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Audio-Tactile Graphics in an Adaptive Delivery System for Math Tests and Instruction
Presentation by Eric G. Hansen, Steven Landau, Valerie J. Shute, and Edith Aurora Graf
This material is based upon work supported National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0313202: Valerie J. Shute, Eric G. Hansen, & Edith Aurora Graf - Co-principal Investigators
The Need
There is a great need to make complex math content accessible to individuals with severe visual impairments
- Charts and figures
- Tables
- Math expressions
Two Approaches
- Descriptions
- Live reader
- Prerecorded audio
- Synthesized speech
- Braille
- Tactile media
ACED project
- Adaptive Content for Evidence-based Diagnosis
- Uses 8th grade math content in the topic of "sequences"
- For students with and without visual disabilities
An ACED item
Talking Tactile Tablet (TTT)
Overlay sheet for ACED for TTT
with item-specific content
Pre-Pilot
- 4 students (including 3 users of screen readers)
- About - hour of use of ACED for TTT by each participant
- 11 items
- 7 multiple choice
- 4 constructed response
- Only one item required no TTT graphical treatment
Pre-pilot administration utility: Allows the administrator to pick which items to administer and in what order
Coming Next: Pilot Test
- About 170 items (with instructional feedback)
- Major delivery mechanisms
- Mainstream ACED
- Screen Enlarged ACED
- ACED for TTT
Three administration options:
- Mainstream ACED
- Screen magnified ACED
- Set screen magnification preferences
- ACED for TTT
- Set TTT preferences
Some graphics can be simplified:
Removal of the extremely complex diagram (too many tree shoots to count):
Another complex graphic (too many small triangles):
Possible revision to graphic for tactile format (avoid changes in scale):
Conclusions
Audio-tactile graphics may provide a platform for leveraging advances in computer and related technologies for improving access to math by individuals with severe visual disabilities
Accessibility features such as audio-tactile graphics may prove to be a useful part of an adaptive system capable of addressing the needs of individuals both with and without visual disabilities