This project seeks to explore the historical relationship between disability, technology and society, with a focus on Canada, but with global applicability. Through rigorous secondary, primary, oral and archival research, the team will investigate historical instances of innovation, technological use and activism by and for people with disabilities, building relationships and conducting oral interviews with key actors in the development of a more accessible and inclusive society.

The University of Alberta proposes to hire an industrial postdoctoral fellow funded through the Mitacs Accelerate program to develop enhanced constraint equation solution methods and 3D graphical authoring tools in partnership with a local company in Edmonton, Alberta. The field of application is educational web software for creating randomized scaled mathematical drawings, delivered in an interactive browser environment.

The Whytecliff Learning Centres, managed by The Focus Foundation, have been proven successful in providing a learning environment for vulnerable students who were at risk of not graduating high school due to complex combinations of factors such as mental health issues, addiction, behavioural problems, special needs, and family circumstances. As part of a grant the Centres received from the BC Ministry of Education, the Foundation will report on the Whytecliff schools’ performance in terms of student outcomes, mental health, and the centres’ unique integrated approach to education.

The goal of the Perpetual Nomads project is to make illustration depicting many indigenous and environmental issues through traditional art media and digital media. The team will be exploring the viability of creating Mixed Reality interactive experiences to increase the awareness, empathy, egalitarianism and environmental concern in users through these illustrated narratives. Since people use new technologies and traditional arts for expressing themselves in so many ways, its crucial for youth to be exposed to powerful ideas relating to consciousness, sustainability and connectivity.

Over the past 15 years, People for Education has conducted a survey of Ontario’s publicly funded schools. From this large-scale survey, People for Education produces research reports on public education in Ontario that are widely disseminated to the public and have been instrumental to informing educational policy in the province.

Early Learning is an impotant undertaking in Canadian society and supporting young children as they move from home to early learning centres onto kindergarten classes is of particular interest and value to educators, helping us to ensure we provide the right environments and supports for all young children. This research will help us to provide the most appropriate learning experiences to young children in new Brunswick and beyond.

There are several platforms that allow users to share real time video with the public. However, these platforms lack the tools that would allow creative professionals to create artistic video compositions extemporaneously. Our prior research assessed the potential for artistic expression within live video broadcasting by developing and integrating new creative tools within the Generate platform, a mobile tool for dynamic artistic video compositions. Behavioral analysis provided the information to determine the effectiveness and relevance of video art in an online real time nature.

Learning disabilities (LD) are a significant area of identified disability for children in North America and worldwide. We currently understand cognitive processing weaknesses to contribute to the developmental difficulties that children with LD face in learning and beyond. One of these areas of cognitive weakness, working memory, is an important target for intervention because it not only impacts learning but other important aspects of life. This project examines the working memory effects of a cognitive training program for children with LD, the Eaton Arrowsmith school.

Our goal is to continue to provide the solution to the problems that elementary schools are facing across Ontario. To re-define the existing culture of recess by providing healthy role models, options and equipment and advocating for spaces more conducive to play. Our research team is currently the only one in Canada dedicated to research on recess.

Games have, in the last decade, become an important tool for teaching in both the education and business section. The application of games, and game mechanics, in these areas is often called gamification. The aim of this project is to explore how games can be used to create rich, first hand, experiences that can be used by educators to improve learning.