Just a Virtual Touch
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[1] Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí
Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí
México
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- Localización: Diálogos para la investigación en comunicación, educación y tecnologías / coord. por Alfredo Barrales Martínez, Francisco Jesús Ortiz Alvarado; Raquel Espinosa Castañeda (aut.), 2021, ISBN 978-607-99505-1-4, págs. 174-179
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
Can you imagine how to teach architecture or sculpture to blind people? T he concept of “inclusive education” goes beyond considering the needs of people with disabilities; it refers to the process of recognizing the students’ learning needs and to act according to such needs. People with visual limitations do not necessarily require more attention and dedication than other people; they only need to be guided from the beginning and to have accessible information. Thus, one of the main challenges of the universal education is to generate inclusive and assistive educational technologies, which can be used for the teaching and learning of people with disabilities. In this chapter is presented and discussed the development and assessment of haptic-enabled virtual reality learning systems for the education of non-sighted people. Since many years ago, several studies have shown that the human sense of touch is a psychological source of knowledge. Recently, the progress in computer technologies have led to the development of virtual reality and haptic systems, which are able to provide virtual touch and information about size, shape and physical properties of virtual objects. Moreover, computer haptic systems can also be used to generate mental representations of virtual objects. However, although virtual reality and haptic systems have been widely used in science and engineering, there is little research work about the design and application of such systems in education, particularly in the teaching and learning process of visually impaired individuals. Now with the help of technology, education is just a virtual touch away.
