Romana Kolar, Katja Kastelic, Veronika Ciglar, Zavod za gluhe in naglušne Ljubljana, Srednja šola

Sign language is the first language of the majority of deaf people. Therefore the lessons at the Centre for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Ljubljana are conducted in the Slovenian Sign Language (SSL), either by the teachers who are fluent in the SSL or with the support of sign language interpreters.

The weakness of sign languages is that they cannot be easily notated on paper. Homework, written practice, tests and assignments usually require written records in the Slovene language. In our ICT courses/modules, we started a new project in which we exploit the strengths of new technologies and enable deaf and hard-of-hearing users of Sign Language to submit their assignments recorded in Sign Language. Following last year’s introduction of the Sign Language Glossary of computer terms in SSL we have made a step forward towards a common goal, to enable deaf people to communicate in their sign language wherever possible. In their on-line classroom, the students can find their homework instructions recorded in the SSL, and then using a camera on any mobile device, or through a web camera on their computer record their answers or assignments and submit them in the on-line classroom. The students have been interested in the novelty which has already resulted in a higher quality of their assignments. This method has also been used by other students who have difficulties in the area of writing skills. In the future, we want to be able to assess knowledge by video recordings in the Slovenian Sign Language instead of written tests.