Rachel Hewett, Research Fellow at the Visual Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research, School of Education, University of Birmingham, is researching whether a greater focus on inclusive design might help improve access to information, and so improve access to employment, education and training.
35 primary school teachers have taken part in the project, which is called the Visible Classroom and is being funded by the Education Endowment Foundation. They have had real-time captions provided by Ai-Media which are streamed onto an electronic whiteboard or tablets during lessons, and afterwards children are able to read the transcripts.
In an earlier trial of the system in Australia, it was found that the captions also benefited non-Deaf students, and allowed teachers to review their professional practice. The UK project is producing similar results.
There are three main categories that provide focused points of reference: accessible media for diverse learners, hearing impairment and deafness and low vision and blindness.
