Peter has spent ten years researching the impact of the Internet in the fields of education, the news media and health, first at City University and then at the University College London. He is currently seeking research funding to continue his latest work, which he undertook at UCL in collaboration with the Rix Centre, exploring the use of ICT with people with learning difficulties. Peter continues to work, on an ad hoc basis, at the Rix Centre, which he supplements by teaching ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) at his local Further Education College. He has also recently been involved in a mentoring programme for undergraduates at UCL. Peter has a strong publishing record, the latest addition to which is: Williams P (2006) Developing methods to evaluate web usability with people with learning difficulties British Journal of Special Education 33 (4) pp173-179

Title: Exploring methods to test usability of ICT applications with people with learning difficulties

A presentation outlining the methods used to explore the usability of information systems with people with learning difficulties as the user group in the PACCIT project undertaken by the Rix centre. The methods formulated were designed to look at 'usability' from a number of angles, including the institutional context and classroom environment, in addition to human-computer interaction. The presentation highlights a number of issues inherent in undertaking this kind of study, and offers a number of findings that may be useful for resources developers and people who also use electronic resources with their learners.

Exploring methods to test usability of ICT applications with people with learning difficulties