APEINTA: Aiming for Inclusive Learning. Using new technologies IN and OUT of the classroom

APEINTA is an educational project that aims for inclusive education for every student of all abilities in and out of the classroom. We propose to use new computer science and electronic technologies in order to avoid learning barriers that we can unfortunately find already in the educational environment. The APEINTA project is focused in two main inclusive proposals: One Inside the classroom and the other one Outside the classroom. 1.The Inside the classroom proposal is to use two mechanisms in order to eliminate students’ communication barriers. First, the use of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) provides automatic real-time transcription. And second, a text to speech system (TTS) makes easier the communication with the teacher and other students for people with speech problems. 2.The Outside the classroom proposal provides an accessible Web learning platform with digital resources, so every student can access them in and out of the classroom. The project and its evaluation have being carried out at the Carlos III University of Madrid, in 3rd course of Computer Science degree. Good results and a high satisfaction level have been obtained. Moreover, new research and work lines have born from this project. Computer Science Department and Telecommunication department at Universidad Carlos III of Madrid and the Spanish Center of Captioning and Audiodescription (CESyA) are collaborating in the APEINTA Project. This project received in 2009 the FIAPAS (Spanish Confederation of Parents and Friends of Deaf People) award for research and innovation in education area related to hearing disability.