Accessibility at the University: An Experience on How Teaching Programming to Blind Students

Abstract

In the field of education, disabled people inclusion gains special importance for any country when intending to attain actual social integration. Universities must take on the social responsibility for embracing disabled students and creating strategies that facilitate their educational process and favour the completion of their professional studies in order to attain truly individual autonomy. Even though university education is increasingly taking actions to guarantee equal opportunities as regards contents acquisition (ensuring attendance, participation, and success for all students), most degree programs of Information Systems Engineering do not include teaching strategies for visually impaired students. In this context, this work presents a collaborative work experience that was carried out in the Regional Faculty of Universidad Tecnológica Nacional in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. This experience included taking active steps to provide a process for teaching programming contents that is appropriate for a visually impaired student starting the Information Systems Engineering Degree Program. More specifically, teaching strategies are presented in detail along with the tools that were developed in the programming area of Algoritmos y Estructuras de Datos course so as to adjust the available tools and material to that particular student's needs.