A platform for supporting learning process of visually impaired children

Abstract

Although ICT supported tools and e-learning material are widely available in schools to support teaching and learning, there is still a lack of specific tools and material designated for children with impairments. The costs of adapting and preparing such material is often economically not justifiable due to a small number of such children, and commonly, for the best leaning outcome the material has to be adapted for each individual child and their deficits and level of impairments. Our solution to this problem is a web platform for delivering customized exercises intended for visually impaired children. There are two sorts of exercises already prepared: a tutorial for learning and practicing Braille and ten-finger typing, and various exercises for practicing vision, memory, and motor skills. For each individual impaired learner, the teacher can select appropriate type of exercise and customize it by adjusting visual aspects of the exercise, setting the specific content (e.g., words for typing, or items to sort), or selecting the level of difficulty (e.g., set timing, complexity levels, or number of shown images). A set of such customized exercises is given to a learner for practicing and their progress is constantly monitored and saved for later inspection.