Methodology for Designing Systems Based on Tangible User Interfaces and Gamification Techniques for Blind People

Having a disability does not mean being away from major technologies present today; even people with visual impairment or blindness use different options to access technological information. Recent studies have shown that using tangible user interfaces and gamification techniques brings considerable benefits to learning and the understanding of essential topics for these people. Therefore, METUIGA methodology has been developed to facilitate digital content creation that mixes both characteristics and seeks to take advantage of the primary means of knowledge that these people have as their sense of touch, enriched with techniques that encourage them to use applications more frequently. For this reason, novelties are shown within the requirements and the design stages to implement these techniques. This work shows prototypes that have been made following METUIGA methodology to help teach geometry and mathematical lessons for blind people. In addition, a third prototype focused on children with an autism spectrum disorder demonstrates how METUIGA methodology can be applied in a variety of subjects and for a number of disabilities. Finally, an analysis of the software methodology evaluation is presented to show the initial perceptions of software developers toward METUIGA methodology, where important results were obtained in relation to the software engineering process application.

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Using emotion recognition technologies to teach children with autism spectrum disorder how to identify and express emotions

Universal Access in the Information Society ◽

10.1007/s10209-021-00818-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jose Maria Garcia-Garcia ◽

Victor M. R. Penichet ◽

Maria D. Lozano ◽

Anil Fernando

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

User Interfaces ◽

Developmental Disorder ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Tangible User Interfaces ◽

Software Application ◽

Natural Way

AbstractAutism spectrum disorder (ASD), which since 2013 is considered as an umbrella term for several disorders such as autistic syndrome, Asperger’s disorder and pervasive developmental disorder, is characterized, among other aspects, by deficits in social-emotion reciprocity. This deficit manifests itself as a reduced sharing of emotions and an increased difficulty in interpreting emotions other people are feeling, which in the end leads to more impairments in social communication. Since it is possible to help a person with ASD (especially children) to improve their ability to understand and detect emotions, we have developed a proposal which integrates emotion recognition technologies, often used in the field of HCI, to try to overcome this difficulty. In this paper, we present a novel software application developed as a serious game to teach children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to identify and express emotions. The system incorporates cutting-edge technology to support novel interaction mechanisms based on tangible user interfaces (TUIs) and emotion recognition from facial expressions. In this way, children interact with the system in a natural way by simply grasping objects with their hands and using their faces. The system has been assessed on the premises of an association with children with ASD. The outcomes of the evaluation are very positive and support the validity of the proposal.

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Fiber-sense: the exploration of the craft and material of fiberglass as a medium for tangible user interfaces.

Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction ◽

10.1145/3430524.3444703 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Aaron, a r, Chooi

Keyword(s):

User Interfaces ◽

Tangible User Interfaces

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Exploring the Impact of Interaction Modality on Students’ Learning Performance

Journal of Educational Computing Research ◽

10.1177/07356331211027297 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 073563312110272

Author(s):

Neila Chettaoui ◽

Ayman Atia ◽

Med Salim Bouhlel

Keyword(s):

User Interfaces ◽

Teaching Method ◽

Learning Performance ◽

Controlled Study ◽

Embodied Interaction ◽

Multimodal Learning ◽

Tangible User Interfaces ◽

Embodied Learning ◽

Significant Difference ◽

The Impact

Embodied learning pedagogy highlights the interconnections between the brain, body, and the concrete environment. As a teaching method, it provides means of engaging the physical body in multimodal learning experiences to develop the students’ cognitive process. Based on this perspective, several research studies introduced different interaction modalities to support the implementation of an embodied learning environment. One such case is the use of tangible user interfaces and motion-based technologies. This paper evaluates the impacts of motion-based, tangible-based, and multimodal interaction merging between tangible interfaces and motion-based technology on improving students’ learning performance. A controlled study was performed at a primary school with 36 participants (aged 7 to 9), to evaluate the educational potential of embodied interaction modalities compared to tablet-based learning. The results highlighted a significant difference in the learning gains between all groups, as determined by one-way ANOVA [F (3,32) = 6.32, p = .017], in favor of the multimodal learning interface. Findings revealed that a multimodal learning interface supporting richer embodied interaction that took advantage of affording the power of body movements and manipulation of physical objects might improve students’ understanding of abstract concepts in educational contexts.

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