Educação por Comunicação Alternativa

The ECA Project is ambitiously positioned at the forefront of addressing significant challenges in the field of inclusive education and communication for deaf and blind individuals. It aims to transcend current limitations by introducing innovative, cross-disciplinary methodologies leveraging advanced technology to contribute to equity in education and promote educational achievements. The project tackles the needs of deaf and blind students, ensuring their full participation in a digitized educational landscape. The objectives are: 1. Developing the Multi-Channel/Multi-Language Communication (MCML) Model and Methodology: analyze and design a model synthesizing the features required to implement bi-directional converters between gestures and text, and voice and gesture. All these converters will embed sign language translators. This model shall address the communication difficulties and the concrete needs of blind and deaf people in school and in daily life. 2. Creating a gamified learning environment: The project recognizes the potential of gamification in education as a tool to motivate and engage students. By integrating robots as motivational tools, it plans to make the learning process more accessible and enjoyable for all participants, showcasing an ambitious leap in applying gamification strategies for the educational inclusion of disabled students. 3. Developing an online collaborative scientific teaching platform: We will create a unique online collaborative platform empowering students, including deaf and blind students, to co-create digital artwork. Teachers will be also connected through this platform to discuss, create, and disseminate bilingual materials and activities framed by MCML. Through this platform, sign language experts will be able to update online sign language dictionaries to add new signs required to create didactic materials. The project builds on VirtualSign technology. VirtualSign is an R&D spinoff, developed by the GILT research group of IPP, for the automatic bidirectional translation between oral and sign languages. By integrating high-impact motivational activities and embedded in digital and robotic technologies, ECA redefines the boundaries of accessible education. Its focus on developing digital literacy skills and incorporating new technological tools into pedagogical practices demonstrates a forward-thinking approach to overcoming the communication barriers faced by deaf and blind individuals, ultimately striving for a more inclusive and integrative educational environment. Another disruptive initiative of ECA is the promotion of International Sign (IS) at elementary schools. IS is a simple gesture set, with a reduced lexicon and a basic grammar. Our purpose is to offer non-deaf students a chance to communicate using gestures and encourage them to be actively involved in the inclusion process. We intend to promote cooperation between blind, deaf and all other students as a key factor influencing learning achievements. A prototype of this model will be implemented and tested in a pilot installation at our partners, the Agrupamento de Escolas Dona Maria II (AEDM), in Braga, Portugal (a reference school for deaf students in the North of Portugal).