Applying A Methodology For Educating Students With Special Needs: A Case Study

The introduction of innovative educational technologies opens up new ways of interacting with students. We propose to exploit this potential to help in the education of children with special needs. We analyze the state of the art of tools supporting the teaching process, focusing on the omissions of existing research. We propose a new framework to help throughout the whole teaching process and describe its application to Proyecto Aprender (Learn Project), an educational resource targeting children with learning difficulties. Finally, we outline some conclusions and current/future research lines

Virtual reality and its role in removing the barriers that turn cognitive impairments into intellectual disability

Early expectations of the contribution that virtual reality (VR) could make to education far exceeded actual applications. This was largely due to the initial immaturity of the technology and a lack of evidence base on which to base design and utilisation. While the early developments in computer based learning largely concentrated on mainstream education, leaving those with special needs behind, the potential of VR as an educational tool was exploited for those with intellectual disabilities right from the start. This paper describes the empirical evidence that has contributed to the development of educational virtual reality for those with intellectual disabilities: studies on transfer of learning from the virtual to the real world; how teachers might support those using VR; the design of virtual environments and what input/control devices best facilitate use of desktop VR. Future developments and ethical issues are also considered

Exploring the Integration of Disability Awareness into Tertiary Teaching and Learning Activities

A desire to have every student attending our University be aware of, and reflect on, disability in their studies and future careers, initiated our project to explore how to enhance disability awareness within all our University’s papers. In this project we systematically reviewed pertinent literature and ran an action research workshop for staff. Strategies to enhance disability awareness identified in the literature and workshop were presented and verified at an interactive conference presentation. Embedding disability awareness into curricula is challenging; staff considered themselves powerless to bring about change in their departments, but thought that one way to do so would be by modelling inclusive behaviour and by introducing subtle inclusive practices into papers taught. The identified strategies may be of use to others contemplating similar curricular modifications

An evaluation of constructivism for learners with ADHD: Development of a constructivist pedagogy for special needs

We examine whether constructivist eLearning tools can be used to help learners cope with special educational needs, such as difficulties with attention and concentration. Preliminary work is reported here, in which we seek to determine the reasons why a constructivist approach is difficult for learners with ADHD. This work is intended to lead to recommendations of how learners with ADHD could benefit from constructivist eLearning systems, e.g. through the managed use of multimedia technology. A preliminary model has been developed that illustrates the areas in which constructivist pedagogies need to address the limitations of ADHD learners. Further work will expand this model and eventually test it in a real environment (e.g. in a school with ADHD learners). The outcome will encourage a reconsideration of existing multimedia theories as they relate to learners with special needs, and provide new directions in order to support learners with ADHD

Evaluation Strategy for the Re-Development of the Displays and Visitor Facilities at the Museum and Art Gallery, Kelvingrove

No abstract available

A systematic review of whole class, subject based, pedagogies with reported outcomes for the academic and social inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms

Schools across the world have responded to international and national initiatives designed to further the development of inclusive education. In England, there is a statutory requirement for all schools to provide effective learning opportunities for all pupils (QCA, 2000) and children with special educational needs (SEN) are positioned as having a right to be within mainstream classrooms accessing an appropriate curriculum (SENDA, 2001). Previous reviews which have sought to identify classroom practices that support the inclusion of children with SEN have been technically non-systematic and hence a need for a systematic review within this area has been identified (Nind et al., 2004; Rix et al., 2006). This systematic literature review is the last in a series of three

A Framework to Support Development of Learning Applications for Disabled Children

Multimedia resources are an important tool that can be used by teachers in the classroom as a learning aid for learners with disabilities or by parents and children at home. However, disabled children are not always able to use existing assistive technologies because they are not experienced enough, suffer from medium/profound disability, or simply do not have the financial resources to buy commercial tools. Additionally, today’s adapted tools are not always valid for a broad spectrum of disabled users and often focus on a user group. We claim that potential applications and resources for people with special needs must self-adapt to user capabilities and skills, reducing the use of external assistive technologies. In this paper, we present a guide for developers to create accessible applications and resources that reduce workload

Ethical Engineering and Respect for The ‘Other’

Engineers have a very important role and responsibility in shaping modern society. Diversity amongst engineers is important in fulfilling this responsibility and ensuring that the creativity and needs of the whole population are taken account of. However, only a small percentage of engineers are female and very few of them are disabled. The paper discusses the experiences of women and disabled engineers in the context of othering and considers the way in which the existence of binary divides facilitates marginalisation and exclusion. It also discusses the need to involve end-users in design and development and education to encourage this, with a particular focus on disabled end-users

Exploring persuasive multimedia techniques in attitude and behavior change: A comparative study

Persuasive technology in education settings has become a popular technique used in behavior and attitude change.Due to its capability therefore the purpose of this paper is to review and examines persuasive multimedia techniques for the past four years (2010-2014) and seeks how persuasive technology can be implemented in truancy problem.Ten papers were selected based on the persuasive technique used and this study is related and scoped in Malaysia context. This paper was reviewed based on the components, elements as well as the theory and approaches that are adapted by researchers in their experiment.It can be concluded computer as a persuasive tool in changing attitude and behavior can engage and motivate the students to do the task and achieve a level of objectivity