The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has launched an educational tool to help primary school children with vision impairment learn how to code.
The Code Jumper tool was designed by Microsoft and developed by American Printing House as a tactile teaching aid made up of pods.
Each pod contains a single line of code that represents a set of commands, which can be joined together in different sequences to create a programme.
Director of services at RNIB, David Clarke, explained that many teaching aids for virtual skills are based in a virtual space, which can be intangible and inaccessible to people who cannot see or feel it.
“By helping children with a vision impairment learn how to code, this product is opening up coding and computer programming as a viable career path to thousands of young people who might otherwise not have considered it. RNIB is delighted to be a part of bringing Code Jumper to the UK and breaking down barriers to learning for children across the nation,” he said.