SIGN5 Call for Papers

[Mike Morgan]

*Announcement*

*National Conference on *“*Innovation in Educational Approaches to Indian
Sign Language”*

Place: Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi

Date: 10-11 June 2011

Conference languages: English and Indian Sign Language

Registration: Access to the conference is free of cost; advance registration
is requested through SIGNCOURSE at gmail.com

Interpreting between English and Indian Sign Language provided


 *Abstract: *

This 2-day national conference builds on the success of a project conducted
by Indira Gandhi National Open University and the University of Central
Lancashire (UK) with support from Ishara Foundation (a Deaf literacy NGO
based in Mumbai) under the UK-India Education and Research Initiative
(UKIERI). The initiative was agreed to by the Prime Ministers of the UK and
India, and the Indian Sign Language project undertaken by IGNOU and its UK
partner has received much attention in academic circles and in the media.
Out of 97 research projects, it was chosen to be profiled in a British
Council publication on “success stories” of the UKIERI programme. This
conference aims at sharing some of the results of the project with a wide
variety of stakeholders, as well as discussing future avenues for further
research, development and implementation.

The main focus of this conference is to discuss models of integrating
face-to-face and distance education in an environment that uses Indian Sign
Language. Indian Sign Language is the natural language of the Indian Deaf
Community, and has been used as a medium of instruction in various settings.
This includes India’s first BA programme in Applied Sign Language Studies,
which has been operating at IGNOU since 2009. Deaf students from India as
well as a number of countries in Asia and Africa have joined this programme,
and all classes are taught and assessed through Indian Sign Language.
Similarly, the SIGN4 international conference of sign language users, held
at IGNOU in 2009, was conducted entirely in sign language. An English
literacy learning platform developed by the UKIERI project team is based on
the use of sign language and has been used in combination with peer
education. The educational approaches, tools and implementation policies
piloted at IGNOU over the last few years can serve as a model to other
programmes across India.

This national conference is for academics working in relevant areas,
practitioners in Deaf Education, government departments and public service
organisations, the NGO sector, and, last but not least, the Indian Deaf
Community. We aim at exchanging information, models and visions for the use
of Indian Sign Language in educational settings.

 Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact the
Workshop Coordinators care of *signcourse at googlemail.com*.

 For those unable to attend, and especially for international colleagues who
may not be able to attend due to the short notice, we plan to make some or
all of the Workshop available as live simulcast via the internet. For more
information on this, and for the latest, up-to-date version of the workshop
programme check the BAASLS/IGNOU web-page:

http://webserver.ignou.ac.in/SIGN%20LANGUAGE/default.html

in the weeks leading up to the workshop.



Dr Michael W Morgan (aka mwm || U C > || mike || мика  || माईक || マイク ||
மாய்க் )

Senior Consultant
BA in Applied Sign Language Studies (BAASLS)
Indira Gandhi National Open Univeristy
New Delhi, India
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