Article: Understanding m-learning experiences for blind students Journal: International Journal of Learning Technology (IJLT) 2020 Vol.15 No.1 pp.26 - 44 Abstract: When designing educational technologies for blind people, we need to consider technological and pedagogical strands. From the pedagogical point of view, m-learning has the potential to benefit blind students. Regarding the technological aspect, m-learning is an appropriate approach for blind students. Motivated by the adequacy of m-learning and the scarcity of works involving m-learning experiences for blind students, we present an exploratory study to uncover important information when blind users interact with mobile applications, focusing on the educational and technological perspectives. We investigated the interactions of nine blind users with mobile devices to unveil their technology-related singularities in the educational context. Based on the familiarity of blind users, some interaction design patterns have proven to be easy to use after conducting a usability and user experience test on a prototype. The results also highlighted the relevance of educational mobile applications to provide greater independence to blind users. This paper contributes towards improving the current awareness of the accessibility aspect of m-learning collaborative tools, and reveals the aspects of interactions and needs of blind students. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Understanding m-learning experiences for blind students

Authors: Deller James Ferreira; Jorge Lucas Pimmel Pacheco; Luciana De Oliveira Berreta; Tiago Do Carmo Nogueira

Addresses: Instituto de Informática, Universidade Federal Goiás, Câmpus Samambaia, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil ' Instituto de Informática, Universidade Federal Goiás, Câmpus Samambaia, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil ' Instituto de Informática, Universidade Federal Goiás, Câmpus Samambaia, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil ' Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Baiano-IFBaiano, Campus Guanambi, Bahia, Brazil

Abstract: When designing educational technologies for blind people, we need to consider technological and pedagogical strands. From the pedagogical point of view, m-learning has the potential to benefit blind students. Regarding the technological aspect, m-learning is an appropriate approach for blind students. Motivated by the adequacy of m-learning and the scarcity of works involving m-learning experiences for blind students, we present an exploratory study to uncover important information when blind users interact with mobile applications, focusing on the educational and technological perspectives. We investigated the interactions of nine blind users with mobile devices to unveil their technology-related singularities in the educational context. Based on the familiarity of blind users, some interaction design patterns have proven to be easy to use after conducting a usability and user experience test on a prototype. The results also highlighted the relevance of educational mobile applications to provide greater independence to blind users. This paper contributes towards improving the current awareness of the accessibility aspect of m-learning collaborative tools, and reveals the aspects of interactions and needs of blind students.

Keywords: collaborative learning; blind students; interaction design patterns; m-learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLT.2020.107663

International Journal of Learning Technology, 2020 Vol.15 No.1, pp.26 - 44

Published online: 04 Jun 2020 *

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Title: Understanding m-learning experiences for blind students

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