Objetos de aprendizagem como dispositivos informacionais para pessoas com Síndrome de Down : proposta de diretrizes para avaliação com foco na usabilidade e na acessibilidade

Abstract

Down Syndrome (DS) is a genetic alteration caused by the presence of an extra chromosome in pair 21. This chromosomal alteration has, in addition to physical characteristics, a delay in the cognitive development of people with DS, making it necessary to look for ways capable of stimulating this development and minimize social inequalities that still exist in society. A facilitating instrument for the digital inclusion of people with DS are digital information and communication technologies (TDIC), which are a set of tools, devices and digital resources that aim to facilitate the carrying out of daily activities by people with disabilities. Among these technologies are learning objects, initially defined as any digital content aimed at education. Although there are a large number of learning objects produced and stored in digital repositories or made available on the Internet, there is no way to identify which ones can really contribute to the learning of people with DS, as there are no specific digital repositories that contain learning objects aimed at this target audience, and no studies were found that evaluate the importance, accessibility and usability of these in the teaching- learning process of people with DS. In this sense, the present investigation aims to answer the following question: in what way do Do learning objects contribute to the digital inclusion of people with Down Syndrome? The general objective of the research is to analyze learning objects from the perspective of digital inclusion of people with Down Syndrome, considering their specificities/needs. The research is based on the hypothesis that people with Down Syndrome have specificities/needs that need to be addressed in these objects aiming at the digital inclusion of these people with a view to improving learning and autonomy in the teaching-learning process. The empirical field was the Associação de Pais e Amigos dos Excepcionais – APAE-JP located in the city of João Pessoa - PB. The method used to design the research was the Quadripolar Method consisting of epistemological, theoretical, technical and morphological poles. The research was carried out with a sample of 11 people with DS and 5 learning objects were analyzed, selected according to pre-established criteria. The data was collected through direct observation and after evaluating usability and accessibility, we were able to identify advantages and disadvantages of each of the OA, verify which aspects need to be improved so that people with Down Syndrome can carry out activities autonomously, improving in learning and mainly in a pleasurable way and which, despite some flaws in their development, can help in the learning of people with DS.