SUPPORTING RE-LEARNING OF BASIC SKILLS OF PEOPLE

WITH DISABILITIES BY WEB-BASED TRAINING

Thorsten Busse

Institute for Work and Technology, Munscheidstr. 14, 45886 Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Ileana Hamburg

Institute for Work and Technology, Munscheidstr. 14, 45886 Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Keywords: Learners with disabilities, Basic skills, Web-based Training.

Abstract: Learners with disabilities need to (re) learn basic skills at all levels to enable them to lead more independent

lives, to improve their literacy or numeracy, to gain employment or enter further education. Web-based

Training - WbT has the potential to offer many advantages over traditional instructor-led training. In this

paper after a listing of some barriers of (re-)learning of basic skills And of some ways to make WbT courses

more accessible for disabled people, two ongoing European projects are presented having as one of the ob-

jectives the use of WbT for (re)learning of basic skills at people with learning and/or physical disabilities.

1 INTRODUCTION

Due to onset of illness or accident basic skills of

some people have deteriorated.

People with disabilities need to learn basic skills

at all levels (Wehmeyer 2002; Hamburg et al. 2003).

They should help them to lead more independent

lives, to improve their literacy or

numeracy, to gain

employment or enter further education. Some people

with disabilities will be able to access the basic skills

curriculum and progress through the basic skills

standards as long as they have the support they need.

Because the learning needs of people with dis-

abilities are often more complex than by people

without disabilities, the impact of usual barriers for

achieving basic skills at them may be greater, par-

ticularly at adult ones (Freedom to Learn 2005;

Hamburg et al. 2004). So it is important that local,

national and European strategies and projects on

adult basic skills take into consideration learning

difficulties of people with disabilities.

More about the barriers to learning of people

with disabilities will be presented in part 2.

Computer-based training in which the training

material resides on Web pages accessible through

the World Wide Web (Web-based Training- WbT)

has the potential to offer many advantages over

traditional instructor-led training for re-learning

basic skills providing flexibility in terms of time,

place, adaptation of the learning material, audience,

individualized (customized) content

(Hamburg et al. 2005).

There are also disadvantages of such training like

bandwidth limitations for certain media types and

assistive technologies necessary for disabled people,

initial development costs which can be more expen-

sive than development costs for print-based or in-

structor led training, longer development time. The

learners must be self-directed learners and comfort-

able using the Web. In order to make WbT as effec-

tive as face-to-face instruction when training some

basic skills (Hamburg et al. 2004) it is necessary to

assure accessibility of the corresponding WbT

courses. In the part 3 of this paper some ways to

realize this are given.

In the part 4 of the paper we give examples of

applications of WbT to people with mental disabili-

ties, learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities

within two European projects.

371

Busse T. and Hamburg I. (2006).

SUPPORTING RE-LEARNING OF BASIC SKILLS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES BY WEB-BASED TRAINING.

In Proceedings of WEBIST 2006 - Second International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Society, e-Business and

e-Government / e-Learning, pages 371-374

DOI: 10.5220/0001240103710374

 SciTePress

2 BARRIERS OF

(RE-)LEARNING OF

BASIC SKILLS

One barrier that hinders the (re-)learning of basic

skills could be the poor range and quality of provi-

sion in some areas which means that many disabled

adults are still not given the opportunities they need

to learn basic skills. It seems that such depend on the

commitment and initiative of individuals rather than

on a clearly defined right of access.

A second problem is that learning deficiencies or

other ones require good specialist teaching, which is

not available to many learners because of the short-

age of skilled and qualified teachers. A major barrier

for many learners including those with severe learn-

ing difficulties is that their performance is well be-

low the entry level for the standards and many

teachers do not know how to proceed with them.

Some learners require specialist equipment, but

many teachers are unfamiliar with the range of spe-

cial available software. Other learners require trans-

port to the place of learning, more accessible ac-

commodation, timetabling which avoids fatigue, or a

personal assistant who is sometimes missing.

Also the curriculum for basic skills is insuffi-

ciently flexible to enable all learners to build new

skills which are required in connection with many

economic and technical changes for example to learn

them to use the Web, to communicate through media

such as Braille, symbols, Sign Language or other

communication technology.

Many learners need continuous learning oppor-

tunities and/or learning in a community; Suitable

learning provision could be realised by combination

of formal education including WbT and informal

education methods including different evenings,

activities of social and health services, etc. (Davis

et al. 2001).

One of our projects concentrates to learners with

learning difficulties and with mentally disabilities

(Agran and Wehmeyer 1999). Many people still

regard them as unable to learn and retain basic skills

and there is lack of experience in many European

countries in teaching people with learning difficul-

ties. The capacity of such learners to develop skills

is affected by the level of cognitive ability and many

of them l have an additional disability, such as sen-

sory or physical impairment, in addition to their

cognitive or intellectual impairment. Many learners

have low expectations and a lack of confidence

because of their poor or bad previous experiences.

Usually accessible common standards will bene-

fit the majority of learners but often some learners

are unable to achieve competence in one or more

aspects of the standards because of their cognitive,

sensory or physical impairment. For these students,

flexible pathways or alternative ways of demonstrat-

ing competence will enable them to continue to

make progress.

It is necessary that all learners have individual

learning plans, and wherever possible, involved in

agreeing them. Many learners with learning difficul-

ties need materials to be produced in a range of

media such as CD-ROM, audio etc. and need assis-

tive technology to access and use these materials.

The basic skills for people with learning disabili-

ties include essential skills for everyday living,

learning to learn, communication skills including IT

skills, creative skills to promote self expression, and

confidence building skills. The teaching of basic

skills should be (when possible) integrated with the

rest of people’s lives. There is little Web-based

learning material for adults that are age-appropriate

and sufficiently challenging. It is important that each

student is involved in deciding which skills to de-

velop and to have an individualised learning plan

build on previous learning experiences and experi-

ence with the Web.

Some people with learning difficulties and/or

disabilities may have additional mental health diffi-

culties.

Learners with mental health difficulties need

flexible forms of provision which reflects the epi-

sodic nature of mental ill health. Very often medica-

tion interferes with learning and memory function

and this could be a barrier to learning. Confidence

and communication skills are often adversely af-

fected by such people and they should be re-learned.

It is necessary that training for all tutors include an

awareness-raising element on mental health difficul-

ties. WbT can be a help for tutors in this direction.

Learners would like opportunities to re-learn lost

skills and thereby to increase their confidence and

self esteem. WbT can offer the advantages to learn

at peace in a welcoming environment, with desired

breaks. If they have Web-skills they can get also

additional information about their illness. Learners

should do small steps of progress and learn particu-

larly social skills and should get confidence with

Web environments. Support must be available at any

transition stage of the illness and learning.

Learning opportunities for people with mental

health difficulties, including basic skills provision, is

under-developed nationally so there should, there-

WEBIST 2006 - E-LEARNING

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fore, be funded pilot projects relating to mental

health and basic skills.

The other project is oriented to young students

with physical disabilities to be active members of

the society. If they have not other disabilities then

they are able to access the general basic skills cur-

riculum as long as their support needs are met. They

have to achieve new skills like the computer and

Web skills. Main barriers for them refer transport,

physical access and accessible information, lack of

motivation, previous negative experiences. WbT has

the advantage to be accessible wherever they are but

this is often underused. It is important to use real life

situations to enhance teaching, to disseminate good

practices in this direction and to organize events to

motivate such students for using WbT.

Learners with physical disabilities could be inte-

grated in classes with people without disabilities by

learning basic skills when the flexibility of the pro-

gramme and the specific access are enabled. Mobil-

ity training by using wireless technologies and train-

ing that could be carried up at home are also impor-

tant.

3 BUILDING HIGH ACCESSIBLE

WBT COURSES

In theory distance education particularly WbT is

ideally suited for people who are not able to attend

traditional environments but unfortunately the

courses are not always accessible to all learners who

wish to take them Hamburg et al. 2003). At their

design the ability (disability) and interest of the

student as well as the ability of the student’s com-

puter hardware and software have to be considered

(Rafferty 2005).

Firstly the accessibility should be understood by

the developers of courses and secondly by carefully

applying of instructional design and Web design

technique, accessible training courses can be created

that benefit all students.

Initially developers of courses should take easy

steps to improve accessibility having benefits for all

users. More difficult and specialized techniques for a

particular type of disability require compromise: for

example attending the needs of this disability the

content could become less accessible to people with

other disabilities. In order to maximize accessibility

established guidelines should be followed and an

appropriate balance to strike between the needs of

the users should be determined.

It is important also to understand the troubles a

disabled person has with accessibility due to the

software/hardware they are using for example

caused by differences in browsing setups.

Referring to instructional design some considera-

tions have to be addressed like knowing the students,

managing the subject matter and reformat traditional

educational text to make it more readable on the

Internet, create an esthetical experience that en-

hances the learning environment.

In connection with the improvement of accessi-

bility through Web site design there are many or-

ganisations which promote it like the Web Accessi-

bility Initiative (WAI) a division of the World Wide

Web Consortium (W3C). Some accessibility guide-

lines are (W3C 1999):

• Use clear and consistent navigation menus

• Use high contrast colours

• Test web pages using a number of different

browsers and window sizes

• Provide for keyboard navigation

• Use text-only pages as a last resort

In the following we give two examples of creat-

ing and using accessible WbT for (re)learning of

basic skills by people with disabilities.

4 EXAMPLES

The Basic Skills Training Model within the frame-

work of the European project BASKI should take

the principle of equal opportunities into account and

lead institutionalised and hospitalised disabled peo-

ple to an appropriate degree of self-determination

and prepare them for active participation in society.

In a transnational cooperation, a Basic Skills

Training Model is to be developed, which shall on

the one hand support the target group of people with

learning or multiple disabilities by stimulating a

process of development so that they are able to live a

self-determined life, and on the other hand serve and

accompany institutions in the disability sector (shel-

tered workshops and assisted living) who care for

the target group. The interaction between the Basic

Skills Training and the accompanied Coaching of

social institutions is a central aim of the project.

The Basic Skills Trainings Model includes a

Curriculum for a Basic Skills Training for people

with learning or multiple disabilities in small groups,

methodical/didactic material developed to support

communication, the learning and group processes,

two Curricula for a further education addressing

SUPPORTING RE-LEARNING OF BASIC SKILLS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES BY WEB-BASED TRAINING

373

professionals in psychosocial counselling (Train the

Trainer and European Counsellor), test and evalua-

tion reports received by the means of pilot groups.

The model will be available for dissemination on

a Web-site and on CD-ROM including a handbook

in the national languages of the participating coun-

tries and in English.

One objective of the second GRUNDTVIG pro-

ject TYAEST is to facilitate social integration of

young adults particularly with disabilities according

to their own aspirations. During some WbT sessions

basic computer skills and skills about the using of

the Internet should be learned. It is intended to com-

bine such technical sessions with informal events,

discussion forums etc to acquire also soft communi-

cation and cooperation skills building a European

virtual learning community of young people aged

between 16 and 25 with and without disabilities. A

learning and communication Web-based platform is

in the development (Hamburg et al. 2004; 2005).

5 CONCLUSIONS

People with disabilities are frequently disadvantaged

also when they need to (re) learn basic skills which

have deteriorated due to illness or accident. Often

they are unable to partake in traditional learning

activities. Accessible WbT course should be created

to help them to (re)integrate in social life for exam-

ple by carefully applying of instructional design and

Web design techniques. In order to achieve the

needs of people with special disabilities like the

mentally ones and to motivate them to learn we

would like to test in our projects different forms and

educational elements – text, sign-based language,

images, videos, etc. Among disabled people there

are a wide range of different educational levels and

learning has to be adapted to specific circumstances

if it is to be accessible and productive. Generalized

WbT is insufficient to meet their unique, individual

needs.

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