The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Universal Design for Learning, UDL, has on accessibility in the Swedish school system. 12 semistructured interviews with teachers, special education teachers and school principals were conducted . By the qualitative interview method and analysis I have come to the conclusion that UDL aligns with Swedish school laws and theories already being used in the Swedish school system. Experiences made by the teachers, special education teachers and school principals show that UDL gave them support with lesson planning and had a positive effect on pupils learning process, engagement and self-efficacy. This indicates that implementation of UDL could support the aim for accessibility and learning for all pupils in Sweden. Further reasearch on the effects of UDL in the Swedish school system and mulitple means of assessments is required.

Perceptions of college Disability Support Services (DSS) and school system personnel regarding emerging best practices, adequacy of preparation of students with disabilities to access accommodations in college, and communication across systems were examined in this study. Once in college, students with disabilities have a lower rate of completion/success than their peers. Accommodations promote success in college, yet students with disabilities are not accessing them, thereby reducing their success. Adequacy of student preparation to access accommodations and communication across systems affects the access of accommodations by college students with disabilities. This study is qualitative, with 43 participants. It includes DSS personnel from five, four-year and five, two-year colleges/universities and transition personnel from five public school divisions in Virginia. Snowball sampling and a guided interview format were used. Rigor was addressed through triangulation, including document and web review. Results indicate that differences between the ADA and IDEA require students, teachers, and parents of students with disabilities to have knowledge of students’ rights and responsibilities under the ADA to prepare them for accessing accommodations in college. Students were more likely to be prepared when they had knowledgeable and supportive parents, transition teams, and teachers/case managers. Characteristics of individual students also help determine the effectiveness of student preparation. School system participants feel they have lack of access to students with disabilities transitioning to college to effectively prepare them for accessing accommodations in college. They also lack feedback about preparation effectiveness. Participants believe additional communication is needed. Existing communication is directional with school system staff making requests of DSS staff. There is also need for additional college outreach to school systems and a structure for ongoing communication is desired. It is recommended that best practices in preparation and communication be identified, knowledge of transition teams/parents be improved, and usefulness of the Summary of Performance be determined. Development of a system for students with less severe disabilities for transition preparation and a system for increased feedback and communication between systems personnel is needed. The VDOE and SCHEV should work to improve avenues for joint preparation and develop goals and an action plan for implementation.

A população idosa cresce no Brasil e cada vez mais se faz necessário desenvolver tecnologias de informação e comunicação adequadas a esse público. Com o barateamento dos telefones celulares, muitas famílias gostariam que seus idosos fossem usuários desses dispositivos visando ter contato com os mesmos quando esses estão fora de suas casas. No entanto, o design atual de celulares privilegia o público jovem, não levando em consideração as diferentes necessidades da população idosa. No mais, mesmo na população idosa, há diferenças com relação à escolaridade, experiência com tecnologias, habilidades cognitivas e destreza física. Este trabalho argumenta a favor do design, da implementação e da avaliação de interfaces que sejam flexíveis para atender à diversidade de requisitos dos idosos na interação com celulares. Uma abordagem para o design de interfaces de usuário flexíveis foi aplicada em um experimento exploratório e, considerando-se resultados de uma atividade estudo empírico com usuários idosos, um conjunto de normas que definem o design do comportamento flexível do sistema foi especificado. Esta dissertação propõe e apresenta um framework que propicia a reconfiguração de interfaces em tempo de interação, denominado de FlexInterface. Esse framework aborda o conceito de elementos da interface sendo, componentes que são carregados, instanciados e destruídos quando solicitados. Além disso, esta dissertação apresenta também uma abordagem que apoia a avaliação de interfaces flexíveis para idosos em telefones celulares. A abordagem analítica proposta, apresenta heurísticas específicas para esse contexto de uso. Por fim, uma avaliação com idosos foi realizada para verificar a viabilidade da proposta. Esse estudo constatou que houve uma redução no tempo de interação com o uso da interface flexível e um aumento na satisfação do usuário / The elderly population grows in Brazil and this fact increases the need to develop appropriate information and communication technologies to the public. As cell phones are getting cheaper, many families would like their elderly to be users of these devices aiming to have contact with them when they are out of their homes. However, the current cell phones design favors the younger people, not considering the different needs of the elderly population. At the most, even in the elderly population, there are differences regarding education, experience with technology, cognitive abilities and physical prowess. This dissertation argues for the design, implementation and evaluation of interfaces that are flexible to meet the diverse requirements of the elderly in the interaction with cell phones. One approach to the design of flexible user interfaces was applied in a case study and, considering the results of a practice with elderly users, a set of norms which define the design of the system flexible behavior was specified. This dissertation proposes and presents a framework that provides the interface reconfiguration during the interaction time, named FlexInterface. This framework addresses the concept of interface elements as components that are loaded, instantiated and destroyed when requested. Furthermore, this dissertation also brings an approachthat supports the evaluation of flexible interfaces for the elderly in mobile phones. The proposed analytical approach presents heuristics for this specific context of use. Finally, an assessment with elderly people was performed to verify the feasibility of the proposal. This study found that there was a reduction in the interaction time with the use of flexible interface and an increase in the users satisfaction

A inclusão de crianças com deficiência em escolas regulares, ocorrida seguindo a Lei 13.146 de 06 de julho de 2015, que institui a Lei Brasileira de Inclusão da Pessoa com Deficiência, exige que as atividades escolares sejam acessíveis a todas as crianças. Entre as atividades escolares, as atividades de programação têm se espalhado nas escolas devido aos benefícios gerados nas habilidades dos alunos, como criatividade e pensamento lógico. Atualmente, essas atividades utilizam principalmente ambientes de programação em blocos, como o Scratch, que focam em aspectos visuais para interação, contando com cores, formatos e utilização do mouse. Nesse contexto, e de grande importância o estudo de interfaces de programação para que crianças com deficiência visual possam ser incluídas e participem em conjunto com as outras crianças. Este projeto busca investigar este tema, bem como propor e avaliar um sistema para atividades de introdução à programação para crianças cegas e videntes. Foi proposto um sistema formado por peças tangíveis, em que os blocos digitais foram substituídos por peças físicas com formas para reconhecimento tátil e respostas auditivas. Foi adotado um modelo cíclico para o desenvolvimento do protótipo que garantiu duas etapas de testes com usuários. Na primeira etapa foram 4 participantes videntes, sendo que três participaram vendados, e a partir das observações foram gerados novos requisitos e modificações no protótipo. Na segunda etapa participaram 2 crianças cegas e os resultados destes testes geraram requisitos específicos para a utilização do sistema por crianças cegas. Este trabalho traz como contribuição final um conjunto de recomendações para o desenvolvimento de sistemas que permitam a crianças cegas e videntes brincarem juntas em atividades de programação. / The inclusion of children with disabilities in regular schools, following Law 13,146 of July 6, 2015, which establishes the Brazilian Law on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, requires that school activities be accessible to all children. Among school activities, programming activities have spread in schools because of the benefits generated in students\' skills such as creativity and logical thinking. Currently, these activities mainly use blocks programming environments, such as Scratch, that focus on visual aspects for interaction, counting on colors, shapes and mouse usage. In this context, it is of great importance to study programming interfaces so that children with visual impairment can be included and participate together with other children. This project seeks to investigate this theme as well as to propose and evaluate a system for introductory programming activities for blind and sighted children. It was proposed a system formed by tangible pieces in which the digital blocks were replaced by physical pieces with forms for tactile recognition and auditory responses. It was adopted a cyclical model for the development of the prototype that guaranteed two stages of testing with users. In the first stage, four sighted participants, three were blindfolded among them, and and from the first observations were generated new requirements and modifications in the prototype. The second stage involved 2 blind children and the results of these tests generated specific requirements for the use of the system by blind children. This work brings as final contribution a set of recommendations for the development of systems that allow blind and sighted children to play together in programming activities.

Thesis advisor: David Scanlon / There is limited research on the relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement. While successful teaching is often defined through test scores, good teaching encompasses the moral elements of teaching (Fenstermacher & Richardson, 2005). This study, building on the work of Mitescu, Cochran-Smith, Pedulla, Cannady, and Jong (2011), is a secondary analysis examining the relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement. A subsample of 4th and 5th grade English/language arts (ELA) teachers (n=107) and students (n=2587) was taken from the Measures of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2013). Classroom videos were coded using the Teaching for Social Justice Observation Scale (TSJOS) of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol-Plus (RTOP+) (Mitescu et al.) to measure socially just teaching practices. Unadjusted linear regression analyses indicated a positive significant correlation between teachers’ mean TSJOS score and the class averages on standardized state ELA exams and the class average on an assessment of higher-order thinking skills. This relationship was also found when the same analysis was conducted on 4th grade classrooms as well as 5th grade classrooms. A hierarchical multiple linear regression found a positive significant relationship between TSJOS scores and student achievement after accounting for location, teacher, and student predictor variables. The relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement for subgroups of students is discussed. The study analyzed the significance and magnitude of the relationship between socially just teaching practices after two widely used classroom observation protocols, the Framework for Teaching (FfT) and the Protocol for Language Arts Observation Scale (PLATO), were entered into the model. Teacher mean TSJOS scores were found to explain a significant and unique proportion of the variation in state assessment scores after accounting for average FfT ELA observation scores and teacher average PLATO observation scores, separately. This study adds to the literature on the connection between socially just teaching practices and student achievement, in that it provides compelling evidence that socially just teaching practices are not only related to the good, or moral, side of teaching, but also have a positive and significant relationship with increased student achievement for all students. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

O envelhecimento populacional é um tema que cada vez mais vem sendo pensado e discutido visando garantir qualidade de vida e bem-estar a esse contingente de cidadãos que com frequência convivem com a redução de suas capacidades funcionais e requerem cuidados especiais. Devido às mudanças nos arranjos familiares, verifica-se o aumentando da demanda por instituições de longa permanência para idosos, fato decorrente em parte pela redução de cuidadores no local de moradia. Dado que idosos institucionalizados, em sua maioria, apresentam saúde fragilizada acentuando o risco maior de quedas, esse trabalho teve como objetivo levantar parâmetros recomendáveis para a configuração do quarto e do banheiro do idoso buscando garantir segurança e autonomia ao usuário. A escolha do quarto e do banheiro se deu pela grande incidência de acidentes nesses ambientes relatada na bibliografia estudada e nos estudos de caso feitos em duas instituições na cidade de São Paulo. Para alcançar o objetivo buscou-se normas e bibliografia nacional e internacional que abrangessem os assuntos sobre acessibilidade ao meio físico, desenho universal e ergonomia, além de caracterizar dados sobre capacidade funcional com foco no idoso. As informações adquiridas na revisão bibliográfica foram confrontadas com os dados levantados nos estudos de caso como forma de identificar, na prática, as recomendações que estão dando resultado positivo e pontos que precisam ser melhorados. Os resultados obtidos a partir da abordagem teórica e prática proporcionaram o levantamento de recomendações para o ambiente, mobiliários e instalações do quarto e do banheiro do idoso que ofereçam segurança e autonomia aos usuários nas atividades diárias. Pretende-se que os dados apresentados nesse trabalho possam ser aplicados na prática projetual e colaborem para ampliar o conhecimento sobre o assunto. / Population aging is an issue that is being increasingly considered and discussed to ensure quality of life and well-being to this contingent of citizens who often deal with the reduction of its functional capabilities and require special care. Due to changes in family arrangements, it appears the increasing demand for long-term care institutions for the elderly, a fact due in part by the reduction of family carers. Since most institutionalized elderly have poor health, it contributes to the increase risk of falls, this work aimed to indicate recommended parameters for configuring the bedroom and bathroom of the elderly seeking to ensure user`s security and independence. The choice of the bedroom and bathroom was motivated by the high accident incidence in these environments reported by the studied literature and case studies carried out in two institutions in the city of São Paulo. To achieve the goal national and international standards were studied, as well as literature that covered the issues of accessibility to the physical environment, universal design and ergonomics, besides characterizing data on functional capacity with focus on the elderly. The information gathered in the literature review was compared with data collected in the case studies as a way to identify in practice the recommendations that are giving positive results and points that need to be improved. The results obtained from the theoretical and practical approach led to environment, furniture and facilities recommendations for the elderly\'s bedroom and bathroom that offer users security and independence in daily activities. It is intended that the data presented here in this study can be applied in design practice and collaborate to expand subject knowledge.

År 2014 kom en ny lag gällande arbetet med extra anpassningar. I lagen tydliggörs den undervisande pedagogens skyldighet att sätta in extra anpassningar i ett skede där eleven inte ses nå målen. Ändringen i skollagen har medfört direkta och indirekta effekter på arbetet med extra anpassningar inom skolor i Sverige. Utifrån ramfaktorteorin såsom den skrivs fram av Dahllöf och Skritics teori om byråkratiska och adhocratiska organisationer var syftet med studien att undersöka olika professioners syn på arbetet kring extra anpassningar inom skolan som organisation. Utifrån en fenomenologisk kvalitativ intervjustudie med åtta deltagare fick vi några rektorers, lärares, speciallärares och specialpedagogers samt specialpedagogstudenters syn på fenomenet extra anpassningar sett utifrån den egna professionen. Resultaten tolkades mot bakgrund av Skrtics teori om att specialpedagogiska system kan uppstå inom skolan som organisation trots skollagens intention om inkluderande och tillgängliga lärmiljöer för alla elever inom skolan. Resultaten visade att medvetenheten och kännedomen om extra anpassningar som begrepp och fenomen kändes till av samtliga deltagare och att lagändringen år 2014 påverkade deltagarnas syn på sitt arbete med extra anpassningar. Deltagarnas olika syn på att organisera och leda arbetet med extra anpassningar tydde på att lagändringen tolkades olika beroende på profession och skola.

A educação inclusiva visa garantir o direito de todos os alunos de estarem juntos, aprendendo e participando do contexto escolar sem nenhuma discriminação. A presente pesquisa investigou este espaço de interação, onde os alunos, com e sem deficiência, vivenciam experiências de aprendizagem na sala de ensino regular. A pesquisa abordou a qualidade dos materiais educacionais a partir da abordagem Design para a Experiência e da teoria das Inteligências Múltiplas, visando promover as experiências dos usuários no contexto da educação inclusiva. A investigação teórica da pesquisa relata marcos históricos da educação no Brasil e o crescimento através de normas e leis para a educação de todos no pais, trazendo a base do Desenho Universal para Aprendizagem, somados a assuntos como: Design Instrucional, Inteligências Múltiplas, até chegar na Interação e Qualidade dos materiais. A fase inicial da pesquisa gerou subsídios que embasam o instrumento de coleta de dados através de um questionário, que foi conduzido a partir de entrevistas com especialistas da área da educação: professores da sala de aula regular, educador especial, e psicopedagogo a fim de verificar as diretrizes de qualidades propostas. Foram selecionados alguns materiais de aprendizagem utilizados no ensino fundamental e verificados previamente pela pesquisadora. Após, foram elencados dois materiais com os seguintes critérios: (i) aquele que se julgou mais apto a proporcionar experiências a todos os alunos e (ii) o que se julgou gerar menor experiência (segundo perspectiva da pesquisadora). A verificação foi realizada por professores, de forma voluntária, através do instrumento fornecido pela pesquisadora. Para comprovação do estudo, foi realizado uma triangulação com os dados obtidos. Por fim, alcançou-se um conjunto de diretrizes capazes de auxiliar no desenvolvimento e projeto de novos materiais educacionais com o foco na educação inclusiva. / Inclusive education aims to ensure the right of all students to be together, learning and participating in the school context without any discrimination. “This study investigated learning experiences of students with and without disabilities in a regular classroom. The study addressed the quality of educational materials from the Design approach to experience and theory of Multiple Intelligences to promote the experiences of users in the context of inclusive education. The study addressed the quality of educational materials from the Design approach to the experience and theory of Multiple Intelligences to promote the experiences of users in the context of inclusive education. The theoretical investigation reports landmarks of education in Brazil and growth through rules and laws education for everyone in the country, bringing the base of Universal Design for Learning, adding subjects like: Instructional Design, Multiple Intelligences, reaching the interaction and quality of materials. The initial theoretical investigation stage generated resources that support the data collection instrument through a survey form, which was conducted from interviews with education experts in the field: regular classroom teachers, special educators, and educational psychologists in order to verify the proposed guidelines qualities. We selected some learning materials used in elementary school and previously checked by the researcher. After two school materials with the following criteria were selected: (i) the one judged most able to provide experiences to all the students and (ii) what was judged to generate less experience (according to the researcher). The verification was performed by teachers, on a voluntary basis, through the instrument provided by the researcher. For the study verification, a triangulation with the obtained data was performed. Finally, a set of guidelines that can assist in the development and design of new educational materials with the focus on inclusive education was reached.

Orientador: Luiz Gonzaga Campos Porto / Banca: Archimedes de Azevedo Raia Júnior / Banca: José Eduardo Guarnetti dos Santos / Resumo: A falta de rebaixamento de calçadas para travessia de pedestres portadores de cadeira de rodas, o péssimo estado de conservação dos passeios públicos, a carência de rampas de acesso, os obstáculos existentes nas calçadas e o desconhecimento das normas técnicas que garantem o direito de mobilidade fazem com que as pessoas portadoras de deficiências físicas ou as que momentaneamente estão incapacitadas de se locomover, fiquem restritas a um ambiente único, sem garantia do direito de ir e vir de qualquer cidadão. As cidades devem oferecer formas adequadas para que cada cidadão, sem exclusão, tenha a possibilidade de executar suas tarefas com segurança e autonomia, favorecendo e não dificultando o acesso aos seus espaços. As calçadas devem exercer sua função de circulação com conforto e segurança, ao limitar ou excluir determinados usuários destes espaços, está se descumprindo parte da função social da cidade, o direito de locomoção. Existem no mundo 600 milhões de pessoas com algum tipo de limitação de mobilidade, das quais 25 milhões estão no Brasil. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar, em espaços públicos urbano, as condições de acessibilidade em seus espaços físicos, identificando as principais dificuldades referentes à situação das pessoas portadoras de deficiência física enquanto transeuntes e diagnosticar, caso tenha ocorrido alguma melhoria no ambiente, se a mesma acompanhou o que estabelece a NBR - Norma Regulamentadora Brasileira - 9050, de 31 de maio de 2004, "Acessibilidade a edificações, mobiliário, espaços e equipamentos urbanos". Para tanto, o objeto deste trabalho foram as vias públicas para circulação de pedestres do Centro da Cidade de Bauru e Campus da UNESP, tendo como usuário um cadeirante. Os resultados obtidos comprovaram a existência de barreiras no trajeto percorrido que limitaram ou impediram o... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The lack of lower sidewalk ways for wheelchair users, as well as their bad conservation, the lack of access ramps, sidewalks that are not clear, and the unawareness of techical rules that guarantee the right of movement make it difficult for the handicapped and for those that are momentarily incapable of walking to move around, restricting them to very few places and taking away their right to come and go. Cities must offer appropriate ways so that any citizen, without exception, may have the possibility of performing their tasks with safety and autonomy, favoring the access to any place they go. The sidewalks must meet their function of facilitating people's movements with comfort and safety, if they limit or exclude any user, therefore they are not serving their social function in the city, that is, allowing for the right to come and go. There are 600 million people in the world with some kind of movement restriction, out of them, 25 million are in Brazil. The adequate accessibility and the preoccupation with universal design sidewalks must promote the social integration of the disabled. The objective of this research is to analyze, the condition of accessibility in urban public spaces by considering physical spaces, to identify the main difficulties to the situation of disabled people as pedestrians and to find any improvement already made in these spaces. In that case, verify if the NBR -Brazilian Standard Rules - 9050, of may 31, 2004 was followed, "Acessibility to buildings, furnishings, spaces and urban equipment". For that, the object of this study was the sidewalk ways downtown the city of Bauru and the ones at UNESP University - Paulisty State University, by means of a wheel chair user. The results obtained proved the existence of barriers in the course distance that limited or obstruced the access, the liberty... (Complete abstract, click electronic access below) / Mestre

A inclusão de crianças com deficiência em escolas regulares, ocorrida seguindo a Lei 13.146 de 06 de julho de 2015, que institui a Lei Brasileira de Inclusão da Pessoa com Deficiência, exige que as atividades escolares sejam acessíveis a todas as crianças. Entre as atividades escolares, as atividades de programação têm se espalhado nas escolas devido aos benefícios gerados nas habilidades dos alunos, como criatividade e pensamento lógico. Atualmente, essas atividades utilizam principalmente ambientes de programação em blocos, como o Scratch, que focam em aspectos visuais para interação, contando com cores, formatos e utilização do mouse. Nesse contexto, e de grande importância o estudo de interfaces de programação para que crianças com deficiência visual possam ser incluídas e participem em conjunto com as outras crianças. Este projeto busca investigar este tema, bem como propor e avaliar um sistema para atividades de introdução à programação para crianças cegas e videntes. Foi proposto um sistema formado por peças tangíveis, em que os blocos digitais foram substituídos por peças físicas com formas para reconhecimento tátil e respostas auditivas. Foi adotado um modelo cíclico para o desenvolvimento do protótipo que garantiu duas etapas de testes com usuários. Na primeira etapa foram 4 participantes videntes, sendo que três participaram vendados, e a partir das observações foram gerados novos requisitos e modificações no protótipo. Na segunda etapa participaram 2 crianças cegas e os resultados destes testes geraram requisitos específicos para a utilização do sistema por crianças cegas. Este trabalho traz como contribuição final um conjunto de recomendações para o desenvolvimento de sistemas que permitam a crianças cegas e videntes brincarem juntas em atividades de programação. / The inclusion of children with disabilities in regular schools, following Law 13,146 of July 6, 2015, which establishes the Brazilian Law on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, requires that school activities be accessible to all children. Among school activities, programming activities have spread in schools because of the benefits generated in students\' skills such as creativity and logical thinking. Currently, these activities mainly use blocks programming environments, such as Scratch, that focus on visual aspects for interaction, counting on colors, shapes and mouse usage. In this context, it is of great importance to study programming interfaces so that children with visual impairment can be included and participate together with other children. This project seeks to investigate this theme as well as to propose and evaluate a system for introductory programming activities for blind and sighted children. It was proposed a system formed by tangible pieces in which the digital blocks were replaced by physical pieces with forms for tactile recognition and auditory responses. It was adopted a cyclical model for the development of the prototype that guaranteed two stages of testing with users. In the first stage, four sighted participants, three were blindfolded among them, and and from the first observations were generated new requirements and modifications in the prototype. The second stage involved 2 blind children and the results of these tests generated specific requirements for the use of the system by blind children. This work brings as final contribution a set of recommendations for the development of systems that allow blind and sighted children to play together in programming activities.