Faywood Arts-Based

Curriculum School
Praxis II Request for Proposals
 Abstract

This Request for Proposal frames the following opportunity for the Faywood Art-Based Curriculum
School:

Design an accessible, effective, low-cost, and low-maintenance system that enables Deaf students and staff
to independently access the information broadcast through announcements.

The students at Faywoods Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) program face a unique set of
challenges. First and foremost is their Deafness, which perpetuates a communication barrier between
them and the largely hearing administration at the school. The second is the circumstances their
Deafness creates in the home environment, where the students face almost complete communicative
and linguistic isolation. Communication in the school environment becomes even more important
because of this isolation at home. In consultation with the principal, teachers of the Deaf, and senior Deaf
members of teaching staff, the accessibility of the announcements made over the public announcements
systems was identified as an impact area where engineering design could improve the lived experience
of the students at Faywood ABC School. This identified opportunity was validated by the Deaf students,
and by recommendations made by the Canadian Hearing Society in their report on Deaf education, as
well as the study by Munoz-Baell et. al. in their 2008 publication in the International Journal of Inclusive
Education [1] [2]. The four high-level objectives related to this opportunity are:

1. Increase independence in communication for Deaf students and staff

2. Enhance the delivery of information from the school to Deaf students

3. Improve the classroom experience of students and staff

4. Develop a low-cost, low-maintenance system in a timely manner

Responses to this request should keep these objectives in mind, as well as the unique circumstances that
the Deaf students at Faywood ABC School face, as solutions to this design challenge are considered.

References
[1] Classroom Accessibility for Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. [Online].
https://www.chs.ca/sites/default/files/mhg_images/CHS003_AccessibilityGuide_ EN_APPROVED.PDF
[Accessed 14-FEB-2017]..

[2] I. M. Munoz-Baell, C. Alvarez-Dardet, M. Ruiz-Cantero, E. Ferreiro-Lago, and E. ArocaFernandez,

Understanding deaf bilingual education from the inside: a swot analysis, International Journal of
Inclusive Education, vol. 15, p. 865889, Nov 2011. [Online].
http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/13603116/
v15i0009/865_udbeftiasa.xml [Accessed 14-FEB-2017]
Contents

1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................
2 Background Information .....................................................................................................................2
2.1 The Faywood ABC School ..................................................................................................................... 3

2.2 Lived Experience of Students ............................................................................................................... 3

2.3 The Deaf Community in Toronto ......................................................................................................... 4

2.4 American Sign Language ...................................................................................................................... 5

3 Stakeholders ..........................................................................................................................................
3.1 Direct Stakeholders............................................................................................................................... 6

3.2 Indirect Stakeholders ........................................................................................................................... 7

4 The Opportunity ................................................................................................................................... 7
4.1 Opportunity Scoping ............................................................................................................................ 7

4.2 Engineering Design Space .................................................................................................................... 7

5 Engineering Design Model .................................................................................................................. 9

5.1 Increase independence in communication for Deaf students and staff (S1, S2, & S4).(HL1) ......... 9

5.2 Enhance the delivery of information from the school to Deaf students (S1, S2, S3 &S4). (HL2) . 10

5.3 Improve the classroom experience of students and staff (S1, S2, & S3). (HL3) ............................. 12

5.4 Develop a low-cost, low-maintenance system in a timely manner (S2 & S4). (HL4) .................... 16

6 Reference Designs .............................................................................................................................. 19

6.1 Previously Applied Solution .............................................................................................................. 19

6.2 Current Announcements System ...................................................................................................... 19

6.3 Text Announcements ......................................................................................................................... 20

6.4 Deaf & Blind School Emergency Management & Security System (DBSEM) ................................. 20

6.5 iCommunicator .................................................................................................................................. 21

6.6 Summary of Reference Designs ......................................................................................................... 21

7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 22

Appendix A - Field Notes ....................................................................................................................... 23

Appendix B - Important Contacts ........................................................................................................ 26

References ..................................................................................................

1
1 Introduction
The City of Toronto is home to a large population of Deaf people. Children who are Deaf or Hard-
ofHearing face both physical, social, and emotional barriers within the schools they attend. The City
of Toronto is home to four elementary schools and two high schools with Deaf or hardof-hearing
programs [3]. As of 2008, those elementary schools have served over 82 students who are Deaf or
Hard-of-Hearing [4]. One of the four elementary schools is the Faywood Art-Based Curriculum
School. The school is currently home to 35 Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students (DHH) and has five
classrooms designated for their use (Appendix A). Although the DHH program within this school is
aimed towards providing Deaf students with an appropriate, accessible education, there are still a
number of limitations both the school and the students face.

Figure 1: Faywood ABC School in Toronto, ON

Through extensive contact with the principal of Faywood, Elizabeth Shaeffer, one of the teachers
from the grade 5-6 DHH class, Sharon Mitchell, and an experienced Deaf educational assistant,
Florence Pagliora, it has been established that a major issue within the school is the ability of Deaf
students to both obtain and communicate information. There are a number of issues that have been
brought up with regard to this communication barrier, one of the most significant of which is the fact
that the announcement system within the school is purely auditory, and so Deaf students have no
way of knowing what the announcements are without interpretation (Appendix A). The purpose of
this document is to frame this opportunity as follows:

Design an accessible, effective, low-cost, and low-maintenance system that enables Deaf students and
staff to independently access the information broadcast through announcements.

Following this introduction, detailed information about Faywood ABC School, American Sign
Language, and the Deaf culture of Toronto is presented. This is followed by the outlining of
stakeholders who have interest in this design opportunity, a framing of the design space for this
opportunity, a detailed requirements model, and finally an analysis of existing reference designs.

2
2 Background Information
2.1 The Faywood ABC School
The Faywood Arts-Based Curriculum School is a public primary school in North York [5]. It serves
both hearing students from the local community, and Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students from
across the City of Toronto [5]. Most of the Deaf students at Faywood have an hour-long commute to
school (Appendix A). Faywood is the new home for the Metropolitan School for the Deaf, which had
been housed at Davisville Public School from 1962 to 2014 (Appendix A). The move to Faywood has
itself been controversial, because it has stripped the DHH community at Faywood of the awareness
and support that existed at the Davisville location (Appendix A). The five DHH classrooms at Faywood
are composed of between five and ten students, and are usually served by two staff members an
educational assistant and a teacher of the Deaf. There is also an interpreter present in the classroom
for the novel study class, because the teacher cannot sign and read simultaneously (Appendix A).
In integrated classes where Deaf students learn alongside their hearing peers an educational
assistant serves the role of interpreter. There are two Deaf special needs assistants (SNAs) and one
Deaf educational assistant (EA). The Deaf EA is the most senior Deaf staff member. The remaining
EAs and SNAs are hearing. Two members of the schools non-teaching staff are also Deaf (Appendix
A).

2.2 Lived Experience of Students

The Deaf student population at Faywood is approximately 35, of a student population of
approximately 450 [5]. The Deaf student body at Faywood is composed almost exclusively of new
Canadians, almost all of whom did not have access to a spoken or signed language in their home
countries (Appendix A). It has become standard medical practice in Canada to test for hearing loss at
birth. The considerable majority of children with profound hearing loss receive cochlear implants,
medical devices which can give the Deaf a sense of sound, and the ability to interpret speech, very
early in life (Appendix A). They are then integrated into mainstream hearing classrooms, a practice
referred to as mainstreaming [6].

Figure 2: Child implanted with a cochlear implant.

This process is a separate issue of intense political controversy in the Deaf community [6, 7, 8].
The result of this practice is that children who present the need for an intensely supported sign

3
language environment were born outside of Canada, do not have access to a signed or spoken
language at home, did not have access to much formal language or learning before their arrival in
Canada (even if nominally they should have), or have special learning needs beyond their Deafness
(Appendix A) [9].

The students at Faywood find themselves in a particularly challenging situation. Their parents,
being recent immigrants with few resources, usually do not know how to sign or otherwise
communicate with them. The overwhelming majority receive no exposure to language at all outside
of school. The physical distance that separates the Deaf students homes isolates them from children
their age outside of school, because they are often unable to socialize with hearing children. The
children may also be put under pressure by their parents to speak, or to speech-read, and their
families typically do not have a full understanding of the depth or significance of Deaf culture or ASL.
Exposure to notions of self-esteem, family values, and culture at home is usually lacking, which means
the students are sometimes unaware of their religion, culture and heritage beyond what they are
taught at school. The accessibility of the school environment thus becomes extremely important,
because it is the only environment in which these students receive any kind of communication,
language exposure, or equitable treatment (Appendix A).
2.3 The Deaf Community in Toronto
There are approximately 357,000 DHH Canadians. The collection of statistics on the
Deaf population has been problematic for
historical and political reasons [11]. Thus, there
are no accurate statistics available regarding the
size of the Deaf community in Toronto. The Deaf
community in the City is supported by several
organizations. The first is the Canadian Hearing
Society (CHS) which provides interpreting,
audiological and some medical services to the
Deaf community in the City [12]. The second are
Ernest C. Drury and Trillium Provincial Schools
for the Deaf [13, 6]. Although they are in Milton,
Provincial Deaf schools are central to the
transmission of Deaf culture and language, and
provide an immersive,
residential signing environment for Deaf
students. The residential schools touch upon a
central aspect of the Deaf cultural experience;
90% of Deaf children are born to hearing
parents [6]. Unlike most cultures that use
familial and hereditary ties to transmit the
shared norms, beliefs and practices, is almost
exclusively transmitted in formal environments
(such as Deaf ASL school programs) or
informally from a Deaf adult to a Deaf youth who do not share familial ties [6]. The third important
actor is the Faywood ABC School, which is the central community concerned in this document. The
fourth is the Deaf Culture Centre, which houses a gallery for Deaf artists, provides online ASL
services, and otherwise promotes and facilitates the spread of Deaf Culture [14].

4
2.4 American Sign Language
American Sign Language (ASL) and Langue des Signes Quebecoise (LSQ) are the two main sign
languages used by the Deaf community in Canada. There are some minority signers (some Brazilian
Sign and Jamaican ASL variant are signed by students at Faywood for example), but ASL is the sign
language of choice in anglophone Canada. Any sign language communication with the Deaf
community in Toronto should take place in ASL [14]. ASL is a visual-manual language that combines
movement and handshape to convey meaning [7]. It has a unique syntax and grammar, which differs
greatly from English [14]. Signed English, which can be used to help students lipread and follow oral
speech, is different from ASL, and is not considered a language in its own right, but rather a bridge
language to aid the Deaf in their comprehension of English (Appendix A). There are two common,
often conflicting, approaches to Deaf education. The first is the oralist approach, which emphasizes
speech therapy and speechreading. Oralism discourages the use of sign language, and often promotes
a disability perspective on Deafness, as opposed to a cultural one [7, 6]. The second is the bilingual
approach, which emphasizes ASL as a first-language, and written English skills. This approach
regards speaking and speech-reading ability as secondary to the development of ASL and literacy
skills, and is the approach embraced by the Deaf community and Faywood ABC School [7] (Appendix
A).

Figure 4: Image indicating the sign for gymnasium posted on the gym door at Faywood.

5
3 Stakeholders
The stakeholders identified in this section are organized into direct and indirect, categories based on
a PMBOK Analysis. The power and interest that each stakeholder possesses was evaluated and used
to categorize them, as well as the extent to which each stakeholder will be affected [15].

3.1 Direct Stakeholders

Students (S1) (High Interest, Low Power)
The DHH students of the Faywood ABC School rely on the staff to both teach and provide information.
Yet many of the methods of communication in the school are not accessible to these students. The
students are unable to independently receive information that concerns them and this hinders their
ability to learn and develop.

Staff (S2)
Non-signing but hearing teachers (Low Interest, High Power) : Specific DHH classes are taught by
hearing teachers who are not proficient in ASL. Thus teachers require the interpreter to act as a
medium of communication outside of writing, which hinders communication between the teacher
and the students. These teachers have a stake in developing more direct means of communication
with the DHH students to improve the quality of their students experience.

Hearing but signing teachers (High Interest, High Power): Hearing teachers who are proficient in ASL,
are obligated to translate audible information for the DHH students. This results with constant
interruptions, most notably from the schools public address system, which is not accessible to DHH
students. The teachers benefit because of a potential reduction in interruptions.

Deaf staff (High Interest, Low power): Deaf staff do not have access to the information that is vocally
communicated in the school. Like the non-signing, hearing teachers, deaf teachers also rely on
interpreters, except the interpreters communicate audible information. Improving accessibility for
deaf teachers would provide them with more autonomous access to this information.

Interpreters (High Interest, Low Power): The interpreters connect the DHH and hearing within the
school. Improving communication between these two groups will reduce the number of
responsibilities they hold.

Administration (Low Interest, High Power): The administrative staff includes hearing individuals who
cannot sign. It is difficult for them to inform the DHH community at the school of information due to
the spoken public announcements. This design opportunity will smoothen the communication
between the administration, and the DHH students and faculty.

6
3.2 Indirect Stakeholders
Parents (S3) (Low Interest, High Power)
The parents of the DHH students attempt to provide the best opportunities to their children by
enrolling them in the Faywood ABC School. Improvements to the lived experience of the students
would be of emotional and material benefit to these parents through their children. These
stakeholder also hold ultimate power over any part of the project that reaches beyond the walls of
the school, and are thus of immediate concern.

The Faywood ABC School (S4) (Low Interest, Low Power)

The physical Faywood School itself is also stakeholder in this design opportunity. Whatever system
is designed for the school needs to be integrated into the existing building/classroom settings. Thus
the physical school building itself is a stakeholder as it will be changed by the outcome of the design
process.

7
4 The Opportunity
4.1 Opportunity Scoping
As previously stated, the presented opportunity is to design an accessible, effective, low-cost, and
low-maintenance system that enables Deaf students and staff to independently access the
information broadcast through announcements. This is the opportunity presented because it is the
main concern of the staff and students at Faywood ABC, who are the central stakeholders of this RFP
(Appendix A). External resources validated this opportunity, as both the Canadian Hearing Society
and a study published by Munoz-Baell et. Al. in the 2008 edition of the International Journal of
inclusive Education identify the inaccessibility of announcements in Deaf education programs as a
serious weakness in such programs [1][2]. The journal cites that a lack of complete linguistic
environment results in students not having access to all available information, thus detracting from
the learning environment. This is the case at Faywood ABC [2].

Issues associated with the learning limitations of Deaf students or their lives at home with
their families is not the place for engineering design in this context - it would be difficult to reach
into the individual circumstances of each childs home for the purposes of this project. For this
reason, these issues within the school have been excluded from the opportunity.
4.2 Engineering Design Space
The overarching issue at Faywood ABC is the communication barrier that Deaf students and teachers
face. Within the classroom, Deaf students and teachers are limited by the capabilities of ASL to
communicate with each other and it is difficult to have classroom discussions. ASL is a purely visual
language, and so only one conversation can be followed at a time. This also makes activities such as
novel study difficult for teachers, as teachers cannot sign while holding a book in their hands
(Appendix A). An interpreter is necessary during activities such as these. The school employs a
flashing-light system that acts as a visual way for students and teachers to know when a bell rings.
However, these lights only exist within the school and at the front door. If a Deaf student or teacher
is outside, they have no indication of when a bell is ringing. This RFP addresses the inaccessibility of
the announcements, which is a specific aspect of the design space at Faywood.

8
Figure 5: Announcement speaker in deaf classroom at Faywood. White and blue lights in the bottom
corners flash based on announcement type.

9
5 Engineering Design Model
5.1 Increase independence in communication for Deaf students and staff (S1, S2, &
S4). (HL1)

Objectives Metric

Reduce the dependence of Deaf students on

interpreters for the purposes of
announcements.
Increase the number of opportunities for Deaf
students to autonomously receive
information.
Percentage of announcements that require an
interpreter for Deaf students in a Deaf
classroom, measured as the duration of
announcements requiring interpretation over
the total duration of announcements made in a
measured time period (%).

Criterion Constraint

A lower percentage is preferred. The percentage should be below 100%.

Justification of Objective

Teacher Sharon Mitchell and educational assistant Florence Paglioria emphasized that the current
announcement system is inaccessible for the students. The announcements force them to rely on
interpreters and act as a direct obstacle to their right to be autonomous (Appendix A). This
objective empowers students to independently receive information from announcements, thereby
enabling them to be more autonomous.

Justification of Metric

A measure of the percentage of announcements that require an interpreter directly evaluates how
reliant Deaf students are on interpreters to receive announcements. A lower percentage indicates
that Deaf students are autonomously receiving the announcements more often. The number and
duration of announcements varies day by day, making a direct count inconsistent. Percentage is
used as the unit for this metric to circumvent the issue.

10
 Justification of Constraint

The current public announcement (PA) system at the Faywood ABC School requires each
announcement to be interpreted to Deaf classrooms (Appendix A). As such, the current standard is set
as the constraint (100%).

Enhance the delivery of information from the school to Deaf students (S1, S2, S3 &
S4). (HL2)
Objectives Metric

Number of intermediaries information from the

Make information directly accessible to Deaf office must transfer through before reaching the
students and staff. intended audience.

Criterion Constraint

A lower number of intermediaries is preferred. The number of intermediaries should not exceed
1.

Justification of Objective

When meeting with teacher Sharon Mitchell, she revealed that the number of intermediaries
introduces a concern. An increased number of intermediaries increases the amount of information
lost in interpretation and is the result of inaccessible systems (Appendix A). This objective not only
increases the accuracy of received information of Deaf stakeholders but also creates a more
accessible system.

Justification of Metric

The number of intermediaries will directly measure how many times information is transferred
before reaching its intended audience. This measures the reliance of the Deaf students on third
parties to communicate the announcements.

Justification of Constraint

11
The constraint was mutually decided upon after discussions with Elizabeth Schaeffer and Sharon
Mitchell (Appendix A).

Objectives Metric

Increase retention of relevant information from Percentage of topics and points remembered
announcements. from announcements, measured through a
survey and a controlled set of announcements
(%).

Criterion Constraint

A higher percentage of topics and points The percentage of topics remembered must
remembered is preferred. exceed 30%.

Justification of Objective

Educational assistant Florence Paglioria noted how non-oral announcements are difficult for students
to interpret quickly, due to limits on student reading ability (Appendix A). Setting this objective ensures
that information loss is minimized. Sharon Mitchell also stated that many of the students have
development issues that affect memory (Appendix A). This objective opens the possibility of addressing
this problem as well.

Justification of Metric

A controlled set of announcements and a survey will enable the information retention to be directly
measured. Setting the units to percentage rather than a numerical value allows measurements to be
compared to the Dales Cone of Experience Model, and thus compared to the constraint.

Justification of Constraint

The constraint is based on the Dales Cone of Experience Model as presented by Heidi Milia of the
University of Kentucky. According to the model, 30% of what is seen is remembered. This model does
not directly address gustatory or olfactory educational methods [16].

12
 5.2 Improve the classroom experience of students and staff (S1, S2, & S3).
(HL3)

Objectives Metric

Minimize amount of work staff commit to Time spent by working staff to prepare morning
announcements. announcements (minutes)

Criterion Constraint

A lower amount of time is preferred. The time spent by working staff preparing
morning announcements should not exceed 10
minutes.

Justification of Objective

Elizabeth Schaeffer emphasized that the primary barrier preventing the transfer of the successful
system from the Davisville Junior Public School to Faywood ABC School is the lack of incentive from
staff to volunteer time every morning to prepare the accessible announcements (Appendix A).
This objective addresses this obstacle.

Justification of Metric

The time spent by working staff on announcements is chosen as the metric for this objective because it
inversely correlates to the willingness for working staff to volunteer their time.

Justification of Constraint

The Faywood ABC School administration spends approximately 10 minutes daily preparing the
morning announcements (Appendix A). Retaining the time commitment will minimize the
disincentive preparing the announcements has for working staff.

13
Objectives Metric

Effectively integrates into the existing Average number of daily interruptions in Deaf
classroom environment. classrooms.

Reduce the number and frequency of

interruptions in Deaf classrooms.

Criterion Constraint

A lower number of interruptions is preferred. The average number of daily interruptions must
not exceed 4.3.

Justification of Objective

According to principal Elizabeth Schaeffer, the primary concern regarding the current announcement
system is that Deaf students cannot independently receive information from the announcements. As
a result, the interpreter must interpret each announcement, forcing the interpreter to stop
communicating the lessons and thereby causing delays in Deaf classrooms that hearing classes do
not experience (Appendix A). Thus, an effective integration is necessary to minimize the number of
interruptions. The legitimacy of this issue has been corroborated by principal Shaeffer, teacher
Sharon Mitchell, and educational assistant Florence Paglioria (Appendix A).

Justification of Metric

The impact of disruptions can be measured by the average number of daily interruptions. The number
of interruptions directly measures the frequency of interruptions in Deaf classrooms. This metric also
acts as a suitable measure for how effectively the solution is integrated because an effectively integrated
solution minimizes the number of interruptions.

Justification of Constraint

According to a study performed by Lawrence J. Leonard, Dean of the College of Education at Louisiana
Tech University, the number of daily interruptions in a hearing classroom at the middle school level is
approximately 4.3 [17]. The goal of this design opportunity is to reduce the number of interruptions
caused by the PA system in Deaf classrooms to 0. Accomplishing this effectively equalizes the number
of interruptions in a Deaf classroom to that of a hearing classroom. Thus the constraint is set to the mean
number of interruptions in a hearing classroom because having equal 14 averages implies that there
are no interruptions caused by non-accessible PA systems.

14
 .

Objectives Metric

Create an intuitive means of communication Score on the Quesi Questionnaire.

that minimizes the amount of required
instruction.

Criterion Constraint

A higher score is preferred. The average score must exceed 4.

Justification of Objective

Creating an intuitive solution enables the staff to continue using the system. Principal Shaeffer has
specifically requested the solution to be easy to use and intuitive.

Justification of Metric

The Quesi Questionnaire, developed by Dr. Anja Naumann and Professor Jorn Hurtienne of the
Technical University of Berlin and Cambridge University respectively, is a questionnaire used to
evaluate the intuitiveness of a product. Although created with mobile devices in mind, it has been
designed to apply to any product [18].

Justification of Constraint

An average score of 4 is set as a constraint because a 4 is the minimal score that indicates a that a product
is intuitive [18].

5.3 Develop a low-cost, low-maintenance system in a timely manner (S2 & S4). (HL4)
Objectives Metric

Minimize cost of development and Cost of implemented solution (CAD).

implementation of system.

Criterion Constraint

A lower cost is preferred. The cost must not exceed $1,000.

15
 .

Justification of Objective

Elizabeth Schaeffer and Sharon Mitchell have both stated that the parents of the students attending
Faywood ABC School are of lower economic standing (Appendix A). Thus, the school does not have
expansive excess funds to dedicate to a possible solution.

Justification of Metric

The units chosen for monetary cost is Canadian Dollars (CAD) because the school is situated in Canada.

Justification of Constraint

Principal Schaeffer has provided a constraint of $1,000 for the purchase of new technology/hardware
and has indicated that no money would be allocated to the purchase of software solutions (Appendix A).

Objectives Metric

Minimize the need for regular technical Mean time between failure (months).
support of the system.

Create a long-term solution.

Criterion Constraint

A greater period of time is preferred. The system should be functional for 1 academic
year (296 days) before maintenance is required
[5].

Justification of Objective

Elizabeth Schaeffer said that the staff at Faywood ABC School are not technologically proficient. The
fact that the installed televisions only have HDMI compatibility while the school itself lacks the
proper wiring to carry such a signal indicates that the schools available resources are unreliable.
Furthermore, maintenance will include costs, and the school does not have the income to fund
numerous maintenances (Appendix A). This objective will minimize the need for the school to
request assistance or resolve the issue themselves.

Justification of Metric

Mean time between failure is the predicted period of time between failures of a product during
operation. Wendy Torell and Victor Avelar have described it to be a reliability term
used...throughout many industries [19]. For this opportunity, the mean time between failure can be
used to determine the durability of possible solutions. The mean time between failure can be
measured using a parts count analysis and a parts strain analysis [19].

16
 .

Justification of Constraint

Principal Elizabeth Schaeffer stated that she would prefer to perform maintenance work during the
summer vacation period rather than during the school year to minimize disruptions to the school
(Appendix A). The period between summer vacation periods is 1 academic year or 296 days for the
Faywood ABC School [5].

6 Reference Designs
6.1 Previously Applied Solution
When the Metro School for the Deaf was in Davisville Junior Public School, the morning
announcements for Deaf students were created by having volunteer staff and students broadcast a
video of the announcements each morning (Appendix A). The video consisted of a hearing student
reading the announcements for the hearing students while a Deaf student signed them for Deaf
students both performed off of a script written every morning. This required both of the students
to be trained in the task. This method of producing accessible announcements required a significant
time commitment from the students and teachers because they had to come into school early every
morning to record the videos. Due to almost all of the Deaf students at Faywood living outside the
nearby area, this is a difficult task to accomplish. Coupled with the fact that none of the staff are willing
to take on the extra responsibility, this solution is infeasible.

6.2 Current Announcements System

The current announcement system at Faywood is a typical PA system the announcements are read
over the public address system every morning orally (Appendix A). In Deaf classrooms, this provides
a challenge because the flow of classroom activities are interrupted by frequent announcements that
are often irrelevant for the students at hand. Teachers and interpreters must manually interpret and
sign the announcements to the students. To worsen matters, not all teachers are fluent in ASL and
interpreters are not always present.

Figure 6: Current announcements solution at Faywood School showing equipment used for
broadcasting audio announcements.

17
 .

6.3 Text Announcements

Current Toronto District School Board policy is for all Deaf staff to be issued Blackberry devices for
the purpose of making important information and announcements accessible to these individuals
(Appendix A). All announcements that are played over the PA system are supposed to be sent to each
Deaf staff member through text messaging. The issue with this system is that announcements are
currently not being texted out by the administration other than for fire drill notifications. This is
primarily due to the extra work associated with having to send out a text message to all Deaf staff for
each announcement made in the school. Another issue is that while SMS-based announcements
would provide staff with convenient access to information, this type of solution would not be
applicable to the students as many of them do not have their own cell phones.

6.4 Deaf & Blind School Emergency Management & Security System (DBSEM)
The DBSEM was designed as a specialized communications platform for use in Deaf schools [20]. Its
functionality relates to the distribution of information to Deaf students and revolves around the use
of visual displays to transmit information. All audio announcements made with the DBSEM are
displayed textually on screens in hallways and classrooms that can be read by Deaf students and staff.
An advantage of this solution is its ability to be integrated into the existing technology in the school
only requiring either LED screens with scrolling text or LCD monitors/TVs. While there are TVs
installed in each Deaf classroom, the current wiring infrastructure within the Faywood ABC School
does not support an HDMI signal the input required for the TVs thereby rendering the TVs
unusable. In the current state, for the school to effectively implement the DBSEM, it would require
either an overhaul of the building wiring or the purchase and installation of new screens in all deaf
classrooms. Both of these options place the solution beyond the acceptable budget for the project.

Figure 7: Graphic Symbol of DBSEM.

18
 .

6.5 iCommunicator
iCommunicator is a real-time software interpreter designed specifically to aid communication for
the Deaf community [21]. It is a complete communications
package that uses voice-recognition technology to interpret
speech into both text and animated ASL or simply converts
typed text into ASL. Using this functionality, the script
written for daily announcements at Faywood school can be
used to create an interpreted ASL version of the
announcements that can be displayed on the SMART Board
present in all of the Deaf classrooms. Because this solu- tion
displays information in ASL, it has advantages over
Figure 8: The iCommunicator Interface
any other visual solution. However, the ASL interpreted by the software is not of proper ASL structure
but merely signs in English word order, making it difficult for students to understand. The issue
arises from the differing grammar structures between ASL and English. In addition, the cost of the
iCommunicator software package is $5000 USD, which is in excess of the budget allocated to this
project by the administration.

6.6 Summary of Reference Designs

Given the above reference designs, it becomes clear that no single existing design is capable of
fulfilling all of the objectives and requirements of this design opportunity. Many of the specialized
products in this space present fully fledged and elegant solutions to the problem of improving
communication within a Deaf education environment but require dedicated technology or equipment
that places it beyond the economic constraints of the Faywood ABC School. On the other hand, both
previously applied and current announcement systems have fundamental issues leading to their
failure and thus point to the key areas that must be addressed by potential solutions.

7 Conclusion
This report presents the engineering design opportunity to develop an accessible announcement
system for the Deaf students and staff at the Faywood ABC School. The current auditory
announcement system forces the Deaf community within the school to rely on interpretation to
receive the information from the announcements. The ideal design solution would enable Deaf
students and staff to directly acquire information from the announcements without the need for
interpretation, allowing for a higher level of independence within the Deaf classrooms. Principal
Elizabeth Schaeffer, Deaf Program teacher Sharon Mitchell, Educational Assistant Florence Paglioria,
and the other staff at Faywood are prepared to work with all responding design teams in order to
develop viable solutions to this opportunity.

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Appendix A Field Notes

January 31, 2017
Met with Elizabeth Shaeffer, Principal

5 classes of deaf/ hard-of-hearing

Come from all over the city-its a challenge for students to get to the school

Some students commute for over an hour

Students cannot hear the announcements

Rely on interpretation to convey announcements to students

Only school in the city for the deaf

Faywood is the new home of the Metro School for the Deaf, which was previously located at
Davisville Public School

Students use Google Hangouts for social interactions

Sharon Mitchell, Deaf teacher, joined meeting

Low literacy level in students( Varying levels of ability)

Smart Boards in all classrooms

Announcements are less dependent on pre-recorded videos

Deaf students also think the announcements are an issue

Currently teachers interpret announcements for students

No interest by staff to pre-record announcements

Deaf classes have 8-10 students

Kids that can partially hear are usually mainstreamed

Teacher (Sharon) believes in signing and speaking English at the same time (uses Signed
English as a bridge between English and ASL)

Interpreter support within classroom

ASL literacy can also be low (varying levels of ability)

Some hearing students are learning ASL

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The interpreter asked for us to be more specific when speaking (because she couldnt sign
exactly what we were speaking due to the differences in English and ASL) February 7, 2017

Lights alert class to announcements

Interpreter is only in the classroom for novel study

Announcements force teachers to sign unexpectedly

Florence (a deaf Education Assistant) cant hear the announcements (and therefore cant
convey them to students)

At previous Metro School for the Deaf, announcements were closed captions

Gesture to get attention of others

Undivided attention is important in communication

The school has integrated geography, math, history, and English classes

Some students have deaf siblings very few have deaf parents/parents who know how to sign

Families of Deaf students are often of lower income

Many students are new Canadians (one is from Jamaica and one is Brazil), and did not have
access to any previous form of communication

Some students have Cochlear Implants - Helps to increase hearing capabilities of DHH students

Students crave being able to communicate with a deaf adult (their teachers) Daily Moth, DPAN
( deaf information sources on youtube and tv)

This kind of information can be difficult to find for students to find on their own

Staff at Faywood (3 interpreters-2 of which are deaf, 4 EAs-1 of which is deaf, 2 deaf Special
Needs Assistant)

February 14, 2017

$1000 budget for hardware

Increase staff capacity to use technology to eliminate communication barriers between

students and staff

Must be usable by someone already within the school

Maintenance preferred to be performed during summer vacation

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Project must be completed by the end of the school year

Could you use a survey with the students to see the effectiveness of the system?

Observed ASL lesson with class

Lessons incorporate teaching regarding accessibility

Announcements happen at 8:50 am

Staff spend about 10 minutes preparing announcements in the morning

Announcements throughout the day are often unrelated to the Deaf classes, but time must be
taken to interpret the message anyways

Announcements go through many mediums in order to get to the students

Sharon said that

TVs present in each class, however they do not work due to faulty wiring

Approximately 12 announcement interruptions everyday (as explained by Sharon)

Every deaf teacher is supplied with a blackberry that the announcements are supposed to be
relayed to, but the administration does not follow through with this.

Students have conversations amongst themselves in ASL while the lesson is happening

Webpages on the Smart Boards took long to load, potentially slow wifi

If the parents cannot sign, the students get no language exposure at home

Some of the parents are not supportive of their children accessing an ASL environment - want
them to attend oral programs

Students have no Deaf friends in their community, rarely get to see other Deaf peers outside of
school

Lesson teaching them to stand up for their rights, students dont learn self-advocacy at home

Students get no exposure to family values or culture at home

Sharon said that the students tell her everything because they have no one to tell at home
(due to not being able to communicate with their parents)

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Appendix B Important Contacts

Principal: Elizabeth Schaeffer: elizabeth.schaeffer@tdsb.on.ca
Grade 5-6 Teacher: Sharon Mitchell: sharon.mitchell@tdsb.on.ca
Grade 7-8 Teacher: Sarah DiGiuseppe: sarah.digiuseppe@tdsb.on.ca
Interpreter: Kimberly McCallum: Kimberly.mccallum@tdsb.on.ca

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Appendix C - Select Correspondence

From: Elizabeth Schaeffer
To: AO Designs
Hi guys, We do not have an IT department. That would be me.
E

From: AO Designs
To: Elizabeth Schaeffer
Hi all,
The team has a lot to think about from last weeks visit. I have included a link to a Google doc where
we are exploring our various design ideas and important observations. We would like to invite you
to jot down any ideas you have on this document. The team will update the document regularly (the
document will grow much larger as the project develops).
We will not be the only team working with the school if we are selected. Our team is thus trying
to frame a concept broad enough to allow the other engineers room to operate while capturing the
concerns and ideas that have been expressed thus far.
Thus, the Google doc is structured under one big theme, and weve broken down potential ideas
and solutions under that theme. Add additional themes/ideas as you see fit.
As for times, next week Thursday morning would be ideal, and Tuesday morning is not possible
(we have another midterm). Please let us know if Thursday works; if it does not, please tell us the
times that do.
A request: could you give us a contact email for the schools IT department? Some technical
information from them about the schools network would be invaluable. We would also like to meet
with them if possible.
Google doc link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19qqAoIKQ04MJgd0A1SvvOkaZulNV52WMlCBG1vF_
okM/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you,
Kamran, Jay, Jake and Yanchen.

From: Kamran Ramji

Thu 2017-01-26 9:27 AM
To: Schaeffer, Elizabeth [Elizabeth.Schaeffer@tdsb.on.ca]; Sounds good,
see you then!

From: Schaeffer, Elizabeth Elizabeth.Schaeffer@tdsb.on.ca

Sent: January 26, 2017 7:35:49 AM
To: Kamran Ramji
Cc: Mitchell, Sharon
Subject: RE: Praxis Design Team
Great. How about 9am on Monday? E

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To: Schaeffer, Elizabeth

Subject: Re: Praxis Design Team
Hi Elizabeth,
Definitely. Anytime until 12:30 on Monday, 10:30am on Tuesday and Thursday, and after 4:30pm on
Friday. The half-hour takes into account the travel time to/from the school (i.e. my classes start at 1
on Monday). I could also come after 6:30pm any other weekday, but I assumed that was not a viable
option.
If none of these times work, I can see if a teammate has alternate times available, but I would
most likely not be present at that meeting, if that becomes the case (depending on the class I would
have to skip).
If you would like to arrange a phone call in the meanwhile, that would be great. My phone
number is 416-768-4337. Let me know what time you will be calling, if you decide to.
Thank you,
Kamran Ramji.

From: Schaeffer, Elizabeth [Elizabeth.Schaeffer@tdsb.on.ca]

Sent: January 25, 2017 12:53:24 PM
To: Kamran Ramji
Subject: RE: Praxis Design Team
Hi
I am unfortunately not available at those times. Can you suggest some times for next week? E

From: Kamran Ramji

To: Schaeffer, Elizabeth
Subject: Re: Praxis Design Team
Hi Elizabeth,
Your response has the whole team excited, we really look forward to working with you.
Being engineering students, we have quite tight class schedules. We would strongly prefer to
meet on Thursday morning (tomorrow), or Friday after 4.
If that is not possible (because you undoubtedly have a busy schedule as well), we will be happy
to meet with you at a time that works for you.
Thanks,
Kamran Ramji.

From: Schaeffer, Elizabeth [Elizabeth.Schaeffer@tdsb.on.ca]

Sent: January 25, 2017 9:24:08 AM
To: Kamran Ramji
Cc: Mitchell, Sharon; DiGiuseppe, Sarah
Subject: RE: Praxis Design Team
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Hello Kamran,
I would be interested in having a discussion with you about how our students could be involved.
We have a yearly stem showcase in which students are tasked with designing something...perhaps we
could find ways to mutually support each others goals. I would be happy to meet with you,
Elizabeth Schaeffer
Principal, Faywood ABC School

From: Kamran Ramji [kamran.ramji@mail.utoronto.ca]

Sent: January 25, 2017 2:03 AM
To: Schaeffer, Elizabeth
Subject: Praxis Design Team
Dear Elizabeth,
My name is Kamran Ramji, and I am an engineering student at the University of Toronto. I am
part of a design team exploring design opportunities in various communities in the GTA.
We are interested in designing for the deaf community. We learnt that your school hosts the
Metro School for the Deaf, and we would be delighted to have the opportunity to engage with your
school.
This design project is taking place under the aegis of the Praxis design course. You can view
some of the previous projects here: http://engsci.utoronto.ca/explore_our_program/ esc102showcase/.
If you would like to engage with us, our next step would be to arrange a meeting between
yourself and our team. An opportunity for classroom observation would also be advantageous later
on during the project.
I hope to hear from you soon, Kamran Ramji.

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