Durham is the only college participant in a groundbreaking research project that could have a significant positive impact on the academic success of students with disabilities.
The initiative, titled the Liberated Learning Project (LLP), is spearheaded by Dr. David Leitch, director of the Atlantic Centre of Support for Disabled Students at St. Mary's University in Nova Scotia. The purpose of the research is to test the use of voice-recognition software in class, to help students with disabilities improve their access to what professors say in lectures.
"Traditionally, if a student has difficulty taking notes in class, we arrange for someone to help them with this task," says Willona Blanche, director of Durham College's Centre for Students with Disabilities and co-ordinator at Durham for LLP. "But research has shown that even the best note takers usually record less than half of the critical information in a lecture."
The other educational partners in the project are Ryerson University in Toronto, the Alexander Graham Bell Institute at University College of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Stanford University in the U.S. and the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Industry partners such as IBM Research in the U.S. and Aliant Telecommunications in Canada are also playing a major role in the project. The research got underway in 1999 and will conclude this year.
At Durham College, three professors and five students are taking part in the project.
As a professor speaks into a cordless microphone, an IBM program called ViaVoice, which is on the professor's laptop computer, instantly creates a text version of the lecture. The text is simultaneously displayed on a large screen at the front of the room. After the lecture, a student editor corrects any errors in the text and the professor uploads it to an electronic file created and tracked by St. Mary's University. Using a password, all participating students can download the electronic file as it is, or have it produced in an alternate format, such as Braille.
"One student told me that because he learned more easily by reading than by listening, he believed that the projected text is increasing his comprehension level," says Brian David, one of the three Durham professors participating in the project.
At the conclusion of the research this year, a formal report will be written. There has also been some discussion of creating a liberated learning institute in Canada.
media contact:
Catherine Shearer-Kudel
(905) 721-3111, ext. 2162
email: catherine.shearer-kudel@durhamc.on.ca
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