Pedagogical Mediation for Visually Impaired Students

This study critically examines the accessibility and usability of assistive technology tools used by visually impaired and blind students in English language learning at undergraduate level. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 students to evaluate the efficacy of four key assistive technologies: Braille, screen readers, tape recorders, and computer software. It can be concluded that these tools have a positive influence on the participants' studying English, JAWS screen reader softwares was mostly used as they are considered to be the most user-friendly. The findings of this study also revealed that there is still a need for these available tools to improve in the design and compatibility. Out of the 12 participants 7 reported using Braille in conjunction with the computer softwares. The study addresses the issues of usability and accessibility in the context of English language learning for the visually impaired and blind undergraduate students. In summary, the study contributes valuable, evidence-based insights in the role of assistive technology tools for the development of inclusive, effective, and equitable education practices for the visually impaired and blind undergraduate students studying English language.

Objective To study and compare the present situation and the difference in subjective well-being between students in junior high schools for the blind and normal junior high school students, and provide basis for the construction of education mode for the well-being of the blind students. Methods By random sampling method, subjective well-being questionnaire was used to investigate the 155 blind students in five blind schools and 436 normal junior high school students in three junior high schools in Shandong Province. Results ( 1 ) The blind students had shown significant differences in many aspects of subjective well-being such as gender, family e-conomic status, sight and parents'education degree (P<0. 05) . (2) Blind school students'social confidence experience (4. 59 ±1.13) was significantly higher than that of the normal students (4.31 ±1.13), and had a significant difference (P<0.05). Blind students got significantly lower scores ((4. 38 ± 1.26) , (4.00 ± 1. 29) ,(3. 58 ± 1. 37) ,(3.89 ± 1. 35) ,(4.41 ± 1.04) , (4. 20 ± 1. 33) ) than normal school students( (4.68 ± 1. 19) , (4. 36 ±1.14),(3.88±1.27),(4.41 ±1.25),(4.61 ±0.99), (4. 52 ± 1. 18)) in target value experience, physical health experience, mental health experience, interpersonal adaptability experience self-acceptance experience, and emotional balance experience. Conclusion There exists a significant difference between the blind students and the normal junior high school students in the different aspects of subjective well-being. Key words: Students in schools for the blind ; Junior high school students ; Subjective well-being ;

This study delves into the challenges and strategies involved in teaching blind students piano at the beginner level, with a focus on creating inclusive and effective learning environments. The objective is to comprehensively explore and analyze the challenges faced by teachers when instructing blind students in piano at the beginner level. The content revolves around a pilot teaching program conducted at a school in Jiangsu, China, involving blind and deaf students aged 8-12 years old. Key informants include experienced piano teachers specializing in blind student education. Data analysis combines qualitative methods from interviews and observations with quantitative data from surveys, leading to key findings on segmented practice, mastering music rules, technology integration, and curriculum design. The research results highlight the effectiveness of auditory-based learning strategies in enhancing blind students' rhythmic precision and melodic expression. Suggestions for improving inclusive piano education include integrating technology, designing tailored curricula, and conducting formal teaching evaluations.

Blind students exclusively use braille materials for teaching math. Teaching tools that assist blind students' motor and hearing nerves are essential for learning. This study was to describe learning mathematics outcomes for blind students after using teaching material for Android devices based on Newman's theory. This research was a case study of blind students. Blind junior high school students from special schools for visual impairment—extraordinary schools in Bandar Lampung, extraordinary schools in Cimahi, and Madrasah Tsanawiyah with special education in Yogyakarta—contributed to the study's subjects. The study employed questionnaires and test questions as research instruments for both teachers and students. The results of this study demonstrate that learning mathematics outcame blind students' after using teaching material with Android apps based on Newman's theory, specifically: i) reading errors: students can understand the information in the questions; ii) comprehension errors: students do not write down things that are known and asked; and iii) transformation errors: students write down the mathematical model (formula) used; iv) skill errors: students can do calculations correctly; and v) coding errors: students do not write conclusions. The average score of the blind students’ results using braille was higher than that of the Android application.

This paper reports on a study to determine whether blind students’ conceptualizations of force and motion differ from sighted students. This is particularly concerned with the question of whether the students’ visual experiences have any relation to their conceptualizations or misconceptualization about force and motion. The research was designed as a case study and the data was collected from 6 blind high school students based on conceptual physics problems related to force and motion. The analysis of the data revealed that although the blind students’ conceptions about force and motion are not radically different from those of sighted students, however, there were several conceptual problems which seem to be particular to the blind students because of their lack of visual experiences. The results revealed that visual experiences do not seem to have a significant role on the conceptualizations about force and motion.

Abstact Blind students with disabilities not only experience obstacles in the visual process but also have problems in the lecture process and social life including problems of accessibility, social relations, communication, difficulties in the lecture process and the views of the surrounding community. This affects the psychological condition of individuals, especially female students, this happens because women have genetic susceptibility, significant hormonal changes, a tendency to overthink things, and socio-cultural pressure. Alignment between the study process and self-acceptance with limited vision is the main goal that is continuously maintained and achieved by blind students, coupled with various pressures and problems in completing education, will be a challenge and pressure for students with visual impairments that can affect the subjective well-being of individuals ( Subjective Well Being). The purpose of this article is to determine the Subjective Well Being in blind female students and the factors that influence Subjective Well Being in blind female students. The method used is descriptive qualitative case study method. Participants in this study were three blind female students with data collection techniques through in-depth interviews and observations. The results showed that students with visual impairment have a Subjective Well Being in terms of dimensions of self-acceptance, life goals, self-growth, autonomy, environmental control, and positive relationships with others.Keywords: Subjective Well Being, Disabilities, Blind students

There are 24.5 million visually impaired and blind (VIB) students who have limited access to educational materials due to cost or availability. Although advancement in technology is prevalent, providing individualized learning using technology remains a challenge without the proper tools or experience. The TacPic system was developed as an online platform to create tactile educational materials (TEM) based on the image inputs of users who do not have prior experience in tactile photo development or 3D printing. The TacPic system allows the users to simply upload images to a website and uses AI cloud computing on the Amazon Web Services platform. First, it segments and labels the images. Then, the text label is converted into braille words. Subsequently, surface rendering and consolidation of the image and text is performed, before it is converted into a single file that is ready for 3D printing. Currently, the types of TEM that can be created are tactile flashcards, tactile maps, and tactile peg puzzles, which can be developed within a few hours. This is in contrast to a development period of weeks using traditional methods. Furthermore, the tactile educational materials were tested by two VIB teachers and six VIB students. It was found that those who are congenitally blind need more time to identify the object and rely more on the braille labels compared to students who became blind at a later age. Teachers also suggested producing TEM that use simpler images, and TEM that are suitable for both sighted and VIB students. In conclusion, the researchers successfully developed a platform that allows more educators or parents to develop personalized and individualized TEM. In the future, further optimization of the algorithms to improve segmentation and the inclusion of other features, such as color, could be undertaken. Finally, new printing materials and methods are needed to improve printing efficiency.

Contribution: This article presents the design, creation, testing, and results after the use of a 3-D-printed educational tool that helped a blind student learning electric circuits theory in higher education. Background: Educational tools oriented to visually impaired and blind students in higher education are limited or even nonexistent in the STEM area. Previous developments on the field present in the literature, including other 3-D printing solutions, have been revised and compared to the proposed educational tool. Intended Outcomes: The tool was tested by a blind student in order to test the potential of the design to achieve a better understanding of the topology and performance of electric circuits. The main purpose of the tool described in this work is helping to increase the resources available in the field of teaching students with visual impairments. Application Design: 3-D technology has the potential to be used to create accessibility tools for visually impaired and blind individuals. Modular systems can be used to create complex structures using simple elements. A modular 3-D-printed tool was fabricated to help blind and visually impaired students to learn net structures. Findings: The 3-D tool has allowed the blind student to work autonomously in the study of simple electric circuits and supplies the teacher with a resource to communicate with the student in an easy and fast way. Updated design can be used to describe more complex net structures that can be applied to most electric circuits despite their complexity. The use of the modular system provided the blind student with a direct representation of the whole subject, even when it involved a great amount of graphical information and manipulation.

It is known that blind and visually impaired (VI) students avoid choosing the Sciences and Technologies track in Secondary Education due to the inclusion challenges they faced in Basic Education, particularly the lack of adapted materials. To overcome this situation, investment in the development of tailored science materials is essential. This paper presents a study on the use of inclusive educational resources for sighted, blind, and VI students in a Portuguese middle school. The school integrates students with multiple disabilities alongside sighted students. The research focused on evaluating how 8th-grade students perceive the contents of sound waves using three inclusive educational resources. These resources were based on multisensory didactics—a tactile model, a slinky spring model, and a Swell paper model—and developed with inputs from VI students, blind students and teachers. These resources were tested with sighted students to assess their effectiveness in an inclusive setting. A questionnaire was administered to sighted students to analyse their perceptions of the inclusion of these materials in the classroom. The results revealed a high level of satisfaction, demonstrating that the multisensory approach enhanced students’ understanding of their own learning. Based on the findings, the study suggests expanding the research to include more blind and VI students and additional Physics resources.

This article explores visually impaired (vi) and blind students’ experiences of support as an undergraduate student in UK higher education (he) by focusing specifically on relationships and interactions between vi and blind students and support staff within Higher Education. Participants within this research show how their experiences highlight an uneven and often exclusionary Higher Education landscape. Constructions of disability and impairment show a complex relationship between support provision as it is offered and experienced. The findings overall suggest the experience of support is more than the placing together of student and support worker and concerns the management of this relationship, particularly around underlying assumptions about being vi. Support is not unnecessary or unwelcome, instead, the complexity of the relationship, the additional work associated with support experienced by these students, combine to shape academic experience.

Visually impairment means partially or completely blind. Students with visual impairments face several structural and attitudinal barriers when entering higher education. External factors have been identified as contributing to the academic success of visually impaired and blind students. These include social support and university student services, family support and faculty support. Emotional support from family members contributes to the academic achievements of visually impaired students. The study’s objective is to investigate the challenges and experiences of students with disabilities with specific reference to blindness and visual impairment at tertiary institutions and find possible solutions. The rationale behind the study is to address self-confidence, the stigma of society and improve society’s understanding of the visually impaired and the blind. The article outlines the role of the theoretical framework in the social inclusion of students with disabilities in higher education institutions. The article aims to use the conceptual approach to investigate the challenges of students visual impairment and blindness. It will rely heavily on secondary data. The main findings presented in this study are the challenges faced by the impaired and blind students, which are financial challenges, social stigma, accessibility, peer acceptance, language challenges of visually impaired students, lack of clear policies on inclusive education and mechanisms that will remedy the challenges of students with disabilities in higher education institutions. The South African government‘s strategic policy framework on people with disability at Higher Education Institutions recommend a critical analysis of current institutional policies that identify gaps regarding people with disabilities. The analysis includes the needs of people with disabilities in their annual action plans. It also comprises institutional infrastructure and programmes to include people with disabilities. The study concludes with the statement of the research problem, the summary of key arguments and findings, a short discussion of the implications of the research and the study’s recommendations.

This study aimed to identify the needs of a 10th grade congenitally blind student in an inclusive chemistry classroom and design and develop tactile materials to teach the ‘energy in living systems’ topic with particular emphasis on covering the symbolic language of the chemistry. A single case study design was used to carry out an in-depth and thorough investigation. The student's needs were identified through classroom observations and interviews. Based on the needs identified, 2D and 3D tactile instructional materials were designed and developed to cover the topic. Interview and observation data suggested that following the instructions the student developed an understanding of the concepts regarding the energy in living systems together with the symbolic representations used in chemistry. He showed an understanding of molecular structures when he was asked to recognize the 3D models of the molecular structures. He was able to recognize all of the structures and could respond to questions regarding the parts of these molecular structures. Although the results are limited to one congenitally blind student, there is evidence that a blind student can learn complex molecular structures if he/she was provided with materials which suit his/her needs. The results also suggest evidence of how to produce low cost instructional materials for a blind student in chemistry.

This study examined the usability challenges and emotional reactions blind college students experienced in accessing educational materials and communicating with professors and colleagues through online technologies. A case study approach was adopted. Five students were interviewed regarding their online learning experiences using Blackboard, a popular Course Management System. Analysis of the interviews revealed that the blind students found Blackboard poorly accessible, which affected their academic achievements. However, despite their frustrations and feelings of marginalization, the study also showed that the blind students were motivated and optimistic of their successes. The research suggests that academic administrators and CMS designers work jointly with adaptive software developers to create enhanced user interfaces, ensure universal access and usability of online technologies, and reduce educational inequities and frustrations encountered by blind students.

This study examined the usability challenges and emotional reactions blind college students experienced in accessing educational materials and communicating with professors and colleagues through online technologies. A case study approach was adopted. Five students were interviewed regarding their online learning experiences using Blackboard, a popular Course Management System. Analysis of the interviews revealed that the blind students found Blackboard poorly accessible, which affected their academic achievements. However, despite their frustrations and feelings of marginalization, the study also showed that the blind students were motivated and optimistic of their successes. The research suggests that academic administrators and CMS designers work jointly with adaptive software developers to create enhanced user interfaces, ensure universal access and usability of online technologies, and reduce educational inequities and frustrations encountered by blind students.

This research aimed to compare the degree of social Phobia and its relation to social adjustment between blind and sighted students in Jordan. The research also aimed to determine if there were differences between the two groups and if social Phobia could predict the levels of social adjustment. The population in this study was 200 students, comprising 100 blind and 100 sighted students in Jordanian schools. In gathering data, two standardized tools were utilized: the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) to quantify social anxiety levels and the Social Adjustment Scale to determine students' adjustment towards social integration and compatibility with individuals.The research outcome showed that blind students displayed higher social phobia ratings (M = 42.77, SD = 9.83) than sighted students (M = 36.59, SD = 8.22). Blind students scored much worse than their sighted peers on social adjustment according to the study results (M = 28.33, SD = 5.95 versus M = 33.16, SD = 6.38). These two effect sizes reached large measures when compared to each other (Cohen's d = 0.69 and 0.75). According to Pearson correlation results, social Phobia was strongly linked negatively to social adjustment (r = -0.613, p &lt; .001). The analysis showed social Phobia was a major factor in determining social adjustment scores (β = -0.613, R² = 0.375, p &lt;.001). Social Phobia occurs frequently among blind students and simultaneously presents a significant obstacle to their social adjustment, according to the research outcomes. The author examines why visually impaired students need specialized psychological and pedagogical help to improve their social integration.