9561603 Gadhok Throughout the United States, teachers and students with disabilities encounter difficulties which undermine teacher-student communication and preclude optimal learning. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will generate the technical data for the development of an automated note-taking and multimedia lecture delivery system based on a patented electro-optical sensing and scanning technology. The system will enable mobility-impaired teachers to overcome many of the instructional problems imposed by physical limitations and will enhance and facilitate the learning experience for students with physical and learning disabilities. The basic goals of the Phase I project are to produce a prototype automated note-taking system and to establish the parameters for the multimedia lecture delivery system, which will be fully developed in the next phase of the research. The research and development effort in Phase I will focus on the evaluation of the technologies required to adapt the digitization technology established by Digital Scanning Systems, Inc. for the development of an automated note-taking and multimedia lecture delivery system so that it will be of particular benefit to the disabled community both within and outside of the education environment. The automated note-taking and multimedia lecture delivery system will be marketed for use by the disabled community in education, as well as for use in business and other noneducational environments. There are numerous other applications for the technology which can be utilized by individuals who are not disabled as well as those who are. These applications include the following: Producing hardcopy (printouts) from whiteboards; automated note-taking in business and other conference rooms; teleconferencing; and the digitization of large-area design boards.
