Kirsten Rassmus-Gröhn, associate professor at Lunds Universitet

I can draw!

Using HIPP to learn about 2D representations and drawings

There is yet no standardized technology that gives pupils with blindness access to create their own digital graphics. In a society where more and more school material is available and created on-line, pupils with severe visual impairment are still forced to use mainly physical material. The preparations needed for creating physical material usually limit the number of educational tactile graphics created. Because of this, pupils with blindness get less training in reading and interpreting graphical material.

The speaker together with her colleagues have developed an audio-haptic non-visual image editor and explorer: HIPP (Haptics In Pedagogical Practice). It combines haptic and sound feedback. Haptic feedback is displayed via the PHANToM OMNI device, speech provides precision and detail, while sound effects can give context or enhance motivation.

Ten pupils were involved in the development and evaluation of the application and used it for both drawing and accessing digital graphical material. The research group have seen that learning to draw and being inspired to draw is possible with the help of HIPP. Drawing can be approached in two ways: by doodle drawings that are visually interpreted, or starting from the initiative of a pupil wanting to draw something.

Kirsten will tell you what haptics are and how it works in practice. How it was used in the project and how it can be used to learn how to draw. She will show examples of how to combine haptics, sound and speech in HIPP and how digital tactile material could be used directly with HIPP without teachers needing to tailor all their own material

Karolina Björk, Anpassningsbyrån

Ingegerd Fahlström, GotIT resurscenter, Region Gotland

Charlotte Magnusson, Design Sciences, Lunds Universitet

Delphine Szymczak, Design Sciences, Lunds Universitet

Kirsten Rassmus-Gröhn, Design Sciences, Lunds Universitet