The Global Positioning Satellite Project for Orientation and Mobility Instructors and Secondary Students with Visual Impairments

Sponsored by PRCVI and SET-BC January 2007

In Spring 2006, PRCVI and SET-BC sponsored the GPS Project to examine the impact of a GPS technology on the orientation and mobility of 12 secondary students with visual impairments. Trekker, an accessible PDA-based GPS technology, was selected for this project. Surveys and interviews were completed by both students who applied to participate in the GPS project  and their orientation and mobility instructors.  In addition, interviews with instructors were conducted after three months to record the short term feedback on impact of GPS technology in orientation and mobility instruction. Informal responses, from students, were also invited at the three month mark.

This project with secondary students using GPS technology when receiving O&M instruction is one of the first of its kind with school-aged students. 

Initial Survey Data Report

The survey results are reported in terms of their relevance to GPS technology for students with visual impairments. Students and instructors were asked to rate their expected level of impact for using the Trekker GPS technology.

Instructors N = 7
Students N =12

12 students participated in the initial three month project.  4 participants were male and 8 were female and they ranged in age from 13 -18.  One female, visually impaired teacher was included in the project. Geographic locations included Island Urban, Island Rural, Large Urban, and Northern Rural.

In the initial survey February, 2006, students and instructors expected improvement in orientation for travel in familiar and unfamiliar locations, for street crossings, and  for using public transportation.  Participants expected improved familiarity with their community and its places and services.  Participants expected improvement in awareness when a passenger in motorized mode.

Data from 3 month follow up interviews

• helped the students to be more confident to explore their community.
• increased sense of safety, lessened fear of being lost , providing a safety net when out
• lessened cognitive load for order of streets on route
• helped the students to feel more connected to their community providing information on community services and places.

• Another thing I like is the route creation feature, where you can have the Trekker create a list of instructions to a specific point of interest
• One thing that I find very useful, and which not many people seem to be aware of, is the wonderful "free mode" navigation.  Using this, you can locate the approximate position of, say, a bench, swing set, fence, etc.  that you had previously marked.   I couldn't ask for a better support for navigation.
• Most of all, of course, the Trekker is a first step to a new world of technology, where blind people will be able to use small and lightweight technologies to observe changes in their environments.  Already it works wonders, and has certainly been different and exciting to learn its many functions.

Teams reported that step-by-step student lessons to aid in instruction and use of the Trekker were needed and would be valuable in terms of proficiency and ease of use.

What's new for year two?

Trekker Version 3.0 was released in 2006. Training, in January 2007,  focused on Trekker ver. 3.0  (Read about the improvements at humanware.com).   Step-by-step student lessons for Trekker 3.0 were developed and distributed.  PM viewer was added and it proved valuable, providing the technology link to the PC for additional instructional feedback for sighted teachers. 

Applications were accepted for participation in the Trekker project for 2007 and 11 of the 12 original teams applied to continue to participate.  PRCVI , SET-BC, and HumanWare, developers of the Trekker GPS system, offered three days of training on Trekker in January 2007.  Day one was training for instructors only.  The following two days were training for small groups (maximum 6)  of students with their instructors.   Survey data was again collected from all participants.

• Trekker helps me know where I am
• I feel more independent
• I can listen to Trekker announce Street names as I ride the bus
• Trekker announces points of interest and services in my community
• Trekker is great for looking up the address and phone numbers of places in my community.
• I feel safer when I use Trekker
• I can be the navigator when I ride in the car; I plan the route ahead of time
• Trekker is a first step to a new world of technology, where blind people will be able to use small and lightweight technologies to observe changes in their environments.

Enthusiasm was wholeheartedly expressed for Trekker's expanded GPS capabilities and the knowledgeable instruction received from Dave Rathwell, SET-BC and Sam Adler, HumanWare.  A group thank-you went to Dave Rathwell, SET-BC consultant and teacher of students with visual impairments, who developed the set of student lessons.  Thank-you's also went to HumanWare who works with NavTech to continue to add and update map information and points of interest for communities in Canada and to Steven Philips, of HumanWare, for efforts in working with Greater Vancouver Transit authorities to gain permission to access and share bus route information via the Trekker database. 

PRCVI
Provincial Resource Center for the Visually Impaired
Website: www.prcvi.org

SET-BC
Special Education Technology – British Columbia
Website: www.setbc.org

For more information on the GPS project, email Anne Wadsworth.