Technology Acceptance Evaluation by Deaf Students Considering the Inclusive Education Context

Abstract

As a consequence of the National Policy on Special Education on the Perspective of Inclusive Education in Brazil, established in 2007, mainstream schools have begun receiving a greater number of Deaf or Hard of Hearing (D/HH) students that previously attended specialized schools. However, data point to the declining number of D/HH students enrolled from primary school to secondary school; i.e., there are reasons to believe that educational barriers are imposed on the means these students have of conquering a complete education. In this context, the goal of this work is to propose a technology acceptance model that takes into account constructs that involve aspects of the inclusive education context, as well as performing a pilot test on the interaction of 16 D/HH users with a mobile application, called SESSAI, to evaluate the model. SESSAI consists of a technology-mediated form of communication, which allows hearing persons and D/HH individuals to interact through an automatic recognition system. Among the constructs of the model, one of them refers to the potential educational barriers experienced by D/HH students in inclusive classrooms. With regard to research methodology, the study was developed in cycles of literature review and conduction of tests. The proposed model has shown positive results in capturing factors that influence technology acceptance given the domain specific context, since they incorporate aspects of pragmatic quality and hedonic quality (emotional user experience), and also considers issues related to perceived usefulness in minimizing potential educational barriers, future expectations, and facilitating conditions. We conclude that the model encompasses both users' personal motivation and context of use aspects, and it can be used for the purpose for which it was proposed. Further investigations need to be conducted in order to adjust the model questionnaire and to recruit a broader number of participants.

Working with robotic process automation: User experience after 18 months of adoption

“…Factors that provide a positive user experience can influence the acceptance behavior. Used in combination, the constructs of these models can be effective for understanding people's intention to use a technology (Prietch and Filgueiras, 2015;Al-Rahmi et al, 2019).…”

Problems and Solutions in the Design for Deaf Persons who are Sign Language Users to Adopt Assistive Technology Products

“…The Technology Acceptance Model for Inclusive Education (TAM4IE), proposed by [36], takes into account five constructs to verify AT acceptance: (i) Subjective perception, defined as "the result of measuring hedonic quality attributes triggered during human-computer interaction" [36, p. 27]; (ii) Perceived usability, defined as "the result of the perception of usability inherent to the technology" [36, p. 28]; (iii) Perceived usefulness, defined as "the degree to which an individual believes that the use of a technology can minimize educational barriers faced by him/her" [36, p. 28]; (iv) Future expectations, defined as "the result of user's reflection regarding potential future benefits reached by the use of technology" [36, p. 29]; and, (v) Facilitating conditions, "the degree to which an individual believes that an organizational and technical infrastructure exists to support use of the system" [36, p. 29].…”

Benefits and development of assistive technologies for Deaf people's communication: A systematic review

“…Given the importance of these languages, they have been the subject of numerous studies that seek to contribute to the assistance, adaptation, and rehabilitation of Deaf people using digital tools known as assistive or inclusive technologies (Abdallah and Fayyoumi, 2016). Although technologies alone cannot improve complex interaction scenarios for people with hearing impairment, they can help minimize educational and professional barriers that prevent this population from completing, for example, regular educational stages (Prietch and Filgueiras, 2015).…”

“…The studies mentioned above have made it clear that Deaf people face many difficulties in their daily lives, given their inability to communicate with people who do not understand sign language (Yaganoglu, 2021). These difficulties may affect their personal and work life and hinder their academic development (Prietch and Filgueiras, 2015). The studies also highlight the need for assistive technologies that allow Deaf communities to communicate effectively with those who do not use the same language, not to mention their difficulty to learn to read and write.…”