EmoBridge: Bridging the Communication Gap between Students with Disabilities and Peer Note-Takers Utilizing Emojis and Real-Time Sharing
HyungWoo Song, Minjeong Shin, Hyehyun Chu, Jiin Hong, Jaechan Lee, Jinsu Eun, Hajin Lim · 2024 · ASSETS 2024: 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility · doi:10.1145/3663548.3675629
Summary
This paper addresses a persistent problem in higher education accessibility: peer note-taking programs (PNTPs) where the interaction between students with disabilities (SWDs) and peer note-takers (PNTs) is predominantly unidirectional, with PNTs providing notes and SWDs passively receiving them. Through a formative study with 8 SWDs (with physical and hearing impairments) and 8 PNTs at South Korean universities, the researchers confirmed that SWDs wanted real-time access to notes and more involvement in note-taking, while PNTs desired feedback on their notes but experienced psychological burden from sole responsibility. Based on four design requirements—enabling SWD contributions, alleviating PNT burden, facilitating non-disruptive in-class communication, and fostering collaborative partnership—the team developed EmoBridge, a web-based collaborative note-taking platform built with Next.js, BlockNote editor, PartyKit, and Cloudflare Durable Objects. EmoBridge features real-time note sharing and synchronization, mutual cursor visibility, and two types of emoji communication: note-taking emojis (e.g., "Important," "Detail PLZ," "PLZ Add the Photo," "Did I Write Correctly?") for feedback on specific note content, and chit-chat emojis (e.g., "Thank You," "Great," "Focus Here PLZ," "Don't Doze Off") for sharing emotional states and social communication. The platform was evaluated through an in-the-wild study with seven SWD-PNT pairs using EmoBridge exclusively for note-taking over at least four weeks in real classroom settings.
Key findings
The in-the-wild evaluation showed statistically significant improvements across multiple dimensions. SWDs reported significantly better class concentration (p=0.04), stronger sense of collaborative note-taking (p=0.04), greater ability to share real-time feedback (p=0.042), and perceived EmoBridge as significantly more advantageous than previous methods (p=0.041). PNTs reported significantly increased ability to ask SWDs about unclear content (p=0.039), stronger sense of collaboration (p=0.043), and increased reliance on SWDs (p=0.025). Crucially, EmoBridge fostered interdependence: SWDs shifted from passive recipients to active contributors, feeling "more like a part of the class," while PNTs experienced reduced psychological burden through shared responsibility and SWD feedback. The case studies revealed that relationship dynamics and class context significantly influenced emoji usage—closer pairs used more chit-chat emojis, while distant pairs primarily used note-taking emojis. One PNT shifted from full verbatim transcription to summarized notes after realizing through EmoBridge that the SWD was actively following along. Instructor-led classes requiring detailed notes generated less emoji communication than student-led discussion classes where PNTs needed to summarize. However, SWDs with visual impairments were excluded from the evaluation because they required a fundamentally different approach than real-time visual note sharing.
Relevance
This research demonstrates how technology can transform a unidirectional support relationship into a collaborative partnership, directly operationalizing the concept of interdependence from disability studies. For accessibility practitioners and disability service providers in higher education, EmoBridge provides a concrete model for enhancing PNTPs with minimal disruption to the classroom environment. The emoji-based communication design is particularly insightful—it enables quick, non-disruptive interaction that balances practical feedback with social relationship-building, acknowledging that PNTPs involve human relationships, not just information transfer. The design guidelines are transferable: enable real-time sharing, provide concise non-disruptive communication methods, support both task-oriented and social interaction, and consider relationship closeness and class format. Limitations include the small sample size, South Korean context, exclusion of visually impaired students, and the fact that all SWDs in the evaluation had participated in the formative study. Future directions include LMS integration and speech-to-text support.
Tags: peer note-taking · collaborative note-taking · higher education · students with disabilities · emoji communication · interdependence · educational accessibility · South Korea
Standards referenced: ADA · IDEA