2000 on Open University MBA program - Foundations of Senior Management (B800) [to be resumed May 2002]

3. APPOINTMENTS AND EXPERIENCE

2001 on	Senior Research Fellow, Head: Accessible Educational Media (AEM) group in Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at the Open University (OU)
1998/01	Research Lecturer: Educational Technology - Open University (Multimedia & Enabling Technology Group / Knowledge Media Institute / Institute of Educational Technology)
1997 on	Independent Expert - European Commission (4^th Framework: TIDE - DG XIII, ESPRIT - DG III; 5^th Framework IST (Quality of Life and Education and Training) ~ Proposal and Project Reviewer)
1997/98	Half-time secondment to Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen in a research development role
1993/98	Director of Research: Technology & Disability at the Department of Cybernetics in the University of Reading
1992/97	Technical Consultant - Trading As: "Technology for Disabled People"
1991/92	Underwent disability training, researched and formulated Business Plan for consultancy services
1989/90	Front-line Technical Help Desk / Field engineer controller for Videcom Ltd. (Multi-session computer terminal manufacturers)
1989	Development Engineer Sondex Ltd. (Specialist Oil Well Logging Equipment Manufacturer)
1981/88	Employed as Engineer with BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) - initially undergoing their excellent engineering training programme - then in various operational, maintenance and project roles at the BBC's Monitoring Service, Caversham and in Local Radio.

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4. CONTRIBUTIONS TO OPEN UNIVERSITY TEACHING AND THE COUNSELING SYSTEM

Martyn Cooper's appointment is as a Senior Research Fellow and consequently his current remit includes no teaching or counseling roles. However the AEM group, which he heads, has a specific remit to support the course teams and LTS in ensuring the Open University's own online educational software is accessible to disabled students. This is thus a support role to teaching across the University. He has also contributed to various course texts. Martyn is currently responsible for accessibility in the OU's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) project.

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5. CONTRIBUTIONS TO OPEN UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

IET EU Projects Support Group

In October 1998 Martyn Cooper established, and continues to lead, a support group for those considering and developing proposals for EU funding. This was primarily targeted at colleagues within IET but support has also been given to others in CML, Education, KMi, and Technology. This has consisted of preparing briefing papers, running workshops and individual consultations based on his experience in leading 4 successful EU proposals to date.

IET IT Management Group

Martyn Cooper was a member of IET's IT management group from 1998 to 2000 when a new IT manager was appointed and the committee restructured. He was part of the group as a user representative but also contributes from the perspective of his technical expertise as a systems engineer.

IET Network Review Working Group

In November 1999, the IT Management Group has established a Network Working Group, which Martyn Cooper chaired. Its remit was to make a strategic review of the current status and likely future demands on the computer network within IET. This was with view to then exploring the options for the upgrading of the Network and making specific recommendations as to purchases necessary to achieved the desired upgrading. This has involved running a staff consultation exercise to determine anticipated future demands on the network and consultations with (A)ACS on the implications of these plans.

Centre for Assistive Technology and Enabling Research (CATER)

Based on a brainstorming exercise with Tom Vincent (Head of METG, now retired) and Ralph Keats (then Head of Office for Students with Disabilities), Martyn Cooper developed the ideas and drafted initial proposals for the establishment of a Centre for Assistive Technology and Enabling Research. This sort to re-structure and take forwards the university's research and services to its disabled students on the appropriate application of enabling technology. These ideas have led to the establishment of CATER under HEFCE funding under the leadership of Ralph Keats. Martyn continues to serve on the advisory board for CATER. Close links between CATER and AEM have been established and a close synergy between their roles is being developed.

Accessible Educational Media (AEM)

A new research group has been established at the Open University (OU) from July 2001. The Accessible Educational Media (AEM) group, headed by Martyn Cooper, is a research group but is specifically designed to disseminate the outcomes and lessons learned in the process of this research across the University. This is to ensure that the needs of disabled people are addressed in the development of the OU's Web-based course components, from the conceptual design stage onwards.

The Open University has over 20 years history of research and development in technologies enabling disabled students to access its courses. Until recently this has been principally within the work of the Multimedia and Enabling Technologies Group (METG). Partly in response to the growing importance of the World-Wide-Web in OU courses this work is being reconstituted within AEM.

The AEM group is seeking to become a centre of excellence for research into issues of accessibility in electronic media. Three major ongoing projects PEARL, SALT, and Alternatives to Print, form the foundation of its research work.

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6. RESEARCH INTERESTS

As a Senior Research Fellow this is the principal area of contribution by Martyn Cooper. Two major external funding awards were confirmed in the last quarter of 1999. A further major EU project runs for 4 years from October 2006.

Research Grants Held

EPSRC grant (GR/M84480): Human Factors in 3D Audio Virtual Environments: Towards a sample application for visually impaired students

Martyn Cooper leads this work and took the prime role in developing this proposal building on work previously funded by IET's Research Committee. EPSRC have funded Stage 1 of the proposed work, which provides for a full-time research fellow for 14 months. The further stages of the proposal will be funded subject to successful outcomes from Sage 1. The total value of the current grant is 56,034 [Contract ended June 2001.]

The project is investigating key technical and human-factors issues in the realisation and application of 3D Audio Virtual Environments. The approach is to develop and evaluate successively more complex AVEs targeted at applications for visually impaired students.

This is joint work with Prof. Helen Petrie, Director of the Sensory Disabilities Research Unit at the University of Hertfordshire who holds the linked EPSRC grant (GR/M87137).

This grant has now finished and the final report and 2 journal publications and a conference presentation resulting from it are in preparation. The work is being continued for the time being as part of Martyn Cooper's personal research portfolio.

EU 5^th Framework R&TD (IST-1999-12550): PEARL (Practical Experimentation in Accessible Remote Leaning)

Martyn Cooper is the project director for this major research and development project. He has taken the lead in developing the ideas, bring together the consortium, writing the proposal and handling the contract negotiation with the European Commission.

PEARL will research and develop a system to enable students to conduct real-world experiments as an extension of computer based learning (CBL) and distance learning systems. The objective being to give high quality learning experiences in science and engineering education by bringing the teaching lab to the students; giving flexibility in terms of time, location and special needs. This will extend Internet course delivery to accommodate collaborative working in practical experimentation. The project will develop and integrate a collaborative working environment with accessible user interfaces, a modular system for flexibly creating remotely controlled experiments, and an educational software framework enabling ready development of experimental programmes using this system. The project will research the pedagogic impact of this approach, validating its developments in different educational contexts and subject areas.

The European Commission funding for the project is EURO 1,700,000 (~ £ 1,070,000) over the 36 months. The funding due to the OU out of this is EURO 488,000 (~ £ 307,000). The is funding 2 full time research posts (one supervised by Martyn Cooper and the other by Eileen Scanlon) and a part time administrator (project manager) working directly to Martyn Cooper. Within the OU this is a joint project between IET, KMi and Science with S103 being one of the 4 principal evaluation contexts for the project's work.

The project formally started on 1 March 2000 and is projected to occupy 50% of Martyn Cooper's time over the next 3 years. However the reality to date is that is has taken about 70% of his time.

EU 6^th Framework IP under the eInclusion programme (IST-1999-12550): EU4ALL (European Unified Approach for Accessible Lifelong Learning)

The EU IST eInclusion funded project EU4ALL (European Unified Approach for Accessible Lifelong Learning) which will run for 4 years from October 2006. This is a major project with an overall funding of € 7.4 million of which € 1.2 million is allocated to the OU's role led by Martyn Cooper.

The project addresses systemic issues in providing access for disabled learners to Lifelong Learning in the context of Higher Education’s role here and the increased use of technology in its delivery. Where technology is inappropriate and introduced with insufficient support, disabled people face further exclusion from the interlinked worlds of education and work.

To address this, the EU4ALL project sets forward the concept of Accessible Lifelong Learning (ALL) uniting 3 key strategies:

1.         That the technology that mediates lifelong learning does so accommodating the diversity of ways people interact with technology and the content and services it delivers

2.         That this technology is used to bring specialist support services to disabled learners

3.         By providing support services and technical infrastructure that enable teaching, technical and administrative staff of educational institutions to offer their teaching and services in a way that is accessible to disabled learners

The aim of EU4ALL is to improve the efficiency and efficacy of implementing these strategies by developing an open service architecture for ALL. To achieve a wide impact the approach taken is not to develop a single EU4ALL system but a standards based framework that facilitates the integration of the approach with a wide range of eLearning systems.

The OU’s role spans many of the areas of the project. It leads the standards work in the project, will work extensively on accessibility in ePortfolios, will be integrating the approach and framework with the Open Source VLE Moodle and undertaking major evaluations with its students and institutional stakeholders. This builds on and provides a context and funding for taking forward ongoing work on standards for accessibility in eLearning and accessibility within the OU's VLE project.

EU eTEN programme project ALPE (Accessible e-learning platform for Europe), eTEN 029328

ALPE will assess market feasibility of the accessible version of an existing learning management system (LMS), called aLF (Active Learning Framework), which integrates with tested components of the flexible and modular architecture called aLFanet, an intelligent learning management system (iLMS) which supports the full life cycle of adaptive e-Learning. ALPE will test the adaptation of the services offered by the platform to the needs of disabled (visually impaired and deaf students) and adult learners, with materials on basic skills.

The actual users of the accessible LMS will be visually impaired and deaf students and adult learners, in particular those who suffer from illiteracy problems.

Three main users can be distinguished in the system: authors, tutors and learners. Authors will design courses adapted to the different types of learners, so that depending on the learner's disabilities and needs, different materials and course flows should be provided. Instructional Design standards (e.g. IMS, SCORM) will be used to design the course. Once the course has been designed, it will be published in ALPE system.

The ALPE multi-platform is built upon the following open-source software components: OpenACS and dotLRN (web-based suites to develop collaborative communities for educational purposes), CopperCore (J2EE runtime engine for IMS Learning Design Course) and JADE agents (which control the interactions in the system and produce dynamic recommendations on runtime).

The OU's role in the project is primarily concerned with UK market context and testing for validation. Their budget in the project is € 185.749.

Other Areas of Research

Digital Broadcast Technology

Martyn Cooper interests in this are primarily the development of appropriate user interfaces that meet the needs of all potential users of the technology including disabled and technophobic people. He is also interested in the psychological and sociological aspects of this digital revolution and its impact on educational delivery. This area of work is not currently being pursued.

Home networks ("smart house") technology and applications

This was the primary area of activity for Martyn Cooper while at the University of Reading but has not been pursued in his current context, as there are few implications for the work for educational technology.

Issues of technology and disability

Martyn Cooper often works at the boundaries in interdisciplinary research and this generates a need for a wide range of issue-based research. This work feeds directly into the definition of research projects in the technological applications areas. Examples of past and current work is this area include:

Facilitating end-user participation in technical work of standardisation, specification, etc

Psychological and sociological impact of technology particularly for disabled people

Implications of technical developments on policy (e.g. in housing, education, equipment provision, etc.)

Robots in education

Building on the work of the Cybernetics Department at Reading University, Martyn Cooper is seeking to develop a research programme on the application of low cost Robots in education. Robots fascinate many young students and can thus be used as an educational stimulus. They also have potential in giving greater access to key educational elements for disabled students.

Supervision of postgraduate students

Martyn Cooper is currently jointly supervising with Mark Endean (Technology) an M.Phil. student Muzhen Fang. Her research, which is, based both at the OU and CCRTVU (China Central Radio and TV University) is in the evaluation of "virtual experimentation" in tertiary level education and entitled "Cross-cultural Evaluation of a Virtual Experiment Instrument in Materials Science".

Martyn Cooper is co-supervising a PhD student Phebe Mann who is researching Graphical communication in virtual learning environments for computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) in design

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7. EXTERNAL ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

Martyn Cooper is currently, or has been recently, actively involved in the work of the following professional bodies:

8. OTHER INFORMATION

Personal Interests:

Much of Martyn Cooper's spare time is taken up with his family life. He is a member of a local Anglican Church. At his previous church in Reading he led a youth group for 10-15 year olds and a small personal support group. Other current and past interests include:

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9. PUBLICATIONS

Note - Martyn Cooper principally leads interdisciplinary collaborative research. Hence the majority of his publications are co-authored with his partners in that research. Where he is given as the first author in the below publications he has led the development of the paper and is the principal author. In the many publications co-authored with D.A. Keating The latter has undertaken an editorial role only but was included as co-author for reasons of RAE accounting.

Publications under preparation or in press:

In Press

In Preparation

For the EADTU 2006 conference: Cooper M., The role of eLearning standards in accessibility: An introduction to the EU4ALL project - European Unified Approach for Accessible Lifelong Learning

For the EDEN Research Workshop 2006: Cooper M., Boticario J. G., Montandon, L, An introduction to Accessible Lifelong Learning (ALL) - a strategy for research and development uniting accessible technology, services, and e-learning infrastructure

Proposed

A journal publication co-authored with Prof. Helen Petrie reporting the results of work of the perception of 3D audio - towards applications for blind students.

Publications since OU appointment (1998):

Journal Publications

Scanlon E., Morris, E., Di Paolo, T, Cooper, M., Contemporary approaches to learning science: technology mediated practical work, Studies in Science Education, Vol. 38. Pp73-114, 2002

Colwell, C., Scanlon, E., and Cooper, M. Using remote laboratories to extend access to science and engineering. Computers and Education, 38, 65-76. 2002

Scanlon, E., Colwell, C., Cooper, M., Di Paolo, T. (2004) Remote experiments, reversioning and rethinking science learning. Computers and Education. 43, 153-163

Cooper M., Remote laboratories in teaching and learning – issues impinging on widespread adoption in science and engineering education, International Journal of Online Engineering Vol. 1, No. 1, 2005

Cooper M., Making Online Learning Accessible - the role of the educator and issues for the educational institution - reflections on experiences at the Open University, Association of Learning Technology Journal (ALT-J), Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 103–115, March 2006

Conference Papers

Cooper M. and Taylor M.E. Ambisonic sound in virtual environments and applications for blind people, Proc. 2nd European Conference on Disability, Virtual and Associated Technologies, Sharkey, Rose & Lindström (Eds.), pp 113-118,Skövde, Sweden, Sept. 1998

Cooper M. User interface issues for smart houses - Experiences from the HS-ADEPT project, Proc. SMART Homes - International Conference on Smart Homes and Telematics Eindhoven, Netherlands, February 1999

Cooper M., Pearson M.D., and Petrie H. The Computer Synthesis and Reproduction of 3D Sound Environments - Research Towards an Implementation for Blind Students, Proc. Audio engineering Society 16th International Conference on Spatial Sound Reproduction, Rovaniemi, Finland, April 1999

Cooper M., Scanlon E. and Freake S. L., Remote Controlled Teaching Experiments, in Science and Engineering Subjects, Accessible over the World-Wide-Web - The PEARL project, Proc. ED-MEDIA 2000 Conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, June 2000

Cooper M., Santacruz L. P., Donnelly A. and Sergeant P. User interface approaches for accessibility in complex World-Wide-Web applications- an example approach from the PEARL project". Proc. 6th ERCIM Workshop on User Interfaces for All, Florence, Italy, 25-26 October 2000

Cooper M., The challenge of practical work in an eUniversity - real, virtual and remote experiments, Proc. IST2000 The Information Society for All Nice, France, 6-8 November 2000

Colwell C., Scanlon E., Cooper M., Using remote laboratories to extend access to science and engineering, Proc. CAL 2001 'Learning across the Ages' Warwick, UK, April 2001

Martins Ferreira, J. M., Costa, R., Alves, G., Cooper, M., The PEARL Digital Electronics

Lab: Full Access to the Workbench via the Web, Proc. 13th EAEEIE Annual Conference on

Innovations in Education (European Association for Education in Electrical and Information

Cooper M, Colwell C., Amaral, T. G., Accessibility and usability in complex web based learning applications: lessons from the PEARL project, Proc. E-Learn 2002, Montreal, Canada

Cooper, M., Donnelly A., Martins Ferreira, J. M., Remote Controlled Experiments For Teaching Over The Internet: A Comparison Of Approaches Developed In The Pearl Project, Proc. 19^th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education 2002, Auckland, New Zealand: UNITEC Institution of Technology

Cooper, M. Making Online Learning Accessible, (2003) Proc International Conference on Assistive Technology, London, UK

Cooper, M., Petrie, H. L., Three Dimensional Auditory Display: Issues in Applications for Visually Impaired Students, Proc. ICAD 04-Tenth Meeting of the International Conference on Auditory Display, Sydney, Australia, July 6-9, 2004

Nevile, L., Cooper, M., Heath, A. Rothberg, M., Treviranus, J. Learner-centred Accessibility for Interoperable Web-based Educational Systems, Proc. 14th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW2005), Chiba, Japan, May 10-14, 2005,

Book Chapters

Cooper M, Keating D.A., Harwin W.S., and Dautenhahn K., Robots in the classroom - tools for accessible education, in Assistive Technology on the Threshold of the New Millennium, ISO Press - Assistive Technology Research Series Vol. 6, Christian Buhler & Harry Knops (Eds.), pp 448-452, Düsseldorf, Germany, November 1999

Cooper M., Communications and Information Technology (C&IT) for Disabled Students, in: Powell S. (ed.), Special Teaching in Higher Education- Successful Strategies for Access and Inclusion, (Kogan Page) London 2003

Cooper M., Extending Access using ICT: Issues and Prospects, In Scanlon E. and Holliman, R (eds). Mediating, Science Learning through Information and Communications Technology. pp169-187, Routledge Press: London. 2004

Di Paolo, T. and Scanlon, E. with Colwell, C., Cooper, M., Uren, V., and Jelfs, A., Redesigning practical work: web-based remote experimentation. In Scanlon E. and Holliman, R (eds). Mediating, Science Learning through Information and Communications Technology. pp169-187, Routledge Press: London. 2004

Contributions to Accessibility Standards Documents

Martyn Cooper is a named contributor to the following international specification and standardisation documents. These are grouped by standards/specification body.

For IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. see: http://www.imsproject.org/

Accessibility Guidelines

IMS AccessForAll Specifications

Publications while at University of Reading (1994-1998):

Journal Publications

Cooper, M. and Keating, D.A. Implications of the emerging home systems technologies for rehabilitation, Med. Eng. Phys., 1996, Vol. 18, 176-180, April

Conference Papers

Cooper, M., Keating, D.A. and Ferreira, J.M.M. Home Systems Technology for Elderly and Disabled People - Present Status R & D Methodology and Future Directions, Proc. RESNA International Conference, Nashville, USA, 1994, 45-47

Cooper, M., Keating, D.A. and Ferreira, J.M.M. Smart Homes for Disabled People - The HS-Adept Project, Proc. BESTA International Conference, Lillehammer, Norway, June 1994

Cooper, M., Longley, A. and Keating D.A. Integrated Home-Systems for Disabled People, Proc. Home and Building Automation Systems Conference, Birmingham, March 1994

Cooper, M. and Keating, D.A. HS-ADEPT (Home Systems - Access of Disabled and Elderly People to this Technology); On-going Work and its Implications, Proc. IEE Colloquium - Mechatronics for Disabled People, Dundee University, May 1995

Cooper, M. and Keating, D.A. Home Systems for Disabled and Elderly People Technical and Market Issues, Proc. EHSA Symposium, Brussels, June 1995

Cooper, M. and Keating, D.A. Disabled and Elderly People - A Needs Driven Market for Integrated Home Systems? Proc. HABAS 1995 (Home and Building Automation Systems Conference), London, February 1995

Cooper, M., Keating, D.A., Teixeira, A. and Ferreira, J.M.M. Implications of the Emerging Home Systems Technologies on Rehabilitation and the HS-ADEPT Project, Proc. 2nd TIDE Congress, Paris, April 1995

Martins Ferreira, J.M.M., Ramalho, J.L., Cooper, M. and Keating, D.A. Smart Homes and the HS-ADEPT Project: Applications and User Interfaces, Proc. ECART3 Conference, Lisbon, October 1995, 341-343

Cooper, M. and Keating, D.A. Disabled and Elderly People - A Key Market for Home Automation and Services on the Information Highways, Proc. From Home Automation to Information Highways, Sigma Consultants, Paris December 1995

Cooper, M. and Keating, D.A. The developments of the HS-ADEPT project, Proc. Living Home Conference, Gatwick, March 1996

Cooper, M., Portable User Interfaces to Home Networks, IEE Evening Lecture, 17 November 1996

Cooper, M. Markets in Care and Health Services for Home Networks, Proc. Meeting of European Intelligent Buildings Group, London October 1996

Cooper, M. The Potential & Implications of Emerging Technologies in Education for People with Disabilities, Proc. New Learning Technologies for People with Physical Disabilities, The National Star Centre, Cheltenham, April 1997

Cooper, M., Ferreira J.M.M., Poulson D. and Slaven G. Issues Impinging on the Successful Introduction of Products and Services Based on Home Networks for Independent Living, Support and Care Services, Proc. European Symposium “Telematics and Handicap” Toulouse, September 1997

Book Chapters

Cooper, M. and Ferreira J.M.M. Home Networks for Independent Living, Support and Care Services: Issues Impinging on the Successful Introduction of Products and Services, Improving the Quality of Life for the European Citizen - Technology for Inclusive Design and Equality, ISO Press - Assistive Technology Research Series Vol. 4, Placencia Porrero & Ballabio (Eds.), pp 359-363, Helsinki, June 1998