Can Blind People Learn Better?: Web Accessibility and Collaboration to Support Learning for Blind People

If you think that blind people cannot be able to use educational material for learning something, this book could change your idea. The increasing spread of the Information Technology, multimedia devices, along with the impressive growth of Web 2.0, have radically changed communication and ways of acquiring knowledge. Collaboration between individuals combined with an active, enriched sensorial experience of the user, have produced new paradigms for learning and teaching, compared to the classic passive methods of the past. Unfortunately, multimedia applications are usually designed for the sighted, and are ineffective for blind users, who typically interact with a computer by screen reader via vocal synthesizer and a keyboard. This book investigates the design of accessible and usable Web e-Learning tools and specifically collaborative environments to support learning for blind people, overcoming their difficulties during the interaction. While the book is oriented for developers designing Web applications to support blind users, it will also be useful for those (e.g. teachers, tutors, parents, students, etc.) who want to prepare educational contents more effective for learning.