Previous Projects:

The TATE Project: 

TATE (Through Assistive Technology to Employment) was a second round Equal project, headed up by the Home Farm Trust (HFT), an organisation which supports people with learning disabilities in a number of ways, such as via the provision of housing, advocacy and supported employment.  HFT promotes the use of technology as an enabler for its clients and the people who support them and to this end, both groups are offered the opportunity to develop useful ICT skills.  TATE was born out of this commitment.  The main outputs of the project were innovative assistive technology devices, appropriate ICT-based learning materials, revised accreditation and the promotion of enabling and inclusive good practice in the use of ICT. 

Clearly, there are parallels between the work of Portland College's previous work in this area (the Portland Partnership) and TATE and to this end, Portland was invited to join in November 2005.  This ensured that the expertise and skills developed during Equal round one continued to grow.  In addition, by including people with primarily physical disabilities, TATE became more inclusive.  The specific contribution of Portland to the project is detailed below. 
 

Lifestories:

The HFT Karten CTEC Centre initially developed the concept of a lifestory as a multimedia biography designed to empower adults with learning disabilities.  Learners would be supported in designing and creating their own electronic lifestory using PowerPoint. At Portland we trained tutors and learners together in the practical skills of producing lifestories in order that these techniques became embedded. The response of learners and tutors was very positive and feedback from both the Director of Studies and Transition Officer confirmed that this model was an innovative method of producing transition plans.

Our emphasis in this project was very much on inclusiveness. Therefore, we ensured that those learners with limited motor skills would also be involved in making choices about the content and presentation of their lifestory and be able to present it using switches or other forms of assistive technology.

Health & Safety Outputs:

We worked with Cambridge Training and Development Ltd, with whom we previously worked on the Portland Partnership, to develop a set of resources to make health and safety training more accessible to adults with learning difficulties.

These resources were designed for trainers, tutors, care staff and employment support workers to dip into and use as a stimulus for discussion and training. We are produced animations, short video clips and quizzes in four areas of health and safety: at home, at work, in the community and in education and training.

All of the Health and Safety outputs created via the project formed a resource pack, which included suggestions for use and exemplar lesson plans.  The pack was designed for the tutors, support workers and advocates of people with disabilities, in addition to other marginalised groups, such as disaffected young people and asylum seekers.

 Prompt Card Wizard:

The idea for the Prompt-card wizard originated from a visit to clients of Right Employment, a TATE partner organisation in Oxfordshire, which sources employment for people with learning disabilities.  When starting a job, clients were faced with having to remember a lot of new information and it was thought that a paper-based prompt card would be a useful tool to support them at work. These prompt cards would serve as a set of visual and textual reminders that could fold up and be accessed and stored discreetly. Prompt cards would be especially useful for recording sequences of information, e.g. the steps followed in the event of a fire alarm sounding. The Prompt Card Wizard is designed to enable support workers, and in some cases the learners themselves, to produce prompt cards quickly and easily. 

At Portland we envisage a wider use of prompt cards as resources to be produced for and with learners and potentially as a means of assessment within sessions, e.g. to test if learners can remember a sequence of steps in a recipe. They could be used in a variety of different contexts from independent living skills to physiotherapy routines and across all skills levels.

Kickstart Projects:

Portland College also developed two multimedia projects via TechDis' Kickstart funding.  This enabled the college to develop in-house, accessiblle, age- and level-appropriate learning materials for adults with learning difficulties and accessing difficulties.  A second Kickstart project also helped the college develop a sophisticated content management system.

These projects were part-funded via TechDis' Kickstart scheme.

For further information on Portland's involvement in all projects contact Matt Harrison, Research and Technology Development Manager.

Click on the following link to email Matt.  Email Matt

In 2001, Portland succeeded in securing funding from the European Social Fund�??s Equal Initiative to develop an inclusive learning environment with accessible content and associated peripherals.  The resulting Portland Partnership allowed the college to establish and manage a large, collaborative, European-funded project.  More importantly, it enabled a range of innovative outputs to be developed, based on the needs of, and feedback from, Portland learners and staff and their counterparts in the sector.  The outputs included a prototype Bluetooth piece of assistive technology, age-appropriate accessible learning materials and a symbolised Virtual Learning Environment for pre-Entry level adults.

Below are a number of screenshots from the software produced through the project.  The learning materials were produced in collaboration with Cambridge Training and Development Ltd. 

Through the Portland Partnership, the College established strong links with a number of research organisations.  These are listed below:

The University of Teesside worked with us to create a switch-accessible, symbolised Virtual Learning Environment.

The University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University helped develop a prototype wireless switch to enable access to the Virtual Learning Environment and learning materials.

Loughborough University evaluated the interoperability between the switch, the learning materials and the VLE itself.

Below is a walkthrough of the symbolised Virtual Learning Environment.  The walkthrough demonstrates the accessible login system and also the various modules available to the learners. The College is keen to develop its research links yet further.

For further information please contact: Matt Harrison, Research and Technology Development Manager.

 Click here to email Matt.

The Portland Partnership was part-funded by the European Social Fund through the Equal initiative.