New perspectives on e-learning for the blind and severely visually impaired

Abstract

In the late 90s different options has been established for media supported learning, so-called e-learning. The underlying mechanisms provide an appropriate platform for a novel learning environment that might help the blind and severely visually impaired. The options represent visual information provided by tactile analogies. A haptic device is used, i.e., a hardware device that helps present tactile information. The haptic device can generate a tactile representation of geometric objects and physical bodies. This can be provided with or without visual information and/or a teacher’s instructions. Respective requirements have been met by developing the prototypical software make2Dhaptic. In this paper applications of the haptic device and make2Dhaptic in combination with histological slides are discussed. The results of initial tests are promising.

Keywords

• haptic device
• blind
• visually impaired
• haptic rendering