Facilitating mathematics learning for students with upper extremity disabilities using touch-input system

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of using tablet device as user interface for students with upper extremity disabilities to input mathematics efficiently into computer. Methods: A touch-input system using tablet device as user interface was proposed to assist these students to write mathematics. User-switchable and context-specific keyboard layouts were designed to streamline the input process. The system could be integrated with conventional computer systems only with minor software setup. A two-week pre–post test study involving five participants was conducted to evaluate the performance of the system and collect user feedback. Results: The mathematics input efficiency of the participants was found to improve during the experiment sessions. In particular, their performance in entering trigonometric expressions by using the touch-input system was significantly better than that by using conventional mathematics editing software with keyboard and mouse. The participants rated the touch-input system positively and were confident that they could operate at ease with more practice. Conclusions: The proposed touch-input system provides a convenient way for the students with hand impairment to write mathematics and has the potential to facilitate their mathematics learning.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• Students with upper extremity disabilities often face barriers to learning mathematics which is largely based on handwriting.

• Conventional computer user interfaces are inefficient for them to input mathematics into computer.

• A touch-input system with context-specific and user-switchable keyboard layouts was designed to improve the efficiency of mathematics input.

• Experimental results and user feedback suggested that the system has the potential to facilitate mathematics learning for the students.

Keywords:

• Access to mathematics
• hand impairment
• input methods
• tablet device
• touch
• user interface

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewer for the comments which are very useful to improve the quality of the research. Thanks are extended to Teddy Lee and Ken Lee for their support in the study, as well as the Hong Kong Red Cross Princess Alexandra School and its Occupational Therapy Department.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

This work was supported in part by the General Research Fund of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (PolyU 5134/12E and PolyU 5152/09E) and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (1-ZV6C).