RDE-FRI: Supporting Deaf and Hard of Hearing Undergraduate Students in STEM Field Settings with Remote Speech-to-Text Services

RDE-FRI项目：在STEM领域使用远程语音到文本服务支持聋人和重听本科生，是一个为期24个月的299995美元的奖项，由残疾教育研究(RDE)计划的重点研究倡议(FRI)轨道资助。该项目旨在满足聋人和重听(D/HH)学生在各种室外和室内环境中无线接入实时语音到文本(RT-STS)服务的需求。该项目的主要目标是开发辅助技术，允许D/HH本科生使用手持设备，如手机或个人数字助理，在远程野外科学环境中查看RT-STS。第二个项目目标是评估远程语音到文本服务在多大程度上帮助学生在偏远的科学领域环境中进行交流和学习。这个高素质和经验丰富的团队由一名聋人研究人员领导，他们正在开展的工作建立在该团队目前由美国国家科学基金会资助的项目(0633928)和罗切斯特理工学院的两个美国教育部项目(H327A050064-06；H327A070085)的基础上。该项目团队正在与来自RIT国家聋人技术学院的38名D/HH本科生合作，为RT-STS进行开发、现场测试和修改；其中16名学生也有视力低下，因此正在评估该设备对视力和听力障碍学生的可及性。最大部分的实地测试是在D/HH本科生参加环境科学课程的实地考察时进行的。除了在实际实地访问期间和之后收集教师和学生用户的数据外，该团队还就新的RT-STS设备的可行性和可用性进行了焦点小组讨论。对RT-STS对学生学习影响的定量和定性评估侧重于学生在使用新技术后STEM内容知识的变化。该项目涉及Firi Track目标中的(3)：鼓励研究和开发具体但实用的辅助技术，以帮助残疾人在STEM中谋求职业生涯；为残疾学生制作可在教育环境中迅速开发和有效部署的工具；通过在教育环境中使用技术，增加STEM中残疾人教育的价值。该项目包括与来自鲍林格林州立大学的经验丰富的第三方评估员Martha Gaustad博士共同制定的形成性和终结性项目评估计划。项目传播计划包括在美国高等教育与残疾人协会、美国教育研究协会和大学科学教师协会的年度会议上的预期陈述，以及网站材料，计划在同行评议的专业期刊上发表的文章，并与路易斯安那州立大学、迈阿密-戴德学院、威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校、杰克逊维尔州立大学和卑尔根社区学院等招收大量目前使用STS的D/HH学生的高等教育机构分享结果。

The project RDE-FRI: Supporting Deaf and Hard of Hearing Undergraduate Students in STEM Field Settings with Remote Speech-to-Text Services, is a 24-month, $299,995 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. This project is addressing the unmet need for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) students to have wireless access to real-time speech-to-text services (RT-STS) in varied outdoor and indoor settings. The primary goal of this project is to develop assistive technology that allows D/HH undergraduate students to view RT-STS in remote field science settings using a handheld device, such as a cellular phone or personal digital assistant. A secondary project goal is to evaluate the extent that remote speech-to-text services aid students' communication and learning in remote science field settings. This highly qualified and experienced team, which is led by a Deaf researcher, is conducting work that builds on the team's current NSF-funded project (0633928) and two (2) U.S. Education Department projects (H327A050064-06; H327A070085) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The project team is working with 38 D/HH undergraduate students from RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf to conduct development, field-testing and modifications for the RT-STS; 16 of the students also have low vision so that the accessibility of the device for students who have vision and hearing impairments is being evaluated. The largest portion of field-testing is being conducted when D/HH undergraduate students participate in the field visits for their environmental science courses. In addition to collecting data from instructor and student users during and after real-world field visits, the team is conducting focus groups regarding the feasibility and usability of the new RT-STS devices. A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the impact of the RT-STS on student learning focuses on the changes in students' STEM content knowledge as a result of using the new technology. The project addresses (3) of the FRI track goals: To encourage research and development of specific but utilitarian assistive technologies that will help persons with disabilities pursue careers in STEM; to build tools for students with disabilities that can be quickly developed and effectively deployed in the educational environment; and to add value to the education of persons with disabilities in STEM by implementing the use of technologies in educational environments. This project includes a formative and summative project evaluation plan with an experienced third-party evaluator, Dr. Martha Gaustad from Bowling Green State University. The project dissemination plan includes expected presentations at the annual conference of the American Association of Higher Education and Disability, the American Educational Research Association and the Society of College Science Teachers, as well as website materials, planned articles in peer-reviewed professional journals, and sharing results with post-secondary institutions that enroll large numbers of D/HH students currently using STS for STEM: Louisiana State University, Miami-Dade College, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Jacksonville State University and Bergen Community College.