Touching the Virtual, Touching the Real

Touching the virtual, touching the real: iPads and enabling literacy for students

experiencing disability

Rosie Flewitt and Natalia Kucirkova

University of London

David Messer

The Open University

 

This article gives an interesting theoretical analysis of the role of touch in literacy development.  The authors begin by discussing "haptics", which is the system by which we experience the world through touching and manipulating objects, a system that involves both the actual sensations on the skin as well as the movement of muscles.  They talk about how touch, gesture and pointing have always been important means of communication in the world.  They talk about how both real touch and vicarious touch (such as watching someone touch an object) can activate mechanisms in the human brain which allow people not only to understand the objects they are touching but also to understand the the gestures of others.  The authors also discuss how gestures are the seeds of both speaking and writing, and how touch is integral to the aquisition of literary skills.  Even in the absence of a disability, touch is used to signal joint attention to an object, an image or a word; it evokes a particular sensory-motor experience, it allows a "reciprocal relationship" between the learner and his or her environment.

 

The authors then studied the use of touchscreen technology in a school for children with disabilities.  As well as the low-cost and portability benefits of the I-Pads, the authors discovered that the touchscreen function itself had a benefit.  It gave the students a sensory access to literacy, and allowed them to show their understanding with just a simple gesture on the screen.  The teachers reported a very strong motivation on the part of students to use the I-Pads, and talked about the students using touch even to show their enjoyment of the devices (by stroking them, cradling them).  What is very interesting is that even when students were unable to touch the screen themselves, they were still highly engaged, suggesting again a link between touch experienced physically and touch experienced vicariously through the actions of others.

 

They talked about how the IPad could facilitate writing for students with motor impairment since only the lightest of touches could produce a big result, and how various apps brought about very strong affective responses from the children.  They talked about how the touchscreen allows a more immediate response than a computer.  With a computer,  the learner must manipulate a complex keyboard, and divide his or her attention between the screen and the keyboard.

 

Finally, the authors discussed ways in which touch, through the i-Pad, allowed many learners to access not only the material of their classes but also the virtual and social world available through the World Wide Web. 

 

I found this article intriguing.  It provides justification for the use of the i-Pad in particular,  because of its touchscreen format, to facilitate learning for students with diabilities.  It also made me reconsider the role of touch itself in learning - something I had not thought much about.  Indeed the touch screen is a game-changer - a disruptive technology - that may well bring about whole new ways of thinking about literacy.