New Directions in IDT

I feel that e-learning environments have a future in special education.  While the use may not be broadly used, I think it could make a huge difference in the lives of some of our most fragile learners.  The current method used to educate children with medical issues so severe that attending school would endanger them is frequent visits from a home-bound teacher.  The amount of time spent with the teacher does not come close to the hours that other children spend.  Additionally, these children are often very isolated and miss out on the socialization that school offers.  There have a few trials (and hopefully accompanying research will be out soon) of students attending school using e-learning via a stand in robot with the child’s live feed as the face.   According to the ABC News report, the parents seem to be much happier with this arrangement compared to the home-bound teacher method.  

Rich media, when used correctly, will add a great deal to the education of students with special needs.   Whether the visual is needed because the student is unable to successfully read the text or because the specific disability shows visual processing as a strength (autism, for example).  Usually, line drawings are the best for children in my classroom, especially when they are created piece by piece while the child watches. 

I feel that virtual worlds will have a significant place in special education, especially for social learning.  For example, learning to communicate in a typical, socially accepted way requires a lot of practice, with many partners.  Virtual worlds can allow students to watch social interactions and hopefully in the future to interact with a virtual person to practice social interactions (think sim with Siri-type design). 

It may take time for specific design for people with special needs, but could be a great benefit to the population.  I look forward to what the future brings!