Utilizations of IoT In Education for Visual Impairment Students
Shahrulnurhidayah Mohammad Din1*, S. B. Goyal1*
1 Faculty of Information Technology, City University, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected], [email protected]
Accepted: 15 April 2022 | Published: 1 May 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ijarti.2022.4.1.18
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Abstract: IoT intelligence can help ease daily tasks with the use of intelligent environments where it combines human interaction and IoT technology. The IoT has a great context-sensitive delivery feature in supporting and focusing on the use of technology in increasingly sophisticated education.
Being born with a disability or getting a disability impairs daily tasks and provides additional challenges in continuing education. This challenge is highly dependent on the type of disability which may be either a physical disability or a mental disability. People with Disabilities are people who have physical and/or mental disorders, which can interfere with or are obstacles and barriers for them to perform activities normally. Such disabilities can come physically, mentally as well as both.
Disorders are problems with body function or structure, activity restrictions are difficulties faced by individuals in performing tasks or actions, while barriers to engagement are problems experienced by individuals in engaging in life situations. high to pursue education in various domains. To address this, assistive devices that integrate IoT technology are growing rapidly especially for students with visual impairments. After that, the exploration of IoT applications and assistive devices in education continues. The advancement of IoT is used in various ways to develop current technologies in many areas of technology. Efforts to improve the well-being of learning and teaching for the disabled based on the use of tools to help the disabled are very useful. Many assisted technologies available in the market to accommodate each of these groups have the same opportunity in all aspects of life and livelihood of the disabled, especially students in the market at a very cheap price and easily available.
In addition, it can also attract students with disabilities to carry out daily work activities and smooth learning as possible. For this reason, IoT-assisted technology should be able to help visually impaired and blind students to continue their education comfortably.
Keywords: IoT, Visual Impairment, Blindness, Assistive Devices, Education
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1. Introduction
IoT (Internet of Things) is the best mediator connecting humans and equipment in daily life. IoT has made its debut in various industries such as medical, personal health monitoring, smart cities, transportation, and even agriculture in recent years. This phenomenon is impacted by the advancement of technologies such as cloud computing, electronic devices, network, communication, sensors, and smart objects.
As the phenomenon moves forward toward automated computing education sector still falls far behind in adopting IoT technology. IoT technology has significant potential in education as a learning tool.
With the merging of interest in venturing into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), the usage of IoT is unavoidable, especially in the era of a pandemic. E-learning and video conferencing has replaced conventional classroom. Additionally, elements such as real-time insight,
online examination, virtual reality, and augmented reality contribute to the transition into the classroom of the future.
However, it was not a fair situation for students living with a disability. Features that are available in the market target mainstream learning. Students living with a disability didn’t share the same ability to experience items such as virtual reality and augmented reality. Thus, specialized learning aids are required to give students with disability fair learning opportunities.
IoT (Rajawat et al 2022) enables devices enhanced learning aids that will help teach and learn for students with disabilities. Moreover, using appropriate equipment can help the learning environment, student activities, and the relationship of ideas form the basis of learning. For the reason that IoT has become accessible, mainstream education has adapted the technology into the syllabus and management system. However, IoT technology development as learning pedagogies is evolving gradually for special-needs classrooms. Several studies have been conducted for IoT-based technologies specialized for students with disabilities, visually impaired, and blind students. The equipment is designed to facilitate and meet the needs of these special students' learning and exceptional process. The specialized learning aid should overcome teachers’ challenges in the classroom. Thus, the learning process can be carried out quickly, comfortably, and smoothly. For this reason, pedagogical taxonomy equipped with IoT devices needs to be emphasized in a comprehensive review. In this chapter, the research problem and objective are identified for unfolding the core purpose of the research.
2. Literature survey
There are three significant issues in this study. Firstly, the study of humans with born or acquired disabilities. Secondly, IoT is the technology that assists in life improvement. Finally, IoT assisted technology in helping visually impaired students.
2.1 Disability
Disability can be generalized located in a person’s body, build environment, and ability to manage differences (Marks, 2008). Various challenges are faced in teaching children with special needs in a person's body. Regarding accessibility needs, few notable accessibility devices are well known to the public, such as wheelchairs, walking cane, hearing aid, and braille. Based on a document published by the Department of Statistics in Malaysia, disability may start present from birth or later in life.
Some are permanent, and some are temporary, where it may be more than six (6) months.
Additionally, to sum up, it is a condition where it is hard for a person to perform basic activities, proceed with day-to-day life and participate in physical or cultural events.
Generally, there are seven (7) types of disability recognized by the Malaysian authority; Mental, hearing, visual or sight, speech, physical, learning problem, and mental. In 2020, 14238 children were registered under Malaysia’s People with Disability Information System (SMOKU) (https://www.data.gov.my/, 2021). Figure 2.1 shows the percentage of children with different types of disability recorded into the system, 78 percent from the total of 14238 facing problems with learning, while visual marks at three percent. However, regarding data percentage, the various types of disability might be further weighted into all categories as multiple disabilities mean that the children sometimes hold different disabilities. The number presented from the system is not absolute because SMOKU is a newly introduced system and belongs to the SMOKU database. In contrast, the conventional database of the Department of Social Welfare Malaysia (JKM) does not provide consistency with the new database. Additionally, only 12 percent of people with disability in Malaysia are reportedly registered with JKM (Ariffin, 2021), Goyal et al 2022.
2.2 IoT
Referring to the term Internet of Things (IoT) is an improvement from the inclusion of something into the internet. It plays an active role in making information easily accessible and connected. Looking at this context, IoT is seen to be able to expand the diffusion of internet connectivity and appliances to humans. It enables advanced services by connecting information and communication technologies (McRae, Ellis, & Kent, 2018).
IoT characteristics are interconnecting things or devices, linking things or devices to the internet, exclusively identifiable things or devices, ubiquity, sensing and actuation ability, embedded intelligence, interoperable communication ability, and self-configurability and programmability (Salami, Dogo, Nwulu, & Paul, 2020).
Generally, IoT devices were divided into general devices and sensing devices. The known device is the database, internet connection, and programming. More and more devices now are IoT-enabled devices such as air-conditioning, water heaters, coffee makers, light bulbs, and alarms are typical examples. This allows for pre-setting and remote access via the gateway, internet, and clouds.
Similarly, sensing devices are the more self-operated mode in IoT technology. Temperature sensors, humidity sensors, and light sensors fall under sensing devices. Just like general devices, it is connected to the internet and database. Both devices’ information can be accessed using phones, smart home systems, cars, and web services. Furthermore, in more unconventional settings, IoT can be seen in intelligent malls and smart cities where cars can be found in the mall parking lot or general public parks watered themself. These are how IoT can be used in the home or public spaces. The main objective of IoT is to gather information, and it will continuously be growing and learning with up- to-date data.
The initial function of the Internet was a computer network used by scientists and researchers around the world to share information which later expanded its role to become an important medium for communication in this century. In addition, the Internet was initially only used by the military - the military of major powers such as Russia and the United States as a communication role. After that, the University of California (UCLA) used the internet because the world of education also felt the use of the internet was very important to learn and develop computer networks.
From 2006 to 2008, IoT was recognized by European countries and a European IoT conference was held for the first time. The conference brought together researchers and practitioners from the industry and academic sectors to share research results, applications, and knowledge related to IoT.
2.3 IoT Features
IoT -based products have created a whole new level of competition. Technology companies compete with each other to produce IoT -based products. High demand by consumers is also a factor in the variety of IoT -based products meeting the current market. Carlos Elena-Lenz, Head of Strategic Technology from frog, described some of the features that characterize IoT products. Each feature includes a set of capabilities that can be uploaded or downloaded depending on the framework and decisions made in a particular design.
The intelligence feature is classified as a fundamental feature in the IoT - based product manufacturing sector. This feature is also the measuring stick of an IoT product released. In general, such features make it easier for users to use a device or gadget. For example, Nest Company has released a smart product called the Nest Smart Thermostat. This thermostat device will look at a family’s routine automatically and will adjust the temperature based on when the occupants are at home or out, awake or asleep, hot or cold, to make the residence more comfortable and help in saving bills. This mobile
app allows schedule arrangements to be changed, temperature changes when occupants are away from home, as well as receives alerts when it looks like something is faulty with the residence’s heating or cooling system.
The connectivity in the IoT feature is more geared towards wireless network connectivity known as Wi-Fi for internet access compatibility as well as telecommunications. Wi-Fi (also known as WiFi) is the standard for wireless local area networks via WLAN which is Wireless Local Area Network.
Wi-Fi allows electronic devices to exchange data or connect to the internet using 2.4 GHz UHF and 5 GHz SHF radio waves. This connection results in an ‘Accessibility’ and ‘Compatibility’ network.
‘Accessibility’ means access to a network while ‘Compatibility’ is the ability to receive and produce data.
The IoT is not perfect without sensors or detector features that will detect or measure any changes in the environment to produce data that can report a status or even interact with the environment. Sensing technology provides a way to create capabilities that reflect the true consciousness of the physical world and the people in it. Sensing information in the form of analogue input from the physical world, but can provide a valuable understanding of our complex world. In addition, sensors enable physical and digital world communication allowing ‘real-time’ information to be collected and processed.
There are different types of sensors for different purposes. The sensor can take measurements such as temperature, air quality, speed, humidity, pressure, flow, movement, and electricity.
IoT devices offer potential benefits to law enforcement and public safety, but the law and public perceptions need to be carefully considered. IoT devices and the data generated can be used as effective tools to fight crime. For example, surveillance cameras have been used in retail establishments to collect video recordings and activities of buyers that have proven valuable as evidence in criminal prosecution and as a deterrent to crime. As much as we have benefited from the IoT, we must not forget about security features. IoT creators and users need to pay attention to security issues. This includes security in terms of personal data and physical security. Keeping endpoints, networks, and data moving across all means creating a scalable security paradigm.
Energy is a very important resource for IoT technology and without energy resources it will not bring an invention to success. Energy intake, energy efficiency and charging in infrastructure are parts that need to be created at the time of IoT development. Managing energy efficiently and conserving it wisely its use is very important. Energy consumption is directly influenced by Coal, oil and so on towards energy generation.
3.0 Research Problem
It is challenging for a visually impaired individual to pursue education as one of the vital human senses is absent from the five senses that generally work together in learning. A perfectly developed human being depends on all five senses when learning new things. These five senses were taste, hearing, visual, smell, and touch work hand in hand in learning. These challenges were typically overcome by using classroom pedagogies. However, conventional pedagogies focused on the mainstream classroom. It is important to note that, traditional pedagogies were specially made for specific subjects, which is still in favour of mainstream teaching and learning. It is not specially made for students with disability, especially students born or acquired visual disabilities. This hinders the learning capabilities of visually impaired students. At the same time, the development of these pedagogies, either for mainstream or special need students, is still scarce. In conclusion, the direction of this research focuses on teaching and learning aid for visually impaired students. A comprehensive review of IoT devices pedagogies for visually impaired students will be synthesized.
4.0 Research Question
Based on the problem statement stated above, there are four main research questions engaged in the study:
4.1 Research Objectives
Research Question 1 : What are the types of disabilities of students?
Research Question 2 : What are the challenges of visual impairment students compared to regular students?
Research Question 3 : How can IoT assist students with visual impairment disabilities?
Research Question 4 : What is IoT technologies' future for assisting so students with visual impairment disabilities.
4.2 Research Questions
There are four main objectives of the studies, and the research studies are:
Research Objective 1 : To understand the type of disabilities that exist among students
Research Objective 2 : To learn on what are the challenges visually impaired students have to face compared to regular students
Research Objective 3 : To gather information on how IoT may assist students with visual impairment
Research Objective 4 : To overview the future of IoT technologies for assisting students with visual impairment disabilities.
5. Methodology
To execute the research, research planning was meticulously planned. Thus, the research framework of this study was identified. The research methodology for this study was divided into 3 phases represented in the figure 5.1. The first phase is the planning phase, the second phase is the inclusion and exclusion phase and finally, the third phase is the document phase.
Figure 5.1: Three Phases Methodology
6. Results and Finding
Pedagogy is a theory, methods, and philosophy. It is a strategy for how teachers teach by combining exercise and theory. Pedagogy has been considered an effective teaching method by engaging in classroom exercises with theory the students were high-likely to develop thinking and cognitive skill.
Often teaching aid is used to help students to master the topic as a part of the pedagogy approach. For instance, blocks in different shapes were used in the classroom mainly to understand the difference in shape. Even in the early development of children’s learning, block and shapes ideally the first item
was in contact with children even before they start talking. In the early stage of learning, a flashcard is used for learning the alphabet, numbers, weather, fruits, and animal.
However, teaching visually impaired students face difficulty with or without teaching aid. Among the challenges that exist is the constraint of acquiring and learning assistive technology. To overcome this chapter will cover on conventional approach and the application that exists in assisting teaching and learning for visually impaired students.
7. Conventional Educational Assistive Device
Knowledge was 83% obtained visually by humans (Abdel-Jaber et al., 2021). 285 Million people reported by WHO are visually impaired and 40 million suffer from blindness (Bansal & Garg, 2021).
Thus, this study gave priority to visually impaired and blind students. Many factors are emphasized such as cost, equipment, knowledge, and constraints that need to be considered in the development of this study. Additionally, it has been proven that visual impairment faces challenges in using ICT for daily interaction namely using it for education (Fuglerud, 2011). Generally, a visually impaired person has difficulties in obstacle and location detection (Abdel-Jaber et al., 2021), Reading (Castro, 2008), and Writing (Martillano, Chowdhury, Dellosa, Murcia, & Mangoma, 2018).
7.1 Mobility
The white cane is a modified walking cane for visually impaired individuals. It is used to assist mobility. As an example, a white cane equipped with an infrared sensor act as an indoor object identification device. It helps to create surrounding awareness to navigate indoors (Patel, Mistry, Desai, & Meghrajani, 2018).
7.2 Reading
A magnifying glass is used by placing the glass between the eyes and the material to be magnified.
The effect of the magnifying glass is enlarging the view of the targeted object. This is happened due to the nature of the convex lens where it is concaved outwards. The object can be miniature items or text. Thus, a magnifying glass can be used either for reading or for hobbies that required a miniature item to be assembled. Additionally, convex lenses are used in-camera, projectors, and microscopes.
Reading magnifying glasses such are normally used for reading. Illuminated stand magnifying glass is a variation of reading magnifying.
Accessible book player with audio capability as a part made for the user who can’t read due to visual or reading impairment. The accessible book is accessible to users who registered with a free library service. The user may choose to purchase books and magazines from independent suppliers.
7.3 Writing
Braille is a system used for reading and writing created by French educator Louis Braille. It is a tactile made by embossing a raised dot on the paper and visually impaired individual runs their fingertips along the embossed lines as depicted. The braille uses specialized devices such as a manual braille writer and a manual braille typewriter.
8.0 Computer and Mobile Accessibility Assistive Technology for A Visually Impaired and Blind Individual
Purchasable screen readers such as JAWS and NVDA may assist Students with Visual Impairment to learn as much as normal students do as they allow for a text to be converted into audio text (Ersanty, Wibisono, Niratama, & Sasongko, 2020). However, with the advancement of technology and public
awareness, computer and mobile phone provide accessibility functions to assist a person with a disability to use modern technologies for:
8.1 Reading
Reading computer-based articles now are easy as accessibility tools. and keyboard. For partially visually impaired individual functions.
• Computer
Microsoft Window Show is a narrator function. It is a screen reading application to the get-around in the Windows desktop. The scan mode allows users to read documentation and emails. This build-in narrator function works with a screen magnifier. The input for this function is through the mouse and keyboard.it can be also accessed by using a voice command.
• Smartphone
Android phones prepared accessibility functions in their devices. For instance, talkback help uses a mobile phone for a user having difficulties using a smartphone. This function allows the user to use their mobile phone without looking through a phone screen. To use this function user, need to swipe left and right and double tab the apps to start using the apps. The text-to-speech function allows the user to read text while visibility enhancement let the user manipulate the text color, screen, font size, magnifying, and font size.
8.2 Writings
Reading computer-based articles now is easy as accessibility tools on a computer allow to convert text to audio. This however is not enough to teach visually impaired individuals to
• Computer
Alike for reading, ease of access “Talk instead of type” function by clicking the window key and letter H on the keyboard to activate the function. The function “Talk instead of type” is very good however you as a user need to click the microphone button to initialize it.
• Smartphone
Comparable to the writing accessibility function, mobile phone normally allows user to set voice typing on their device. This can be obtained by enabling voice typing in the keyboard list and default. Depending on the brand of the phone if it is not available, the user may install google voice typing for a similar function.
9. Gantt Chart
The Gantt chart's goal in this study is to represent the research workflow and the length of time each step requires for the full project. The first step in the research process is to create an introduction that includes the problem description and study objectives. As shown in the table below, the review of relevant studies includes data collection, data analysis, findings, research recommendations, and research conclusion.
January February March April
No Research Activities 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1
Phase 1: Planning 1 Identify research question
2 Identify research objective
3 Define search Strategies
Phase 2: Inclusion and Exclusion 4 Selection of reputable journal, thesis, and report
on IoT in Education
5 • Type of disability among students
• Challenges of visually impaired students
6 • IoT may assist students with visual impairment
7 • Future of IoT technologies for visual impaired students
8 Data Extraction 9 Data Synthesis
Phase 3: Documentation 10 Analyze validity of data
11 Draw conclusion of studies
12 Report Result
13 • Discussion
14 • Expected result and
Expected Impact 15 Report Writing
10. Expected Impact
Never the less, assistive technologies for visually impaired individuals especially students are still scarce. This study focusing on investigation of the existing IoT assistive technologies for visually impaired students especially on devices that available, type of assistive technology, and how it was implemented to assist in day-to-day life of a visually impaired person and students. Thus, the expectation of this study is to conclude on how IoT assistive technology is implemented to be use as education tools. Furthermore, the outcome of this study may be use for future reference in advancement of IoT assistive technology for assisting visually impaired student to pursue education in more impartial circumstances.
11. Expected Result
Given in the introduction of the study it is expected this study to understand difficulties faced by visually impaired student. Learn and list on available assistive technology available for visually impaired students. Furthermore, learning on how IoT was implemented in each assistive technology and finally conclude the study into understandable reports.
13. Conclusion
The usage of technology to assist students with visual impairment or blindness were growing rapidly, by introducing IoT assertive technology in Education has helped in 3 major ways. One, with IoT objects and obstacles, can be identified easily. Second, making notation is now accessible wither by making and embossing output or text via computer. Studying by listening to written text is now available for free by using the computer accessibility function freely available on all personal computers. This breakthrough removes the stigma and perception of visually impaired people to advance in education in various domains. Finally, IoT contributes greatly to the advancement of technology-assisted for visually impaired students.
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