Tactile Graphics

There are various forms of tactile graphics that our office has produced for students. Below are just a few examples:

Swell/Embossed Images

For a student who was completely blind, we designed an accessible teaching and learning packet for both the student and professor. The course (Computer Organization) included a lot of visual diagrams which were drawn on the board during class. The professor had her notes pre-written, which she reused every semester. Our office spent the summer typing up her notes and creating swelled tactile graphics for all of the diagrams. We then created 2 versions of this book- one in a swelled format with all the images and one in paper format for the professor.

The professor received the second version, which was used as an instruction manual for her course. This was organized by class and topic. Each image was given a label which she could verbally call out during class (i.e refer to diagram 2.1). The student could then follow along in her identical copy, and refer to the swelled image that the professor was drawing on the board.

3D Printout examples

Complex 3D Shapes

For a student who is blind, enrolled in a Calculus 3 course, our office created several 3D shapes and utilized swell paper to label each shape in the box.

Logic Gate Puzzle

As part of the test requirements, a student in a Computer Organization course was required to draw out logic diagrams. For a student who is blind, without spacial awareness this is impossible. We 3D printed each logic gate and then used a magnets and a magnetic whiteboard to create a tactile puzzle that she could feel and utilize on her own or with a scribe.

Next Faculty Training Topic: Using CCTV/Magnifiers