Voice-assisted assesstment and evaluation environment model suggestion for the visually impaired

Ideally, all individuals have equal rights whether they have a disability or not in their education life. However, individuals in the disability group have to overcome difficulties in the assessment and evaluation processes, such as content and exam formats prepared for those without disabilities. The visual element is the sense that has the biggest role in learning processes. In visually impaired individuals, this is predominantly replaced by the senses of touch and hearing. In this study, a sound-assisted assessment and evaluation environment model, which is predicted to contribute to visually impaired individuals in their education life, has been designed. It is aimed to reduce the difficulties faced by visually impaired individuals, such as content and exam formats prepared for those without disabilities, and to support their more intense participation in the education-teaching processes. Today, with the COVID-19 pandemic process, the control of individuals who take the exam in the assessment and evaluation processes in distance education, where its importance is felt more, has also come to the fore. In the study, it is aimed to measure the user experience of the online exam control with voice, which is one of the biometric data, the analysis of the performance based on the user session continuity control, and the usability of the system. In the performance analysis, the success rates of 1760 initiatives belonging to a total of 44 (14 visually impaired, 30 non-disabled) participants were analyzed. For speaker recognition, Mel Frequency Kepstrum Coefficients (MFCC) feature extraction and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) methods were used in session creation and session maintenance. In the analysis of the usefulness of the system, the scanning model was preferred, and the opinions of 14 visually impaired individuals who regularly participated on a voluntary basis were evaluated. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected with a semi-structured interview form. As a result of the research, 96.5% success was achieved in the audio assisted exam administration. According to the findings regarding the user experience, the audio exam system is suitable for usage habits; It has been found that the contribution of system components such as voice support, keyboard support, screen reading to the intelligibility of the content is significantly positive. The study confirmed the hypothesis that the participants could perform online assessment and evaluation activities alone with the help of biometric data on customizable online pages, regardless of location, without the need for another person.