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A Pattern Collection for Generating Accessible Teaching Materials for Blind and Visually Impaired Students in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

(2025) - Paper

Diethelm Bienhaus; Michael Kreutzer

Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Notice: this page was machine-translated and is pending editorial review.

Visual

Diagram showing relationships between the five patterns in the collection.
Fig. 1 Pattern relationships in the collection.

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem that graphical representations such as circuit diagrams, Karnaugh maps, or UML diagrams are often inaccessible for blind and visually impaired students in STEM education. It shows that general guidelines such as WCAG do not provide sufficiently concrete workflows for subject-specific teaching materials. As a contribution, the authors present a collection of five pedagogical design patterns: transformable text-first authoring, textual modeling for diagram generation, tactile and haptic workflows, auditory preparation of time series, and human-in-the-loop explanations. The patterns are derived from teaching practice and are complemented by tool recommendations and implementation examples. The goal is a structured methodology for multimodal teaching materials usable with screen readers, braille displays, tactile printing, and sonification tools. Although developed in computer science and electrical engineering education, the paper describes transferability to other diagram-centered disciplines.

Keywords

  • accessibility
  • blind and visually impaired (BVI)
  • accessible teaching materials
  • STEM education
  • assistive technologies
  • artificial intelligence

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Figures

10 visuals from the paper.

  1. Diagram showing relationships between the five patterns in the collection.
    Fig. 1 Pattern relationships in the collection.
  2. Slide with a truth table on Boolean operations embedded as image.
    Fig. 4 Table as image inside a lecture slide.
  3. Slide generated from Markdown with text-based representation of a Boolean operation.
    Fig. 5 Slide generated from Markdown.
  4. Generated UML class diagram with classes Person, Student, Lecturer, and Book.
    Fig. 6 Generated UML class diagram.
  5. Screenshot of the PunktBilder application for converting graphics into tactile representations.
    Fig. 7 Screenshot of the PunktBilder application.
  6. Dot pattern of the THM logo next to a braille display for tactile output.
    Fig. 8 Dot pattern and output on a 2D braille display.
  7. Example conversion of image content into a tactile graphic representation.
    Fig. 9 Tactile graphics generation.
  8. Screenshot of a website for sonification of a time series with playback controls and chart.
    Fig. 10 Screenshot of a sonification website.
  9. Visualization of OOP instantiation concept with class Dog and several concrete dogs.
    Fig. 11 Visualization of instantiation concept.
  10. Screenshot of an RC circuit next to the corresponding time-series graph.
    Fig. 12 Screenshot of circuit and timeline graph.