Tjaša Pečnik in Grega Hribar, Zavod za slepo in slabovidno mladino Ljubljana, Ljubljana
In the context of the public tender of e-services and mobile applications a web application www.zaznajspoznaj.si (»detect and meet«) was designed. In order to enable persons with disabilities (primary visually impaired people) to train their skills in more modern way – using computer, tablet or smartphone. The main goals for the apiacation were: • to make it user friendly; • to have possibility to create personal settings due to specifics of ones disability; • to enable the use for the general population, and • to create accessible inclusion of pupils with special needs in the society. The major part of the web application is designed to train vision, memory and fine motor skills. It covers a variety games of memory, sorting games, image understanding and description, pair identification and object navigation, all played with fingers or keys. All the activities include the possibility of personal settings depending on the individuals knowledge, range of vision disorders, previous knowledge and abilities to solve particular tasks. We were attentive to the picture quality, simplicity and clarity of forms, contrast and color intensity, the thickness of lines and other details – all very important for visually impaired people. Activities to learn typing and basic braille are also included in the web application (www.zaznajspoznaj.si – »detect and meet«). Both crucial for educational process of visually impaired pupils. Typing lessons are primary designed to learn all the letters of Slovenian alphabet step by step. Activities for braille learning are mostly designed for families, teachers and friends of a blind child, who would like to acquaint with the braille code. Games are primarily constructed for the kindergarten children and pupils of first grades of elementary school, even though we can rise the level of difficulty and make them suitable for older pupils. Many fields of child’s development are covered: meeting and learning new concepts, expanding new vocabulary, short-term memory training, training of attention and concentration… Web application is designed for continual progress, and adding new contents is possible and expected. On one hand teachers can make learning process more colourful and diverse, on the other hand pupils can enjoy some quality free time on electronic devices. The application is free of charge.
