Extending Tangible Interactive Interfaces for Education: A System for Learning Arabic Braille using an Interactive Braille Keypad

Learning Braille for visual impairments means being able to read, write and communicate with others. There exist several educational tools for learning Braille. Unfortunately, for Arabic Braille, there is a lack of interactive educational tools and what is mostly used is the traditional learning tools, such as the Braille block. Replacing those tools with some more effective and interactive e-learning tools would help to improve the learning process. This paper introduces a new educational system with a tangible and interactive interface. This system aims to help blind children to learn Arabic Braille letters and numbers using an interactive tactile Braille keypad together with the educational website. The interactive tactile Braille keypad was built using an Arduino connected with the educational website. A usability test was conducted and results showed that the system is easy to use and suggested that using the interactive Braille keypad with the educational website will improve the learning outcomes for blind children.