New Technology May Help College Students Who Are Visually Impaired

A December 3, 2007 ScienceDaily article reports that technology is being developed which may assist visually-impaired college students studying in fields that typically utilize graphics (such as diagrams, charts, etc.). Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (sometimes collectively referred to as STEM courses) are examples of classes in which students with visual disabilities might struggle due to the large amount of graphics used during instruction. New smart pen and paper technology can recognize handwritten remarks and also record (and play back) audio. A grant from the National Science Foundation is allowing researchers to explore how these tools can be applied to the college classroom setting for visually-impaired students.

The article is available at the ScienceDaily Web site.