gamegame22WORKWORKGames to help those with an

intellectual disabilities become game to work

Greg Carey

University of Canberra 04/12/2006

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40% of South Australian students who left school in 2005 were not in full time employment or further study by May

Dusseldorp Skills Forum, 2006Front Page Advertiser 11/11/2006

WORK IS KEY, NOT A DEGREE”Chris Robinson (DECS CEO)

Front page Advertiser 4/11/2006

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What is needed for those with an intellectual

disability to be game2WORK ?

gamegame22WORKWORKEmerging factors:• skills can be more easily taught in the workplace

• other factors may be much more important in preparing new employees for a successful

transition into the workplace (Black & Langone, 1997; Elksnin, 1993; Kright, 1999; Wehmeyer, Agran, & Hughes, 1998; Worth,

2003)

Non-cognitive factors may be more important than the cognitive aspects traditionally addressed by the education and training system (Cherniss, 2000 Greenspan & Granfield, 1992 ).

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HOWEVERthe skills acquired may not be generalised

by the learner, or they may quickly become obsolete and

redundant (Daniel, Schwier, & McCalla, 2003).

Education and training groups have developed social skills

programs to explicitly teach knowledge

and skills

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Social Awareness teaching aims to help learner gain

tacit knowledge drawn from experience

Programs which aims to develop tacit knowledge

are less likely to become obsolete and redundant (Daniel et al., 2003; Dourish & Bellotti, 1992, Solenkemp, 1999)

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Workplace Social Capital (Daniel et al., 2003)

Networks of strong personal relationships that develop:• trust, • cooperation and • collective action (Jacobs, 1965)

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• information exchange,

• knowledge sharing, and

• knowledge construction

(Luke, 2003))

In the workplace this means:

gamegame22WORKWORKWorkplace Social Capital - 3 types of

relationship building :

• Bonding - establishing relationships with people who have similar roles.

• Bridging - establishing relationships with people who are in different roles or situations.

• Linking - establishing relationships with people in power.

(Woolcock, 1998)

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The failure of many existing programs may be due to

• the traditional concentration on explicit social skills training (Daniel et al., 2003)

• rather than the development of tacit social awareness (Sohlenkemp, 1999)

• Linked to this is the difficulty in assessing personal attributes andthe complexity of reporting these skills to employers (Pardy, 2004)

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• Knowledge• Skills• Attitude• Awareness

How do they fit together?

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Knowledge + Skills = Aptitude

Aptitude + Attitude = Ability

Ability + Awareness = Achievement

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Knowledge + Skills = Aptitude

This has been the typical approach by education and training organisations

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Knowledge + Attitude = Ability

Some Education and training authorities have look to this area,

but most programs have relied on outside influences

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Ability + Awareness = Achievement

Education and training authroties have not addressed this aspect.

gamegame22WORKWORKAwareness is the ability to recognise

and mediate a situation using past (“conceptial mediation”)

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The next step in my research:

How can games develop this awareness?

(In particular scenario based computer simulations)

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Supporting those with an intellectual disabilities become

game to work

Greg Carey

University of Canberra 04/12/2006

ReferencesReferences• Black, R. S., & Langone, J. (1997). Social awareness and transition to employment for adolescents

with mental retardation. Remedial and Special Education, 18(4), 214.• Carey, G. J. P. (2005). Using Moodle to support the preparation of new workers who have an

intellectual disability. Paper presented at the Moodle Moot 05, Oxford Institute of Legal Practice, Oxford, United Kingdom.

• Cherniss, C. (2000). Emotional Intelligence: What it is and Why it Matters. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology,, New Orleans, LA.

• Daniel, B., Schwier, R. A., & McCalla, G. (2003). Social Capital in Virtual Learning Communities and Distributed Communities of Practice. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 29(3).

• Dourish, P., & Bellotti, V. (1992). Awareness and coordination in shared workspace. Paper presented at the Proceedings of Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) 1992., Toronto.

• Dusseldorp Skills Forum. (2006). How are young people faring 2006 - Key Indicators. An update about the learning and work situation of young Australians: Dusseldorp Skills Forum.

• Elksnin, L., Elksnin,N.,& Saborinie,E. (1993). Job-related Social Skills Instruction of Adolescents with Mild Mental Retardation. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation.

• Greenspan, S., & Granfield, J. M. (1992). Reconsidering the construct of mental retardation: Implications of a model of social competence. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 96, 442-453.

• Jacobs, J. (1965). The death and life of great American cities. NJ: Penguin Books.• Kavale, K. A., & Mostert, M. P. (2004). Social Skills Interventions for Individuals with Learning

Disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 27, 31-47.• Kright, K. A., L. (1999). Assessing Job-Readiness Skills- how students, teachers and employers can

work together to eahance on the job training. Teaching Exceptional Children.• Luke, C. (2003). Pedagogy, connectivity, multimodality, and interdisciplinarity. Reading Research

Quarterly, 38(3), 397.• Pardy, J. (2004). Back 2 basics - Employability skills. Training Packages at Work Retrieved July 20,

2004, 2004, from http://www.tpatwork.com/ViewArticle.asp?articleid=1310• Sohlenkemp, M. (1999). Supporting group awareness in multi user environments through

perceptualisation. Berlin: Forschngszentum Informationstechnik - Germany.• Vaughn, S., Bos, C., & Schumm, J. (2007). Teaching students who are exceptional, diverse, and at

risk in the general education classroom (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.• Wehmeyer, M., Agran, M., & Hughes, C. (1998). Teaching self-determination to students with

disabilities: Basic skills for successful transition. MD: Paul Brookes.• Woolcock, M. (1998). Social capital and economic development: Towards a theoretical synthesis

and policy framework. Theory and Society, 27(2), 151-208.• Worth, S. (2003). Adaptability and Self-Management: A New Ethic of Employability for the Young

Unemployed? Journal of Social Policy, 32, 607.

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How does this fit?• Education and training are often seen

as vital aspects of strengthening security.

• This research may provide some directions to consider to ensure effective programs for education and training

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What is needed for those with an intellectual disability to be game2WORK ?

WORKPLACE SOCIAL CAPITAL