Vol. 5 (2023)
Emerging Trends in Education

Articles

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ARABIC BRAILLE SELF-LEARNING WEBSITE: Received: 06th April 2023; Revised: 01st August 2023, 14th August 2023; Accepted: 21st August 2023

Published 2023-11-07

  • Abdulmalik Al-Salman
    • ,
  • Amani Al-Salman
    • ,
  • Shier Al-Hadhrami

Abdulmalik Al-Salman
Professor, Computer Science Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Amani Al-Salman
Ph.D., Special Education Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Shier Al-Hadhrami
Masters, Computer Science Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Blind and visually impaired people have long used assistive technologies, such as Braille, to aid them in their day-to-day lives. Given the importance of communication for these individuals, the ability to self-learn Braille through a specifically designed educational system is crucial for unlocking the ability to communicate while saving time and money. This paper focuses on the "learn-by-my-hand" system used to teach Braille in an Arabic context through an e-dashboard on a self-guided website. The system, which also aids sighted people, is based on content from the Saudi education ministry, allowing users to learn Braille throughout school courses. It is thought to be the first system of its kind designed to be deployed in schools. The future work will focus on conducting a quasi-experiment study involving students with vision impairment in elementary schools, collecting both qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed website. By addressing usability, user satisfaction, and its impact on academic performance, we aim to comprehensively understand the website's impact on blind students' educational experiences.

Keywords

Arabic Braille, Assistive Technology, Disability, Blind, Learning Braille, Visually Impaired

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