Empowering Young People with Disability through STEM and Online
Education Sang-Mook Lee Seoul National University [email protected]
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Outline A brief history of myself Fame brings power to change
things Computer is god's gift to people with disability Quality of
Life Technology Initiative Computational Sciences as path to STEM
Open Online Education (e.g., MOOC) 2
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During geological field trip in California, 2006 4
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5 Completely Paralyzed Neck Down Thanks God I'm a college
professor
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6 I have no recollection of that day. Was it really an
accident?
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7 They did not think that I would speak again.
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No depression or psychological problem: Near-death experience
or damage to the brain? A quick return back to the society thru
Occupational Therapy and Assistive Technology
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Special input device Speech recognition Modified vehicle
Computer is gods gift to disabled people. The gap between people is
reduced in cyber-space. 9
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Stephen Hawking of Korea and chance to do something Ministry of
Knowledge Economy and Quality of Life Technology 10
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0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000
196019651970197519801985199019952000 PIB real per capita (2000 US$)
Sud Corea Brazil Diferena em resultado devido a crescimento no
trabalho e no capital na Coria Diferena em resultado devido a
crescimento TFP ou a acmulo de conhecimento na Coria GDP per
Capita: Brazil versus Korea Source: FRA Report 11
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At the center of Knowledge Economy is Information and
Communication Technology The same technology we use daily can be
used to solve important problems facing our society such as
inclusion and diversity. Three Major Difficulties of People with
Disability Economic hardship Inclusion in society Strain in family
relationship Independent Living Assistive Technology &
Education Leading to Job 12
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13 Quality of Life Technology Initiative launched by the
government in 2010
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Quality of Life Technology Research & Development -
Accessible vehicles - Personalized cellphones & software -
Exercise & health monitoring devices - Exoskeleton robots -
Korean speech recognitions & AACs Infrastructure & Human
Res. Development - UX/UI, infrastructural R&D - Advanced ICT
training - Precollege activities, mentoring - Undergrad program in
Computational Sciences - Grad prog in Rehabilitation Science &
Technology
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15 Controlling IPTV with sip- and-puff mouse Using touch screen
device with sip-and-puff mouse
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Quality of Life Technology Research & Development -
Accessible vehicles - Personalized cellphones & software -
Exercise & health monitoring devices - Exoskeleton robots -
Korean speech recognitions & AACs Infrastructure & Human
Res. Development - UX/UI, infrastructural R&D - Advanced ICT
training - Precollege activities, mentoring - Undergrad program in
Computational Sciences - Grad prog in Rehabilitation Science &
Technology
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What comes to your mind when I say Computational Sciences?
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Science is all about observation and experiment. But some
things are impractical to observe or conduct direct measurement. In
such case, we use computer to simulate natural phenomena.
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Weather, Climate Finance, Economy Social Movie, Cultural Life
Sciences Air, Space Environment
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Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Program in Computational
Sciences Numerical Analysis Data Science (Big Data, Bioinformatics)
Graphics & Visualization 20
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At Seoul National University Currently 30 students (5 with
disability) 2% quota in elite science and fine art high schools in
Metropolitan Seoul (Admission of 30 students with disability every
year) 21
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22 MOOC
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Online Education For nondisabled people, its effectiveness can
be debated and is an option For people with disability, it can
sometimes be the only solution Assumptions: Online education is a
headache for established universities 99% of Koreans are disabled
when it comes to listening English lectures (language barrier)
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Disability is diverse so there cannot be one-size-fits-all
solution. But two important questions: How do you teach a blind
person math? superb memory and logical How do you teach a deaf
person English? 24
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Equations are two-dimensional Dynamic webpages updating all the
time 25
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LaTex? MathML? You have to start training at an early age.
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QoLTx: New accessible solution Goal: To provide foundational
courses for student with disability across the border Starting with
edX platform (Ruby and Python) and improving its accessibility
Making courses at precollege, freshman and sophomore levels
(science, engineering and math) Multilingual (Korean, English and
Arabic) Creating new jobs for people with disability Off-line
voluntary services (academic Peace Corps) to developing countries
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28 To make it global, we have to follow international standards
and develop new technology.
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My Vision By making online education accessible and
multilingual, we might be able to help not only people with
disability but also women in developing countries. 29