Category Archives: AAC

AAC, conferences, news, teaching

Straight Talking Group presents at CM 2021

This year’s Communication Matters (CM) conference will be fully online and our Straight Talking Group (STG) will be presenting their take on staying in touch via Zoom during the pandemic lockdown.

Screenshot of Zoom meeting with 15 members of STG
A Zoom Meeting of the Straight Talking Group

Our User Centre groups, including STG, had been affected, as had been so many other groups, by not being able to meet face to face during lockdown. STG successfully rose to the challenge of keeping up meeting by exploring and implementing video group calls. This can indeed be a challenge when your video conferencing platform is also your communication aid platform – all members of the STG use some form of AAC.

Read more about this challenge or even better, join the group at the CM Conference – registration is now open – for a presentation on the way to not only successfully meeting online but also keeping up teaching on AAC.

AAC, assistive technology, AT & AAC, news, teaching

Launching the new MSc in Educational Assistive Technology (EduAT)

The Dundee AAC Research Group is proud to be launching the newly developed part-time MSc Programme in Educational Assistive Technology.

Prof Annalu Waller with students and assistive technology users
Prof Annalu Waller with students and assistive technology users.

In collaboration with JISC (historically known as the “Joint Information Systems Committee”), their subject specialist Rohan Slaughter worked with Professor Annalu Waller and members of the AAC Research Group to develop this programme to provide assistive technology (AT) training and development.

Continue reading Launching the new MSc in Educational Assistive Technology (EduAT) →
AAC, assistive technology, AT & AAC, seminars

Special User Interfaces – My Eye Gaze Journey

We had the most amazing guest for our regular seminar series. Becky Tyler is 16 years old. She has severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy and uses special technology to access her computer.

Becky in the Wolfson Theatre in the QMB
Becky Tyler with ‘full house’ in the QMB Wolfson Theatre

Eye gaze, a still relatively new technology, has changed Becky’s life in terms of enabling her to use the computer more effectively. However, accessing mainstream software using this technology can still be a challenge. Although eye gaze compatible software is still a niche market, Microsoft is now preparing its operating system Windows 10 for eye gaze support and recent tech developments by SpecialEffect have made the probably most successful computer game ever, Minecraft, eye gaze compatible.

Continue reading Special User Interfaces – My Eye Gaze Journey →
AAC, assistive technology, AT & AAC, news

Winter Lecture at the University of Manchester

Telling Tales : Unlocking the Potential of AAC Technologies.

Tomorrow’s Winter Lecture at the University of Manchester by the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders is to be delivered by our Prof Annalu Waller:

“Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) has been transformed by the social media revolution made possible by the emergence of mobile technology. The cumbersome dedicated devices of the seventies have evolved into a burgeoning AAC app industry. But the limited use and abandonment of AAC technologies remains high. Unlocking the untapped potential of technology requires a paradigm shift in the design of AAC technologies by building systems which minimise the cognitive load placed on users, adapting to their individual physical and language needs. Telling Tales will share insights and stories of how the combination of user-centred design, interdisciplinary research and the application of intelligent computing is providing a vision of future generations of AAC.”

Followed by drinks reception.

Please register at Eventbrite for your free ticket, only few remaining!