RDE-FRI: Innovations in STEM Education for Blind Undergraduates Using Digital Pen-Based Audio/Tactile Graphics

RDE-FRI：使用数字笔式音频/触觉图形的盲人本科生STEM教育创新是一项为期36个月，价值30万美元的合作奖，授予史密斯-凯特尔韦尔眼科研究基金会和范德比尔特大学，由残疾人教育研究（RDE）计划的重点研究倡议（FRI）轨道资助。 该项目的主要目标是开发，评估和传播一种低成本，便携式，易于使用的数字笔技术，使盲人本科生和教育支持人员（ESP）能够使用触摸和声音创建，探索和理解STEM课程常见的图表和数字。 该研究团队正在进行一项三（3）阶段研究项目，以检查部署数字笔音频/触觉图形（dPATg）方法的好处，包括双手触觉探索，超细选择分辨率，便携性，以及学生和ESP使用休厄尔凸起线条绘制工具包（SRLDK）和SpotDotView盲文浮雕创建临时内容的便利性。 在观察学生在课堂上使用STEM图表和数字的初始阶段之后，第二阶段包括一系列单一主题设计的研究，以调查dPATg方法。 第三阶段采用准实验设计，其中学生的表现作为三（3）种治疗条件之一（1）的结果进行测量：使用dPATg系统，使用传统的音频/触觉系统，以及不使用先进技术。 该项目建立在PI目前和以前在盲人和视障人士使用技术方面的工作的成功基础上，该工作由美国教育部国家残疾和康复研究所资助。（H133E060001; H133A060056; H133 S 060103）。这个经验丰富的团队由一位盲人研究心理学家和一位教学技术专家领导，与加州大学伯克利分校（UCB）和旧金山弗朗西斯科州立大学（SFSU）的合作伙伴关系使其受益，在那里，约有40名盲人本科生正在接受观察并招募参与研究。 其他科目是从社区学院在旧金山弗朗西斯科湾地区和其他加州州立大学招募。 该项目还受益于与LiveScribe公司的行业合作伙伴关系，一家专门从事数字笔技术开发和制造的公司。该项目涉及RDE-FRI轨道目标的三（3）个：鼓励研究和开发具体但实用的辅助技术，帮助残疾人从事STEM职业;为残疾学生构建可以快速开发并有效部署在教育环境中的工具;并调查有效的教学方法和实践，为残疾人在干。 肯塔基州大学的外部评估员Donald Stenhoff正在进行一项形成性和总结性项目评估计划。额外的形成性项目输入由专家内部和外部顾问团队提供，其中包括来自旧金山弗朗西斯科盲人灯塔的Anita Aaron;来自可识别技术中心的Dmitri Belser;来自盲人和低视力康复工程研究中心的John Brabyn; SFSU的Gene Chelberg; UCB的James Gammon;以及来自范德比尔特大学的Ted Hasselbring。还有一个传播计划，其中包括一个网站，用于分发项目信息，在同行评审的专业期刊上发表研究结果，在教育技术会议上介绍项目材料和结果，并促进将数字笔技术转移到特殊教育和教育技术领域。

RDE-FRI: Innovations in STEM Education for Blind Undergraduates Using Digital Pen-Based Audio/Tactile Graphics is a 36-month, $300,000 dollar collaborative award to the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Foundation and Vanderbilt University that is funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of the project is to develop, evaluate, and disseminate a low-cost, portable, easy-to-use digital pen technology that enables blind undergraduate students and educational support personnel (ESP) to create, explore, and understand the diagrams and figures common to the STEM curriculum using touch and sound. The research team is conducting a three (3) phase research project to examine the benefits of deploying a digital Pen Audio/Tactile graphics (dPATg) approach which includes two-handed tactile exploration, ultrafine selection resolution, portability, and the ease of creating ad hoc content by students and ESP using the Sewell raised line drawing kit (SRLDK) and the SpotDotView Braille Embosser. Following an initial phase of observing students using STEM diagrams and figures in the classroom, the second phase includes a series of single-subject designed studies to investigate the dPATg approach. The third phase employs a quasi-experimental design where student performance is measured as a result of one (1) of three (3) treatment conditions: Use of dPATg systems, use of conventional audio/tactile systems, and no advanced technology use. This project builds on the prior success of the PI's current and previous work on the use of technology for the blind and visually impaired that was funded by the US Education Department's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (H133E060001; H133A060056; H133S060103).This highly experienced team, which is lead by a research psychologist who is blind and by an expert in instructional technology, benefits from partnerships with the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) and San Francisco State University (SFSU) where approximately 40 blind undergraduate students are being observed and recruited for study participation. Additional subjects are recruited from community colleges in the San Francisco Bay region and from other California State Universities. The project also benefits from an industry partnership with LiveScribe, Inc., a company with expertise in the development and manufacturing of digital pen technology.This project addresses three (3) of the RDE-FRI track goals: To encourage research and development of specific but utilitarian assistive technologies that will help persons with disabilities pursue careers in STEM; to build tools for students with disabilities that can quickly be developed and effectively deployed in the educational environment; and to investigate effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan being conducted by an external evaluator, Donald Stenhoff, from the University of Kentucky. Additional formative project input is provided by a team of expert internal and external advisors that includes Anita Aaron from the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind; Dmitri Belser from the Center for Accessible Technology; John Brabyn from the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Blindness and Low Vision; Gene Chelberg from SFSU; James Gammon from UCB; and Ted Hasselbring from Vanderbilt University. There is also a dissemination plan which includes a website for distributing project information, publishing findings in peer-reviewed professional journals, presenting project materials and results at educational technology conferences, and facilitating the transfer of digital pen technology to special education and educational technology fields.