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NSF-Funded Student Design Projects:
Adapted Asessment of Work Interest (AAWI)

Designers: Dan Li, Guanhua Zhao, and Vijay Gummadi
Client Coordinator: David Hardin
Jo Brighton Skills Center
Supervising Professor: Robert Erlandson, Ph.D.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202

INTRODUCTION

The Jo Brighton Skills Center in Wyandotte, Michigan provides hands-on vocational training services for special education students between the ages of 15 and 26. In order to determine what type of vocational activities their students are interested in, Jo Brighton staff use a vocational interest test. The original test requires that the students select from a book the type of work that they are interested in and then pencil in their choices on a paper score sheet. This method of evaluation is difficult to impossible for many Jo Brighton students. The students need staff to guide them through the book and then help them score their choices. The Adapted Assessment of Work Interest (AAWI) presents the testing material in a computerized format using visual scanning software and single-switch input, then automatically scores each exam, reducing the need for constant staff assistance.

SUMMARY OF IMPACT

The AAWI allows students with disabilities to complete an assessment of their vocational interests independently. The program presents them with verbal and graphical directions and prompts, as well as the opportunity to use alternative input mechanisms. The system is based on an “error-proof” design, allowing students to work independently without the threat of making a mistake during the process, and it provides constant feedback to the students, which aids in maintaining their attention throughout the process. The students have responded favorably to the application, and the vocational evaluation process at Jo Brighton has been improved since refining the ability to identify students’ interests.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

AAWI was written in Visual Basic 5.0 and displays photos of different types of vocational tasks on the screen from which the user may select. The photos are displayed two at a time, and an automated on-screen scanning mechanism highlights them one at a time as a voice prompt announces what job the picture represents (figure 1). After both pictures are displayed, a voice prompt instructs the user to select the job that he/she likes best. The user can select the highlighted photo through either a touch-screen window or by using a mouse. If the student has still not made a selection after five scanning cycles, a voice prompt reminds the student to make a selection.

As students work through the test, their selections are recorded in a database, which is used to generate a graph of each student’s responses. Each vocation on the graph is assigned a different color to allow the instructor to easily tell one vocation from another, and the graph displays the student’s responses in order from the greatest to the least number of hits (figure 2).

Staff may create a variety of session settings to meet needs of different students. Within each setting, staff may adjust the image scan time, image delay time, and the color of the highlight. While creating or reviewing these settings, staff may also view the pictures and listen to the audio files used by the software. If changes need to be made, AAWI allows staff to add new pictures and/or audio to the database.

In order to protect student records, AAWI provides user-level security for software access and student information.  An instructor may only test and view the records of students assigned to him/her. AAWI also allows for the creation of new instructor and student profiles. Student profiles contain the student’s first and last names, birth date, operating school district, disability code, assessment date, gender, and instruction identification number, while instructor profiles contain the instructor’s name and ID number.

To function optimally, AAWI requires a Pentium-grade CPU with Windows 95, 98, or NT, a color monitor, a single-switch or touch-screen window (if a mouse will not be used), and computer speakers. If staff wish to add or replace photos in the system, a digital camera or scanning device will also be necessary.