research-article

Inspiring blind high school students to pursue computer science with instant messaging chatbots

Authors:

Lindsay A. Yazzolino,

Richard E. LadnerAuthors Info & Claims

SIGCSE '08: Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education

Pages 449 - 453

https://doi.org/10.1145/1352135.1352287

Published: 12 March 2008 Publication History

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Abstract

Blind students are an underrepresented group in computer science. In this paper, we describe our experience preparing and leading the computer science track at the National Federation of the Blind Youth Slam. As part of this workshop, fifteen blind high school students created and personalized instant messaging chatbots, a project designed to be completely accessible to blind students. Chatbots enable students to infuse their own personalities into a socially-oriented program that incorporates ideas from artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and web services. We first outline the chatbots project and curriculum, which has wide appeal for all students, and then offer general design principles used to create it that can help ensure the accessibility of future projects. Students created their chatbots using a real programming language and were guided by both blind and sighted mentors. By programming from the start in a supportive environment, our students will gain the confidence to persevere in computer science in the future.

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Dagienė VGülbahar YGrgurina NLópez-Pernas SSaqr MApiola MStupurienė G(2023)Computing Education Research in SchoolsPast, Present and Future of Computing Education Research10.1007/978-3-031-25336-2_20(481-520)Online publication date: 18-Apr-2023
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van der Meulen AHartendorp MVoorn WHermans F(2022)The Perception of Teachers on Usability and Accessibility of Programming Materials for Children with Visual ImpairmentsACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/356139123:1(1-21)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2022
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Index Terms

Inspiring blind high school students to pursue computer science with instant messaging chatbots
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education
        Information science education
    2. Computing profession
      1. Assistive technologies
  2. User characteristics
    1. People with disabilities

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Published In

SIGCSE '08: Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education

March 2008

606 pages

ISBN:9781595937995

DOI:10.1145/1352135

General Chairs:
J. D. Dougherty
Haverford College
,
Susan Rodger
Duke University
,
Program Chairs:
Sue Fitzgerald
Metropolitan State University
,
Mark Guzdial
Georgia Institute of Technology

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 40, Issue 1
SIGCSE 08
March 2008
549 pages
ISSN:0097-8418
DOI:10.1145/1352322
Issue’s Table of Contents

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 12 March 2008

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SIGCSE '08

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SIGCSE '08: The 39th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

March 12 - 15, 2008

OR, Portland, USA

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Overall Acceptance Rate 1,595 of 4,542 submissions, 35%

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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26438-2_16
Dagienė VGülbahar YGrgurina NLópez-Pernas SSaqr MApiola MStupurienė G(2023)Computing Education Research in SchoolsPast, Present and Future of Computing Education Research10.1007/978-3-031-25336-2_20(481-520)Online publication date: 18-Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25336-2_20
van der Meulen AHartendorp MVoorn WHermans F(2022)The Perception of Teachers on Usability and Accessibility of Programming Materials for Children with Visual ImpairmentsACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/356139123:1(1-21)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2022
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Ehtesham-Ul-Haque MMonsur SBillah S(2022)Grid-Coding: An Accessible, Efficient, and Structured Coding Paradigm for Blind and Low-Vision ProgrammersProceedings of the 35th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3526113.3545620(1-21)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2022
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Huﬀ EBrinkley J(2021)A Diary Study of The Teaching and Learning Experience in A High School Programming CourseProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting10.1177/107118132165122565:1(201-205)Online publication date: 12-Nov-2021
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Inspiring blind high school students to pursue computer science with instant messaging chatbots

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