Haptic User Interface Design for Students with Visual Impairments

Many students with visual impairments (VIs) study in public schools instead of special education programs. They should have equal opportunities of learning in competitive educational environments with the most appropriate assistive technology. Yet, today's assistive technology is less likely to support students with VIs in learning visually complex science concepts (e.g., heat and temperature). There is a need of a new means to facilitate their understanding. Haptic technology is considered a useful tool of effectively obtaining information because it enables students with Vls to directly interact with virtual objects and also access sensory cues to feel the objects' various characteristics. This paper aims to explore the haptic user interfaces (UIs) that help students easily understand the concepts of heat and temperature. Archival research and participatory design with teachers were performed to develop haptic UIs and educational contents. Archival research resulted in 44 misconceptions related to heat and temperature. A multimodal interaction was recommended to contribute to user's successful interacting with haptic UIs.