Toward Accessible Parsons Problems on Mobile Platforms

Published: 2026

Author(s):
Kluthe, T.
Contrearas, G.
Allee, W.
Robinson-Moore, W.J.
Roy, N.
Williams, H.
Hoffman, A.
Smith, D.W.
Blaser, B.
Gorlewicz, J.L.
Giudice, N.A.
Stefik, A
Publication Type:

Publication Name: Toward Accessible Parsons Problems on Mobile Platforms

Abstract:

Parsons problems have become a mainstay of computer science education. They are heavily used among students, especially in K-12 and provide a small puzzle-like experience for students to practice their skills. Today, while prior work has explored complex issues with accessibility and block languages in general, the 2024 changes to accessibility regulations by the U.S. Department of Justice includes new rules around mobile platforms. These rules are ill-defined and in need of evaluation. In this work, we make several contributions. First, we conducted an evaluation of existing blocks with respect to their regulatory compliance and discuss a new blocks technology that we developed that meets these new mobile guidelines. Second, we conducted three empirical studies using Parsons problems to evaluate the usability of the technology with teachers of the visually impaired (n = 32), high-school students with diverse disabilities (n = 28), and high-school students with blindness or low vision (n = 13).
Citation:
Kluthe, T., Contreras, G., Allee, W., Robinson-Moore, W.J., Roy, N., Williams, H., Hoffman, A., Smith, D.W., Blaser, B., Gorlewicz, J.L., Giudice, N.A.,  & Stefik, A. (2026).  Toward Accessible Parsons Problems on Mobile Platforms. In the Proceedings of the 57th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSETS’26). Vol 1, 589-596. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3770762.3772646.