spanish educational project where the Spanish Centre of Captioning and Audio-description (CESyA) and the Computer Science Department and the Electronic Technology Department of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid collaborate in order to provide inclusive education for all, independently of the students' abilities.www.APEINTA.es (last access on April 2014).

2. FIAPAS is the Spanish Confederation of Parents and Friends of Deaf People (www.fiapas.es – last access on April 2014)

3. http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/ (last access on April 2014)..

4. Tres Olivos school. http://www.colegiotresolivos.org/ (last access on April 2014).