Tutorial Eight: Assistive technology
Provide a definition of assistive technology (your Cook and Hussey reading may be helpful with this)

Assistive technology is a generic term that includes assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices and the process used in selecting, locating, and using them. AT promotes greater independence for people with disabilities by enabling them to perform tasks that they were formerly unable to accomplish, or had great difficulty accomplishing, by providing enhancements to or changed methods of interacting with the technology needed to accomplish such tasks. Although, Cook & Hussey (2001)^[1] report this term is usually not used for rehabilitative devices and for devices that able-bodied find useful. According to disability advocates, technology is often created without regard to people with disabilities, creating unnecessary barriers to hundreds of millions of people.
Retrieved 11 June, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assistive_technology

Describe one piece of equipment introduced in the assistive technology tutorial. Provide information on size, cost and functions.

The Glitter roll music box/switch is a switch that provides multi-sensory stimulation. When the clear cylindrical roller is turned a colourful array of sparkling pompoms and glitter tumbles inside and music plays.
It requires 2AA batteries and comes with a 1/8 inch jack and a 1/8 inch connector cord for activation - which is the universal size to connect to other power boxes. It is 14"x7"x5" and is approximately $99.95 US. For NZ prices the wholesaler can be contacted. The glitter roll music box can be used as an external capacity switch when connected.

How does your chosen piece of equipment increase functional capacity for the user? Provide examples here from the tutorial and lecture.

The glitter roll music box/switch provides a functional element for its users. This is because when connected it can be used as a switch to turn objects on and off. This is of practical use in schools facilitating involvement among its users as it can be used in a number of activities, such as baking - if connected into the power box and then connected to an appliance (eg, blender) the user has the capability of turning this on and off by rolling the switch.

Tutorial Seven: Posting You Tube Videos and Flickr Badges to Blogs: Explaining the process

Task One: Explain the step by step process required to embed You Tube videos into your Blog . Consider using screen captures to provide a visual representation of these steps.

- Log on to youtube and search the video that you want to post onto your blog
- Log onto your own blog in a new tab
- To post the chosen video onto your blog copy the URL from youtube and paste it on your blog under the new post heading.
- Give the pasted youtube video a heading and click 'publish post'


Task Two: Explain the step by step process required to embed a Flickr Badge into your Blog . Consider using screen captures to provide a visual representation of these steps.

- Log on to both your flickr and blog accounts in seperate tabs
- On your flickr account click 'tools' at the bottom of the page
- on the right hand side click on build a badge and follow the instructions
- once fonts and photos are chosen copy the URL
- Go to blog and click on 'customize'
- Go to 'add page element'
- Click on 'HTML/javascript' and paste URL into box
- Give your badge a name and save the changes

Tutorial One: Information Technology and Ethical Issues

Provide a definition of Information Technology/Information Communications Technology (APA reference required) Information Technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information. Retrieved May 28, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology

Consider the definition of IT you have provided. How is this form of technology prevalent in our society? How common place has it become? IT is a stable norm of our society as technology is forever increasing and ideas growing. IT has a common place with this as they are the brains behind fixing technological hinders and ensuring the smooth running of systems. Every school, business and institute has at least one person on their books with IT knowledge to install or fix any issues. In terms of software this is always being updated and has a huge market in society, whether it be of relevance for gamers or if its windows being updated and installed in places of learning and business. IT is also a popular subject to study at institutes and offers good career prospects.

What IT devices or system do you feel comfortable and competent using? I'm comfortable using basic computer systems, eg) windows and Microsoft office. I can usually work my way through these till i get the results i want, but getting a virus on my laptop and trying to remove this has me completely stumped. And again, changes to blackboard and emails requires me to have step by step instructions to figure it out. I'm competent using flash drives and external hard drives after 3 years of study so thats a plus. But overall i feel like i finally get a hang of systems and they go and change again due to living in such a technological word.

Thinking about your own fieldwork experiences consider how IT is being used in Occupational Therapy practice? On my first placement the use of IT wasn't really apparent apart from the computer being used to write reports and for research, however everything else was basically done by hand. On my fieldwork three placement I was part of a hospital that is slowly updating its systems and building, so when i spent a morning in fast stay i was able to see how IT is used in the writing of notes. All team notes were written straight up onto computers and patient files were also accessed on the hospital intranet system. As well as this any person who was admitted through ED had their presenting condition written up through computer use.

What ethical implications arise from the capturing, sharing and transferring of information via IT devices (e.g. mobile phones) or systems (e.g. internet) Using these systems to share information is not always secure, as people are able to hack into systems, therefore giving rise to privacy issues. This has ethical issues for hospitals and OT practice as client notes are to be kept confidential. It puts health professionals and individuals in a compromised situation because there is always that risk of someone else reading client notes.

Provide a definition of Computer Ethics (APA reference required) Computer ethics is a branch of practical philosophy which deals with how computing professionals should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct. Retrieved May 28, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_ethics

Provide a definition of Intellectual Property (APA reference required) Intellectual property (IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical, literary, and artistic works; inventions; and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce, including copyrights, trademarks, patents, and related rights. Under intellectual property law, the holder of one of these abstract "properties" has certain exclusive rights to the creative work, commercial symbol, or invention by which it is covered. Retrieved May 28, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property

Provide a definition of Social Justice (APA reference required) Social justice refers to the concept of a society in which justice is achieved in every aspect of society, rather than merely the administration of law. Retrieved May 28, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice

Provide a definition of Informed Consent (APA reference required) Informed consent is a legal condition whereby a person can be said to have given consent based upon an appreciation and understanding of the facts and implications of an action. The individual needs to be in possession of relevant facts and also of his or her reasoning faculties, such as not being mentally retarded or mentally ill and without an impairment of judgment at the time of consenting. Such impairments might include illness, intoxication, insufficient sleep, and other health problems. Retrieved May 28, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informed_consent

In your own words briefly summarise why (or why not) a great understanding of ITC and the ethical issues it encompasses will help us in our practice and daily lives. Having an understanding of ITC and the ethical issues it encompasses will help us in practice and in our daily lives because we do live in a technological world that is forever changing and updating. Knowing how to use different computer systems will come into the play in practice as slowly settings are being upgraded to writing all clinical notes straight onto computer systems. Knowing about ethical issues around the use of technologies will also be beneficial as we can be aware of this and what can go wrong and just making sure protocols are followed to protect ourselves and clients the best we can.

Tutorial Two: Digital Camera use and applications

“A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature”. Briefly discuss this statement in relation to digital camera technology. What would you consider to be some of the pluses and minuses digital camera technology holds in relation to more traditional film based cameras? Positive You can see the photo taken immediately, able to delete unflattering/unwanted photos at no cost, photo's can be stored on pcs/external hard drives and memory sticks, as well as transposed onto CDs and are still able to be processed onto photo paper. The cost of digital prints is overall more cost effective than developing films. Digital cameras come with a variation of different settings eg) black and white, moving shots etc and the cameras are generally smaller. Negative Often don't get around to printing photos, loss of excitement associated with developing a film, digital cameras can be extremely complicated due to the vast amount of settings. Quality is sometimes not as good compared with film. Technology is always changing so the cameras are quick to be out of date.

List some of the ways that digital images can be stored transferred and manipulated using other communications technology. Digital images can be stored using PCs, external hard drives, CDs - making slide shows and adding music, DVDs, memory sticks, can be emailed to other people, cellphones, and can post them on many blog sites eg) flickr, bebo, facebook,

Given the prevalence of image capturing devices, and thinking about the issues discussed in tutorial one, consider what sort of ethical issues may arise with their use. It can raise issues about trustworthiness. People are now able to take photos more easily and discretely as devices such as cell phones contain photo taking options. When photo capable cell phones came out there was a discussion about this and how people would be able to use these to invade others privacy and take photos of others without them knowing.I think that since then this has become more relaxed but stories about inappropriate photos do pop up in the headlines every now and then.

Briefly discuss some of the ways that digital images could, or are, being used in occupational therapy practice. When I was on my fieldwork one placement I was shown how to work the hospitals very complicated digital camera in order to accompany one of the OTs on a home visit and take photos of the client using the specific equipment given so that this could be used as a visual prompt for her, as well as providing the team with some insight into how she was coping at home with using her equipment. Unfortunately we did not end up seeing her but this preparation shows how occupational therapist are using digital imaging to assist them in their practice.

Provide a brief summary of the services offered by Flickr.com Flickr is a site interested in the storage of photos. It offers users a place where they can organize their photos in a meaningful way, share photos and keep in touch with family and friends, form a group, and search other photos that have meaning to them.

Name one other photo storage website which offers a service similar to Flickr.com Facebook is another internet site that allows the storage of photos but it is different to flickr as it also has your personal blog attached to it and contains ways of interacting with friends and contacts.

Explain what the difference is between a digital and an optical zoom Optical zoom is like the lens on a film camera. The lens changes focal length and magnification as it is zoomed. When using optical zoom the image quality stays high throughout the zoom range. Digital zoom crops the image to a smaller size and then enlarges that cropped image to fill the frame again. With digital zoom the quality has significant loss as the image ends up with a blurred look.

Explain what is meant by the term mega pixel Mega pixels are how manufacturers categorize digital cameras by putting them in terms of pixel count. A pixel is in element that makes up the digital image, so 1 mega pixel (MP) means that 1 million pixels make up the image. Currently the most popular cameras have between 2 MP and 5 MP. The lower scale MPs are good if the purpose is to make 4"x6" and 5"x7" pictures. To produce larger prints such as 8"x10" 4 MP or 5 MP cameras would be a better choice.

Tutorial Three: Blog Creation Tasks

Task Four: Provide a brief summary of the services offered by Blogger (this will be your third posting. Information can be drawn from the attached hand out). In addition to this name one other Blog host. Blogger is a site where you make your own blog. This can be a place where you post your thoughts (as in a diary), connect with friends, post photos, create quiz's/questionnaires. Its basically a space in which you can publish your thoughts on anything thats got you thinking. And in this case its a place in which OT students can publish what they have learnt around technology and its place in occupation. Blogger is free and easy, and once you're past those initial stages you can change colours and layout, and customize it to suit who you are. Another blog host site is bebo.

Tutorial Four and Five: Video Production Sessions

Task One: Follow instructions and work in a small group to plan and produce and edit a 30 second short.

Task Two: Set up a U Tube account

Task Three: Follow instructions to posting your video on U Tube.

Task Four (Blog Posting): Provide a brief summary of the services offered by U Tube. Information can be drawn from the week five tutorial hand out. Youtube is a website where users can upload, view and share videos. Giving us all an opportunity to unleash our creative genius and empowering people to become "broadcasters of tomorrow". Being registered on youtube means that you can upload, watch and share all videos, whereas being unregistered limits users to only watching videos and this may be restricted depending on content. Youtube was purchased by google in 2006 and is a nonprofit website

Task Five (Blog Posting): Provide a brief account (1-2 paragraphs) on how the use of planning (storyboarding and scripting aided your groups short film. When we were told that we would be going out to make a 30 second film the first thing we did was brainstorm using our storyboard sheet. The benefit of having this as a tool was that it meant we were all able to get a good idea of what we wanted from our film and what we wanted collectively as a group. This in turn meant that when we started on our voyage to capture the changing weather and the autumn leaves we knew exactly what we wanted and exactly where to go to get the footage. Using the storyboard also meant that it wasn't set in stone and that we could change things around in editing, which was good because we soon found out that some of the shots we envisioned were not going to happen.

Autumn leaves for winter

Student OT video that we made as part of our participation for occupation class