Iterative design of a Braille writing tutor to combat illiteracy

Kalra, Nidhi; Lauwers, Tom; Dewey, D.; Stepleton, Thomas; Dias, M. Bernardine

doi:10.1109/ictd.2007.4937386

Cited by 35 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…In terms of the communication model, the buttons and stylus provide a tactile input interface to the tutor, while a set of pre-recorded audio files form the output from the BWT. Finally, the BWT uses a simple knowledge tracing algorithm to track student progress and provide some adaptive feedback [5].…”

Section: Braille Writing Tutor Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhancing an automated Braille Writing Tutor

Rahman

Sanghvi

El-Moughny

2009

2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

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Abstract-The reported work advances the state-of-the-art in assistive technology for the blind by enhancing a low-cost automated tutor designed to teach braille writing skills to visually impaired children using voice feedback. We first provide some background on how the methodology of Intelligent Tutoring Systems correlates to an automated tutor for teaching braille writing skills. We then build on prior work to enhance our automated Braille Writing Tutor in three dimensions: (1) Initial field testing in three different countries; (2) Exploring customization needs for improving relevance in different cultures; and (3) Adding relevant games for increasing motivation. The outcome of this work is an enhanced low-cost tool that can help to increase braille literacy in blind communities around the world. I. INTRODUCTIONLMOST 90% of the world's visually impaired people live in developing communities [3] and it is estimated that less than 10% of the blind children in these communities have access to formal education [2]. Braille is a widely-used language that is the only means of literacy for blind people. Despite its significance and the accessibility it brings, learning to write braille still has a number of barriers. The traditional method of writing braille itself creates formidable challenges to literacy [1]. Each braille character is formed using 6 dots placed in a cell of two columns and three rows as shown in Figure 1 (a). A subset of these 6 dots is embossed to represent each character. The positions of the dots are universally numbered from 1 to 6 in a standardized manner. In developed countries, braille is usually embossed with a 6-key typewriter known as a Brailler. These devices are fast and easy to use but usually cost around US$650 each [4]. In developing countries, such devices are sometimes available in small quantities at schools but are prohibitively expensive and so braille is almost always written with a slate and stylus as shown in Figure 1 (b). Using these tools, braille is typically written from right to left so that the page can be read from left to right when it is This research was supported in part by the Qatar National Research Fund's National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) through grant #30-6-7-91, the Qatar National Research Fund's Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) through grant #4-15-6, the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development, and discretionary gifts to the TechBridgeWorld research group at Carnegie Mellon University. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the sponsors.removed from the slate and turned over. Thus, learning to write braille can be difficult for the following reasons. First, children must learn mirror images of all letters, which doubles the alphabet and creates a disparity between the written and read forms of each letter. Second, feedback is delayed until the paper is removed and then flipped over and read. For young children, this delay can make brail...

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Section: Braille Writing Tutor Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further details of the BWT are discussed in prior publications ( [1], [5]). We build on this prior work in several ways.…”

Section: Enhancing the Braille Writing Tutormentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing an automated Braille Writing Tutor

Rahman

Sanghvi

El-Moughny

2009

2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

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“…Conforme relata Kalra et al [2007], a reglete e o punção exigem que o aluno escreva da direita para a esquerda (ao contrário da forma como ele lê) e não há um feedback imediato das palavras escritas, pois é necessário virar a folha para ler. As máquinas Perkins, uma alternativa para escrita Braille, tem um alto custo que impede que as escolas adquiram esses equipamentos em maior quantidade.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Especificação e desenvolvimento de um ambiente educativo móvel para a prática da escrita Braille

Silva

Façanha

Viana

et al. 2014

Anais Do XXV Simpósio Brasileiro De Informática Na Educação (SBIE 2014)

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“…The unique feature of this system are transliterating the mathematical symbols and tactile graphics to braille. Apart from this, Kalra et al [15] developed a system which works as a Braille writing tutor. The prototype tutor system uses an eslate device to capture a student's action and tries to develop the Braille writing skills.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Now, this is no longer a big issue because the new gadgets offer good alternatives to facilitate disable people. The blind use the assistive technology tools, like screen readers/speech synthesizer [17] [18], voice recognition, and braille translation tools [14] [15], etc., to interact with the computer system and devices. Also, new technologies deal with a powerful mechanism of interaction among individuals: the collaborative writing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Group Awareness System for Blinds in Web Co-Authoring Environment

Waqar¹,

Aslam²,

Waheed³

et al. 2016

Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Recent Advances in Computer Systems

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Abstract-Generally, it is seen that the disable people most commonly blinds in our society are not encouraged to work with normal community due to lack of vision, communication, and understandings. Fortunately, this is no longer a big issue. By use of modern technology and tools we can develop flexible environments in which blinds work collaboratively with normal ones and share their knowledge with each other to produce a robust and worthy task. In this research, we solve the issue by proposing a platform for different categories of people (fully/partially impaired and normal). The locally/remotely distributed participants work together (online or offline) in a Web based co-authoring environment to produce a shared document. The system presents a simplified design of mechanisms to share, modify, and update document and their resources in a consistent and controlled way such that each group member can easily able to know the updates and be well aware about the current state of the common object. The main goal of the research is to make the handicap persons self-reliant, confident, and independent so that they can play their equal part in every group activity of the society. The approach is evaluated by means of experiments conducted with blinds and normal authors in a distributed environment.

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Iterative design of a Braille writing tutor to combat illiteracy

Cited by 35 publications

References 5 publications

Enhancing an automated Braille Writing Tutor

Enhancing an automated Braille Writing Tutor

Especificação e desenvolvimento de um ambiente educativo móvel para a prática da escrita Braille

A Group Awareness System for Blinds in Web Co-Authoring Environment

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