At IDK’s tech and education event in Dublin on October 10th 2011, a few tech solutions were profiled for their role in facilitating children with hearing issues to listen, communicate and learn in mainstream environments.
Classroom Technology As A Leveler
A key point: technology needs integrating into an environment, to benefit everyone present – not just the children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
Deafness after all, led to the phone, internet and SMS texts – while Cisco predicts, “video will be the platform for all forms of communication in IT“.
The challenge is to open up digital content to students with hearing issues, as IDK outlined in a July 2009 post, “Digital Media Content Accessibility“.
Presentations at IDK’s session (October 10th):
- Technology and Deaf Children – Caroline Carswell, founder of IDK
- The Baby Hearing Aid – Geoff Cooling, Widex Ireland
- Digital Teaching in Classrooms – Miriam Walsh, St John’s College, Cork
- Qued.tv: A VCR Solution For The Cloud – Brian Greene, Doop Design
- Soundfield Classroom Audio – Andrew Taylor, Classroom Comms (UK)
We will be in touch with all attendees for feedback on the event. For now, feel free to post questions or comments here, and we’ll follow up with you.
