Includ-ed, red europea de educación inclusiva

The Interactive Technologies And Games Conference (ITAG) is now in its seventh year and will take place from 16-17 October 2014 at The Council House, which is located in the heart of Nottingham city centre.

The ITAG conference, held annually at Nottingham Trent University in partnership with GameCity, aims to showcase and disseminate research outcomes and usable, accessible and effective open source, freely available games and interactive resources for educational and clinical applications.ITAG attracts academics, but also teachers, trainers, clinicians, members of the public, games and education companies with an interest in these topics. Cross fertilisation of ideas is encouraged at the event creating new opportunities and ideas for future projects and partnerships.

Scope: Compulsory and post-compulsory education is included within ‘education’. Disability includes physical, sensory and cognitive impairment.  The impact of interactive technologies and games on health and well-being is also a focus of this conference. An emphasis will be placed on practical applications and guides to where currently available training resources and tools can be found and used.

Topics that will be covered by the conference – but not limited to:

Education

• > Social and collaborative aspects of interactive technology (e.g., Massively Multiplayer Online Games and Virtual worlds)
• > Raising aspirations and achievement through interactive technologies and games-based learning
• > Interactive learning tools and environments resources, e.g. Flash, podcasts, simulations, mobile games, Web 2.0 tool etc.
• > Implementation and ethical issues associated with games-based learning
• > Learning theory, universal design and assessment in interactive technology-based learning
• > Best Practices in the use of Interactive and Innovative Technologies for learning
• > Collaboration between Science and Art for more effective learning
• > Issues related to vulnerable groups
• > The engagement potential of serious games for people at risk of social exclusion
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Health

• > Games based learning approaches to patient education
• > Using contemporary games controllers to create new opportunities in health and rehabilitation applications (e.g., applications for Wii Fit, Wii Mote)
• > Games based learning and virtual and enhanced environments for clinical assessment (e.g. after stroke)
• > Games based learning and virtual environments for treatment (e.g. of phobias, ADHA, post-traumatic stress disorders, Amblyopia, etc.)
• >  ‘Modding’ for health
• > Patient created content in serious games
• > Psychological impact of game playing
• > Interaction and well-being
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Disability

• > Approaches to making virtual environments, computer and video games accessible by all
• > Assistive technologies for people with disabilities and elderly people
• > Practical applications of virtual environmentsand serious games for the education of people with disabilities and elderly people (in e.g. work preparation, travel training)
• > Including people with disabilities in the design of serious games, assistive technologies andvirtual environments.
• > Location based services for navigation and reconnection of people with disabilities
• > Art and music rehabilitation in 3D multisensory environments
• > Design for All
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See the full programme here http://itag.gamecity.org/schedule/

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Two keynotes at ITAG will come from Sue Cobb and Mick Donegan

1. Associate Professor Sue Cobb

Title: Tell me what you want and I’ll show you what you can have: who drives design of technology for learning?

Biography and Abstract

Sue Cobb was one of the co-founders of the Virtual Reality Applications Research Team (VIRART) at the University of Nottingham in 1992, established to explore the potential of virtual reality technology in industry and educational contexts. Twenty years later, now part of a much larger Human Factors Research Group, the team continues to examine issues related to the use of virtual environments and associated technologies for a variety of target users in different application domains.

This presentation reflects on what has been learnt about how to design and develop applications of virtual reality environments for training or education. In particular, the importance of direct involvement of stakeholders in the design process and, specifically in the context of special needs education projects, the children and young people for whom the technology is developed.  Using examples showing how our inclusive design approach has been applied in a variety of projects, this presentation will demonstrate how the process itself can influence design outcomes.  Important questions concerning who should be driving design decisions and how the design process can be facilitated to ensure that the resulting applications are fit for their intended purpose will be addressed.

2. Dr Mick Donegan

Biography and Abstract

Dr Mick Donegan is Founder and CEO of SpecialEffect, ‘The Gamer’s Charity’, which was created with the primary aim of enabling access to mainstream videogames for people of all ages and abilities.  To achieve this, the charity not only provides an assessment and support service for people with complex disabilities but also collaborates with developers to make their games more accessible to more people.  In this presentation Mick will provide case study examples of the range of ways in which his team have enabled a range of disabled people to access videogames, from switch access to gaze control, as well as providing some ideas on how developers can play a greater part in making videogaming as accessible to as many people as possible.

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