Nurulnadwan Aziz

Assistive Courseware for Visually-Impaired

Research in aiding disabled people with electronic applications should be one of the focuses in the area of human-computer interaction. The population of disabled is big and increasing, so they should be entertained well so that they will be potential resources to the nation. This paper discusses the Assistive Courseware (AC) in terms of how visually-impaired (VI) can make full use of them. It aims to propose guidelines for developing AC for VI people. In the introduction part, current issues regarding disabilities and the population is discussed. It also outlines the objectives of the paper. Next, the research methodology is outlined. There are three phases in which AC development is in the second phase which adapts the IntView courseware development methodology. The final part of the paper contains results of the test, which proposes basic guidelines for developing AC for VI.

The enhancement of assistive courseware for visually impaired learners

Advances in technology provide an opportunity for the visually-impaired (VI) people to learn and grasp new knowledge. It is as a medium that could fill a gap between VI and normal people. Even though various technologies are available to the VI people, yet there is no Assistive Courseware (AC) designed especially for the VI people. This paper aims to develop an AC for VI learners based on the guidelines that has been tested with the users in the preliminary study and later revised in this study. In the introduction part, the term of AC is discussed. The objectives of the paper are to redesign the storyboard of the earlier-designed prototype and develop a new version prototype of AC for VI. The study is based on Iterative Triangulation Methodology combined with the IntView Methodology. Summary of methodology is also discussed in this part consisting of four phases starting with specification identification until prototype development based on the revised guidelines. The final part of the paper discuses the problems gathered during preliminary testing, implementation issues and new features added in the AC in order to overcome the problems. The findings that this paper addresses include the guidelines, the storyboard and the prototype.

Critical Analysis in Proposing a Conceptual Design Model of Assistive Courseware for Low Vision (AC4LV) Learners

This paper reports on an ongoing study, which intends to propose a conceptual design model of Assistive Courseware(AC) that is particularly designed for low vision learners (LV) learners.Altogether, 15 conceptual design models of courseware were compared and analyzed exhaustively with the main objectives (i) to determine the research gaps in proposing a conceptual design model of AC4LV and (ii) to identify their common components.Through a systematic and critical analysis, this study discovers that all of the previous models do not suggest any specific conceptual design model of courseware that caters the visually-impaired (VI) particularly low vision (LV) learners in detail.It is noted that this is the research gap that should be the focal point for further study.Also, the previous literatures suggest that Instructional Design (ID) model, learning theories, and learning approach must be the basic component in designing the conceptual design model of courseware.

Digital Storytelling Makes Reading Fun and Entertaining

This paper reports on an ongoing study, which determines whether digital storytelling is fun and entertaining.Since the digital storytelling has attracted research attention, childrens experience with regards to fun and entertaining when interacting with it should be studied, because they are the generation to utilize the technology.Hence, this study is carried out.This paper starts with some discussions on the background.It highlights the history of reading materials and their chronology.Also, some previous studies on fun and entertaining are reviewed.Then the activities involved in this study are described, including the development of digital storytelling that adapts the user -centered design approach. Further, a user test of the digital storytelling is elaborated including the results obtained. Next, the results are discussed in relation with the experience, before the conclusion section follows at the end.It was found that digital storytelling is really entertaining and invoking fun.