Tactilelink Isistimu Yezemfundo Yemidwebo Ethintekayo ngu-Nuoran Chen, Yilin Niu and Siming Jin

Umdwebo Tactilelink Isistimu Yezemfundo Yemidwebo Ethintekayo ngu-Nuoran Chen, Yilin Niu and Siming Jin ungumnqobi ohlonishwa kakhulu womklomelo odumile we-2026 Umklomelo Webhulonzi we-A' Design Award Esigabeni Somncintiswano se-Imfundo.

IbhulonziImfundo· 2026

Tactilelink Isistimu Yezemfundo Yemidwebo Ethintekayo

ngu Nuoran Chen, Yilin Niu and Siming Jin

Iklayenti: Nuoran Chen

Umnqobi we-Umklomelo Webhulonzi we-A' Design Award Esigabeni se-Imfundo

7,220

Umnqobi Womklomelo Oqinisekisiwe

Qinisekisa Isimo Somklomelo se-#177478

Buka ku-A' Design Award Isitatimende Sabezindaba Ibheji Yomklomelo

Imibala

Ukuklama

Mayelana ne-Tactilelink Isistimu Yezemfundo Yemidwebo Ethintekayo

I-Tactilelink iyisistimu yezemfundo yemidwebo ethintekayo eyenzelwe abafundi abangaboni nabanenkinga yokubona. Ukufundisa okujwayelekile kokubamba isandla ngesandla kunciphisa ukuzimela komfundi futhi kuncike enanini eliyingcosana lothisha abangongoti. I-Tactilelink ihlanganisa uhlaka lwethebulethi olwenziwe ngokuphrinta kwe-3D, imidwebo enemigqa ephakeme yamadayagramu amasekhethi kanye nesofthiwe esebenza kumapulatifomu ahlukene. Ukusetshenziswa komsindo kuhola umfundi ngamunye ukuya engxenyeni okuqondwe kuyo, njengoba iphimbo namandla omsindo kushintsha ngokuya ngebanga lomunwe. Abafundisi bangalandelela abafundi abaningana ngesikhathi esisodwa futhi balungiselele imibhalo yomsindo yokubuyekeza ngokuzimela emva kwesikole.

Ukuqashelwa

Mayelana ne-Umklomelo Webhulonzi we-A' Design Award

Tactilelink Isistimu Yezemfundo Yemidwebo Ethintekayo iwinile uMklomelo Webhulonzi we-A' Design Award, ukwaziswa okuhloniphekile kakhulu okunikezwa imiklamo ephawulekayo eyehlukaniswa ukudala, ubuhlakani nobukhali bengqondo. Abawinile beBhulonzi yimisebenzi enobuchule obukhulu nedala ngokumangalisayo eqinisekisa isipiliyoni esibanzi, umcabango nobuhlakani babaklami babo. Tactilelink Isistimu Yezemfundo Yemidwebo Ethintekayo ilindeleke ukuba ibe yinto exatshwa kakhulu, edunyiswayo nethandwayo, enobungcweti obuphawulekayo nezinto ezintsha. Lo mklamo owinile uMklomelo Webhulonzi we-A' Design Award uhlanganisa izindlela ezinhle kakhulu ebuciko, esayensi, ekuklameni nasebuchwepheshe futhi uhamba phambili ngenxa yokunaka kwawo imininingwane. Tactilelink Isistimu Yezemfundo Yemidwebo Ethintekayo iyanelisa izidingo ngokumangalisayo, ithinta izifiso, iheha imizwa futhi ikhanga ukufuna ukwazi.

Ngemuva Kokuklama

Iphakheji Yabezindaba

Ama-credit, amalungu eqembu nemininingwane yobuchwepheshe ehlinzekwe ngumklami.

Izici Ezihlukile: Tactilelink is an affordable tactile graphic education system for blind and visually impaired students. Traditional hand-over-hand instruction limits students' independence and strains an already scarce specialist workforce. SoundPath lets a single instructor guide multiple students at once through sonification and voiceover annotations, making tactile graphic learning accessible, scalable, and independent.
Izilinganiso Nokupakisha: The physical components include a 3D-printed tablet frame (290 × 226 × 7 mm) and several tactile graphics of Arduino diagrams (279.4 × 215.9 mm). The digital component is cross-platform software that works as both a tablet app and a desktop web app, creating a flexible teaching system.
Amathegi: Accessibility, Tactile graphic, Education system, Inclusive education, Blind Arduino
Ubuchwepheshe Bokukhiqiza: Tactilelink is built with simplicity, affordability, and accessibility in mind. For student’s system, it combines 3D-printed tablet frames with software optimized for common educational tablets, ensuring easy setup and scalability. It uses sonification to guide students in exploring and learning raised-line graphics. For instructor’s system, it’s an one-step, AI empowered software help they instruct multiple students easily, reducing their workload, expanding the educational capacity to more underserved blind students.
Inselele Yokudweba: The hardest part was shifting from designer to facilitator. Co-design challenged us to suspend our assumptions, especially as sighted designers. We wrongly assumed blind users would prefer vibration cues over sound. In reality, sonification was less fatiguing and more effective. This required overcoming internal bias, embracing user knowledge, and adapting to insights often overlooked due to our own perspective.
Ucwaningo: This research is user-centered design. Our goal was to create an affordable system for teaching tactile graphics to visually impaired students. We observed Blind Arduino sessions and collaborated with the East Bay Center for the Blind, then used co-design workshops, Wizard of Oz prototyping, and usability testing with teachers and students. Results showed sonification on existing hardware best supported group learning, offering insights that impact education, accessibility, and inclusive design.
Ugqozi: The idea came from observing an Arduino class at the East Bay Center for the Blind, where one instructor had to physically guide each student's hands through circuit diagrams one by one. With nearly 5,000 specialist teachers short across the U.S., this one-on-one model is unsustainable. Inspired by sonification, we use continuous pitch changes to guide students to target components independently, enabling one teacher to instruct multiple students simultaneously, in person or remotely.
Ubude Bephrojekthi: This project started in August 2024 and finished in December 2024.
Ukuhamba Kokusebenza: During class, the instructor taps a selected component on the tactile graphic for students to explore. Students navigate to the component following sonification guidance: the pitch and intensity of the sound shift based on how close their finger is to the target. Teacher can observes their progress on their interface to provide real-time support. After class, teachers could use the software to create detailed audio annotation and design the component-learning sequence, publishing it to student’s device. Students could review the knowledge independently without teacher’s presence by following the sonification guidance.
Amalungu Eqembu: Nuoran Chen
Yilin Niu
Siming (Susie) Jin