{"668223":{"#nid":"668223","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Making Coding Education More Accessible for Blind and Visually Impaired Youth","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThere are many fun and exciting ways to engage young people with coding \u2014 animation, games, robotics. The only problem: they\u2019re largely visual and not accessible for those who are blind or visually impaired.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA research team led by\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/brian-magerko\u0022\u003EBrian Magerko\u003C\/a\u003E, professor of Digital Media at Georgia Tech, is working to solve this problem by adapting\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/earsketch.gatech.edu\/landing\/#\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EEarSketch\u003C\/a\u003E, a platform designed to teach students to code in Python or JavaScript through music and creative discovery, for blind and visually impaired youth. Since launching in 2011, the free EarSketch platform has been used by more than a million students from all 50 U.S. states and in more than 100 countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe effort will be supported by an almost $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEarSketch is about using music as a mechanism for giving an expressive, interesting, and personally meaningful medium for kids to learn about programming,\u201d says Magerko. \u201cWith this grant, we\u2019re looking at the role of sonification, taking data and making it audible, as a way to improve accessibility not only for the blind and visually impaired but also as a more natural way for people to engage with these interfaces.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMagerko, a professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, will work with\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/music.gatech.edu\/jason-freeman\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EJason Freeman\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and chair of Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/music.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Music\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/design.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECollege of Design\u003C\/a\u003E;\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/music.gatech.edu\/people\/stephen-garrett\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EStephen Garrett\u003C\/a\u003E, research scientist in the School of Music;\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/computerscience.engineering.unt.edu\/people\/faculty\/stephanie-ludi\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EStephanie Ludi\u003C\/a\u003E, professor of computer science at the University of North Texas;\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.mccormick.northwestern.edu\/research-faculty\/directory\/profiles\/pardo-bryan.html\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBryan Pardo\u003C\/a\u003E, professor of computer science at Northwestern University; and the California School for the Blind.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe group will also be working with blind and visually impaired musicians and producers to get their input on successful and unsuccessful musical interfaces.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Over the years, we\u0027ve received many requests from teachers to make our EarSketch platform more accessible to students who are blind or visually impaired. We\u0027re thrilled to embark on this project that will help the platform to better serve these students\u2014and indeed all students, engaging them in the unique combination of music and coding,\u0022 says Freeman, co-creator of EarSketch.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile a large part of the effort will be exploring what elements are needed to make EarSketch a successful learning tool for the blind and visually impaired, there are a few initial ideas including optimizing the system for screen reader compatibility and integrating collaborative AI (like ChatGPT) to discuss and help with building code, like an Alexa for coding, Magerko says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHopefully some of this work will influence how we design for everyone. There\u2019s an idea that by designing toward the margins you can capture everyone in between. That\u2019s really what we\u2019re trying to do,\u201d Magerko says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA research team led by\u0026nbsp;Brian Magerko, professor of Digital Media at Georgia Tech, is working to solve this problem by adapting\u0026nbsp;EarSketch, a platform designed to teach students to code in Python or JavaScript through music and creative discovery, for blind and visually impaired youth. Since launching in 2011, the free EarSketch platform has been used by more than a million students from all 50 U.S. states and in more than 100 countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A research team led by\u00a0Brian Magerko is working to solve this problem by adapting\u00a0EarSketch for blind and visually impaired youth."}],"uid":"35797","created_gmt":"2023-06-26 14:42:08","changed_gmt":"2023-06-26 14:45:06","author":"Siobhan Rodriguez","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-06-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-06-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"671032":{"id":"671032","type":"image","title":"Making Coding Education More Accessible for Blind and Visually Impaired Youth","body":"\u003Cp\u003EFrom left to right: Brian Magerko, Jason Freeman, Stephen Garrett\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1687789968","gmt_created":"2023-06-26 14:32:48","changed":"1687790066","gmt_changed":"2023-06-26 14:34:26","alt":"Image of Brian Magerko, Jason Freeman, Stephen Garrett","file":{"fid":"254022","name":"Magerko et al.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/06\/26\/Magerko%20et%20al.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/06\/26\/Magerko%20et%20al.png","mime":"image\/png","size":20348,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/06\/26\/Magerko%20et%20al.png?itok=T5weSyqo"}}},"media_ids":["671032"],"related_links":[{"url":"entity:node\/661098","title":""}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMegan McRainey\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nmegan.mcrainey@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["megan.mcrainey@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}