Braille through eLearning

Abstract

E-learning is the solution to most of the problems in education and it offers a better and easier learning approach by which the student benefits a lot throughout the learning process. It can greatly enhance the quality of education by making learning available to students who might otherwise be restricted through a disadvantage or impairment. Subjects such as Braille reading and writing which are sought by a small number of students is often not made available in the traditional way of learning, consequently disadvantaging and denying students or certain groups within the society the right to educational opportunities. In Malta, merely a few blind people know how to read Braille and this can be due to the fact of a lack of courses available. Unfortunately, professionals who work within the field of disability and who often come in contact with blind and visually impaired persons - such as teachers for the blind and learning support assistants (LSA's), during their training course, they learn about Braille and that it is a method used by the blind to read and write but that's all they get to know about it. The aim of this project is that with the aid of my e-learning application, professionals working within the field of special needs education, parents, caregivers and family members of visually impaired children will be able to learn how to visually read Braille in order to be able to teach it themselves. It could provide an alternative opportunity for the LSA's and professionals as well as parents and family members to learn Braille in order to be able to help their visually impaired students and relatives, providing easy access from the comfort of their homes any time of the day and eliminate the need for the presence of a teacher. The system was evaluated by a selected group of people made up of a teacher that gives courses for persons with disabilities, two learning support assistants - one of which is also a parent of a visually impaired child - and two visually impaired persons. All these participants gave mostly positive feedback on the system and its features and shed a light on some of the things that need to be modified such as improve the speech synthesis features.