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Exploring accessible programming with educators and visually impaired children

A. Pires,Filipa Rocha,António Neto,Hugo Simão,Hugo Nicolau,Tiago Guerreiro

Published 2020 in International Conference on Interaction Design and Children

ABSTRACT

Previous attempts to make block-based programming accessible to visually impaired children have mostly focused on audio-based challenges, leaving aside spatial constructs, commonly used in learning settings. We sought to understand the qualities and flaws of current programming environments in terms of accessibility in educational settings. We report on a focus group with IT and special needs educators, where they discussed a variety of programming environments for children, identifying their merits, barriers and opportunities. We then conducted a workshop with 7 visually impaired children where they experimented with a bespoke tangible robot-programming environment. Video recordings of such activity were analyzed with educators to discuss children's experiences and emergent behaviours. We contribute with a set of qualities that programming environments should have to be inclusive to children with different visual abilities, insights for the design of situated classroom activities, and evidence that inclusive tangible robot-based programming is worth pursuing.

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2020

  • Venue

    International Conference on Interaction Design and Children

  • Publication date

    2020-06-15

  • Fields of study

    Computer Science, Education, Psychology

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.1145/3392063.3394437
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

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