Usable accommodations for students who rely on senses other than vision have not kept pace with the rapid evolution of educational materials to digital format. This trend poses the risk of deselecting Blind and Low Vision (BLV) students from studying fields, such as chemistry, that rely heavily on the use of visuals for communication of ideas and concepts. Practices of adding in accessibility afterwards, by either the producer or school support staff, are generally resource intensive, often do not provide a comparable experience, and are not amenable to dynamic interactive visuals. The Kasi Learning System was built with accessibility at the forefront to provide equitable experiences to students regardless of their visual level. Kasi combines digital interactives with tactile manipulatives and audio-based Augmented Reality to provide a multisensory learning experience. Reported are the design principles and findings from a usability and feasibility study of a prototype of Kasi with ten BLV high school students. Findings from the study indicate that students who used Kasi felt more independent and able to study chemistry. The study also revealed that students who do not regularly rely on their auditory channel for accessing information took longer to become proficient with using the system.

Introduction: Visual model comprehension and application are important for success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. As educational materials shift to primarily digital content with dynamic interactive visuals, students with visual impairments are at risk for being disadvantaged, since few interactives are born accessible. To fill this gap of accessible digital STEM learning tools, we designed and tested the Kasi Learning System. Kasi uses tactile manipulatives and computer vision with audio-based augmented reality algorithms to provide a multisensory experience of an interactive digital image. Methods: Ten high school students who are visually impaired (ie, blind or have low vision) participated in an underpowered random control study to evaluate the feasibility and usability of Kasi by completing an active learning lesson. The control group was instructed by a human, whereas the Kasi group was instructed by a computer. Follow-up interviews with both students and their instructors provided further insight. Results: Comparing the experiences of the two groups suggests that Kasi is an effective instructor for completing the activity. Comparison of students who chose to use braille versus large-print pieces revealed that braille users found the system to be easier to use. Discussion: All students efficiently identified the pieces. Regarding the audio, students who do not typically use a screen reader repeated the prompts more frequently and took longer to adapt to the system. Those in the Kasi group demonstrated increased engagement as shown by the increase in submitted answers. Overall, Kasi users’ performance improved significantly during the lesson. Implications for Practitioners: Kasi is most readily adapted and used by those who do not rely on vision. However, students with low vision may benefit from using a tool like Kasi earlier in their schooling to strengthen their auditory and tactile skills. Kasi appears to have the potential to provide students independence in studying STEM diagrams.