Search results

This study explored in-service educators' experience of using the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) for assistive technology (AT) decision-making within Singapore schools.

The study adopted a qualitative design. Eight educators across both mainstream and special education schools were introduced to the WATI framework which they subsequently employed as a trial experience for a student under their care. Written feedback gathered from participants was analysed to identify common issues and themes regarding the use of the WATI framework for AT decision-making.

The comprehensive consideration of a broad scope of different factors, provision of a structured process for AT decision-making, as well as a common language for use by different stakeholders emerged as key benefits of implementing the WATI. Challenges encountered include administrative struggles in gathering different stakeholders together, time and resource constraints and difficulties in loaning AT devices for trial use.

Based on educators' feedback, recommendations to facilitate the adoption of the WATI for AT decision-making within Singapore schools are discussed and considered. This study also highlights the need for greater AT instruction within both preservice and in-service teacher preparation programmes in Singapore.

Schools in Singapore currently rarely adopt any frameworks in place to guide educators through a systematic process of AT consideration. It is anticipated that this study will spearhead and drive the adoption of systematic frameworks such as the WATI for better AT decision-making within Singapore schools.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon 10.1108/JET-03-2021-0015

The purpose of this paper is to study the moving consensus of multi‐agent dynamical systems with time delays and directed weighted networks.

The approach used in the study, the topologies of multi‐agent dynamical systems with directed weighted networks is graph theories. The frequency domain is applied to research the movement characteristics of multi‐agent systems with time delays. The generalized Nyquist criterion and curvature theorem are utilized to analyze the consensus algorithm with heterogeneous input delays and heterogeneous communication delays.

It was discovered that the consensus for the delayed multi‐agent systems with asymmetric coupling weights can be achieved with the hypothesis of directed weighted network composed of n agents with a globally reachable node. The convergence condition is a decentralized consensus condition which uses only local information of each agent.

The novelty associated with this work is to present a new approach to study the consensus of delayed multi‐agent dynamical systems with directed weighted networks. The consensus condition obtained in the paper is less conservative than the consensus condition given in references.