TOUCH TILES: MATH SOFTWARE FOR CHILDREN WITH LOW VISION

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of the proposed TouchTiles project is the design, development, and evaluation of an innovative use of haptic technology for blind, visually impaired and normally sighted students aged 5 -11 to learn mathematical concepts on a computer screen. TouchSenseTM technology provides a haptic interface that relays touch (tactile and force) sensory feedback to the user. An opportunity now exists to apply this haptic technology to affordable educational software in a meaningful way, that is, to enhance learning and software accessibility. The primary research question is: Can the software be made sufficiently accessible to visually impaired students so that it can serve as a useful mathematics education tool for this group? Embedded within this question lie several sub-questions that speak to the need for careful attention to interface design: How large can the workspace grid be? How can audio best be incorporated to provide additional cues? How many different "colors"/ textures can be discerned through touch alone? Do some textures work better than others for communicating shapes and interface information? Examples of instructional tasks that may be included in the test module are: Identify shapes; Identify buttons; Identify 90-degree turns of shapes; Identify flips; Identify texture reversals; Identify patterns; Create patterns; Find missing elements of a pattern. The observing researchers will video-capture the movement of the mouse cursor on the computer screen used by the test subjects and will also record the children's accompanying audio comments. The degree to which the students are able to complete the task will be the degree to which the feasibility study will be successful. The proof of feasibility in Phase I will lead to further development in Phase II and finally to the publication of an educational software program incorporating TouchSense technology.