2018 Aira Exploratory Study

The Aira Exploratory Study was designed to help us better understand the potential usefulness of using the Aira remote sighted assistant service in assessment settings when computer simulations are included. This study began with general demographics gathering, as well as survey questions about students’ past experiences and attitudes about using readers and scribes. Students were asked to compare those experiences to potentially using Aira agents. We then proceeded by having students use a partially accessible simulation with assistive technology and limited Aira intervention, followed by an inaccessible simulation with full Aira intervention.

It was clear from the initial survey responses that participants placed a high value on accessible assessments. However, the survey responses also illustrated a modest yet consistent preference for using Aira agents in assessment settings over the typical reader/scribe.

Most students found the partially accessible PhET Ohm’s Law simulation to be at least moderately easy to use, although one student rated it very poorly due to the elements of the simulation which were not accessible. This exercise helped to illustrate the difficulties that developers who try to incorporate accessibility face in creating truly accessible simulations. Students who called in an Aira agent to help with the inaccessible elements of this simulation were able to find the answers which were dependent on visual inspection, although this interaction informed us that the Aira glasses were useless for this purpose. Using the camera on the Aira phone was successful, but even here it was cumbersome and showed us that using Team Viewer is the best way to deal with dynamic content on a computer-based simulation.

Even though it was completely inaccessible, most students preferred the Pearson Water Bottle Rocket simulation, due largely to the perceived benefits provided by the Aira agent interaction, as well as the fact that most students could better visualize this simulation in their mind. However, we learned that Aira agents will likely need some training to better understand the simulation context and scientific concepts being illustrated if they are to be effective and efficient in an assessment context. It was observed that the Aira agents did not read the item question first. Instead, they read the page from the beginning and often spent significant time running simulations before informing the student what the question was that needed to be answered. Out of the five students in the study, four of them finally selected the correct answer.

In both simulations, students liked the fact that they could change various aspects of the simulation and see what happened as result. This is really the basis of scientific inquiry, so access to such types of simulations by blind students is of great importance.