Abstract

The article presents the results of research on the usefulness of specialized information and communication technologies (ICT) in mathematics education of visually impaired students. The aim of the research was to evaluate the benefits of using innovative technologies for both a teacher and his/her visually impaired student. Functionality and usability of proposed solutions were preliminarily evaluated.

Possibility to create mathematical content available for both visually impaired and blind students in EPUB3 format was positively evaluated by all 20 surveyed teachers. At the same time, 19 teachers asked for the opinion about diverse educational tools supporting preparation of the class materials appreciated their value as significantly facilitating and time saving solutions. Vast majority of them (17) expressed the opinion that cubarithms improve the process of teaching and practicing arithmetic. Fifteen teachers stated that semantic interpretation of the formulas in Polish and the possibility to navigate easily through their structures are the factors that significantly accelerate the performance of visually impaired students. Remote desktop tool has been assessed as facilitating teacher-student cooperation both in-class and on-line. The teachers also claimed that proposed solutions may positively influence the effectiveness of mathematics education in heterogenic student group by accelerating and facilitating the didactic process. That in turn may be considered as a positive response to the challenge of inclusive education.

Bibliography

• Brzostek-Pawłowska J., Mikułowski D., Pilski M., Technologie zwiększające dostępność elektronicznych edukacyjnych materiałów matematycznych dla osób z dysfunkcją wzroku, "Edukacja Ustawiczna Dorosłych" 2016, nr 1, s. 115-123.
• Brzostek-Pawłowska J., Rubin M., Mikułowski D., Terlikowski G., Wirtualizacja pisemnej techniki obliczeń arytmetycznych dostępnej dla uczniów z dysfunkcją wzroku, "Elektronika - Konstrukcje, Technologie, Zastosowania" 2016, nr 1, s. 33-39.
• Mikułowski D., Terlikowski G., Brzostek-Pawłowska J., Virtual cubarithms - innovative assistive technology for teaching the blind and visually impaired students traditional columnar layout operations, "Studia Informatica: Systems and Information Technology" 2016, Vol. 1-2(20) (w druku).
• Rubin M., Faderewski M., Mikułowski D., Badania stanu i potrzeb informatyzacji edukacji matematycznej uczniów niewidomych i słabowidzących w Polsce, "e-mentor" 2015, nr 1(58), s. 34-40, http://dx.doi.org/10.15219/em58.1154.