Access and Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in Virtual Learning Environments: Implications for Post-Pandemic Teaching

This article reviews the extant literature showing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to inclusive education for students with disabilities. It also explores the disproportionate impacts of distance learning and school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic on the legal rights, social-emotional supports, and quality of instruction for special education students and their families. Early data show that educational impacts of COVID-19 have exacerbated long-standing issues of inequity; these impacts may have long-term repercussions for this underserved group of students. The authors introduce frameworks that may inform future instructional practices to successfully teach students with disabilities in virtual learning environments.

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Towards Disability-Aware Social Media-Enriched Virtual Learning Environments

Handbook of Research on Modern Educational Technologies, Applications, and Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-3476-2.ch057 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 922-936

Author(s):

Julius T. Nganji

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Social Learning ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Virtual Learning ◽

Learning Systems ◽

Virtual Learning Environments ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Use Of Social Media

The increasing use of social media brings about the need to consider learners with disability when designing learning environments incorporating social learning. Additionally, there is need for educational institutions to consider social media-enriched learning environments. By default, designers and developers of virtual learning environments tend to design for learners without disabilities. The consequences for learners with disabilities are enormous. This chapter aims to propose a disability-aware approach to designing social learning environments that advocates that stakeholders consider the needs of learners with disabilities throughout development. The challenges that learners with disabilities face when interacting with learning systems are reviewed, and a disability-aware approach to designing social learning environments is presented, examining how this could be practically implemented. The opinions and recommendations of 48 students with disabilities from two universities in the United Kingdom and Canada are presented.

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Issues in Including Students with Disabilities in Large-scale Assessment Programs

Exceptionality Education International ◽

10.5206/eei.v18i2.7623 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Christopher DeLuca

Keyword(s):

Students With Disabilities ◽

Inclusive Education ◽

Large Scale ◽

The United States ◽

Special Education Students ◽

Education Students ◽

Large Scale Assessment ◽

Inclusive Practice ◽

Scale Assessment ◽

Large Scale Assessments

Large-scale assessment programs are becoming increasingly common throughout Canada and the United States. Given the emphasis on inclusive education in North America, special education students are largely expected to participate in these programs. However, several challenges exist for educators, policymakers, and psychometricians with respect to including students with disabilities in large-scale assessments. This article is a critical interpretive review of the academic lit-erature in this area intended to identify and examine issues pertinent to inclusive practice. In particular, attention is given to consequences (both positive and neg-ative) of including students with disabilities in large-scale assessments, validity of assessment results, provisions for accommodations, and research limitations. Areas for continued research are also considered.

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Responding to the widening participation agenda through improved access to and within 3D virtual learning environments

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology ◽

10.14742/ajet.845 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Denise Wood ◽

Julie Willems

Keyword(s):

Students With Disabilities ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Social Inclusion ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Formal Education ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Virtual Learning ◽

Virtual Learning Environments ◽

Widening Participation ◽

Learning Approaches

<span>The Australian Government's widening participation agenda - also referred to as the social inclusion agenda - considers equity through the triple focus of access, participation and outcomes. These foci are catalysts for re-examining teaching and learning approaches in formal education. This article considers this national refocus and the possibilities for addressing access and equity issues through and within three-dimensional virtual learning environments (3DVLEs). The findings of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC)-funded project that investigated the potential of an accessible 3DVLE for increasing access and participation of students with disabilities are reported, and strategies for improving outcomes (i.e. retention, success and completion) proposed. The article also highlights some of the remaining challenges with regard to the goal of improving outcomes for under-represented learner groups. The final section of the article identifies areas for further research.</span>

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“We Kind of do not Dare to Tell Everybody that we are in a Program for Disabled Students, Because Some are Afraid that they will be Made Fun of.”

Journal of Disability Studies in Education ◽

10.1163/25888803-bja10012 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-24

Author(s):

Anna Björk Sverrisdóttir ◽

Geert Van Hove

Keyword(s):

Special Education ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Inclusive Education ◽

Power Relations ◽

Special Education Students ◽

Education Students ◽

Disabled Students ◽

The World ◽

Common Thread ◽

The Way

Abstract Implementing inclusive education has proven problematic all over the world. The reasons are multiple, but one of them can presumably be related to the way students with disabilities are “created”, viewed, and responded to as “special education students” within schools. To challenge this, we need to understand students’ position within the school. In this article, the focus is on identifying the position of students who receive special education in schools in Iceland by mapping their power relations and resistance within the discursive norm of special education. We use the method of thinking with theory and read data in accordance with Foucault’s theories of power relations and resistance and Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of line of flight and becoming. Findings show that power relations affect students variously and although students’ resistance is manifested differently between individuals, a common thread is visible when resisting their static position as special education students.

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Beyond the School Walls: Keeping Interactive Learning Environments Alive in Confinement for Students in Special Education

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.662646 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Garazi Álvarez-Guerrero ◽

Ane López de Aguileta ◽

Sandra Racionero-Plaza ◽

Lirio Gissela Flores-Moncada

Keyword(s):

Special Education ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Interactive Learning ◽

Interactive Learning Environments ◽

Special Education Students ◽

World Population ◽

Education Students

The COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying safety measures, including confinement, has meant an unprecedented challenge for the world population today. However, it has entailed additional difficulties for specific populations, including children and people with disabilities. Being out of school for months has reduced the learning opportunities for many children, such as those with less academic resources at home or with poorer technological connectivity. For students with disabilities, it has entailed losing the quality of the special attention they often need, in addition to a more limited understanding of the situation. In this context, a case study was conducted in a special education classroom of a secondary education school. This class started implementing Dialogic Literary Gatherings with their special education students before the COVID-19 confinement and continued online during the confinement. Qualitative data was collected after a period of implementation of the gatherings showing positive impacts on the participants. The case study shows that interactive learning environments such as the Dialogic Literary Gatherings can provide quality distance learning for students with disabilities, contributing to overcome some of the barriers that the pandemic context creates for the education of these students.

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Virtual Learning Environments for Students with Disabilities: A Review and Analysis of the Empirical Literature and Two Case Studies

Rural Special Education Quarterly ◽

10.1177/875687051503400306 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 26-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Eleazar Vasquez ◽

Arjun Nagendran ◽

Gregory F. Welch ◽

Matthew T. Marino ◽

Darin E. Hughes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Students With Disabilities ◽

Case Studies ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Virtual Learning ◽

Virtual Learning Environments ◽

Empirical Literature

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Exploring Self-Regulation Based Virtual Learning Environments Using Diary

Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering ◽

10.2174/2213385203666150828233907 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 66-75

Author(s):

Mahmoud Mohamed Hussien Ahmed ◽

Chaklam Silpasuwanchai ◽

Naglaa Mohammed Fares ◽

Zeinab Mohamed Amin ◽

Abd El-Rahem Ahmed Ahmed Salama

Keyword(s):

Learning Environments ◽

Self Regulation ◽

Virtual Learning ◽

Virtual Learning Environments

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Developing information literacy courses for students through virtual learning environments in Tanzania: Prospects and challenges

IFLA Journal ◽

10.1177/03400352211018231 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 034003522110182

Author(s):

Evans F Wema

Keyword(s):

Learning Environments ◽

Information Literacy ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Virtual Learning ◽

Higher Learning ◽

Virtual Learning Environments ◽

Web Based ◽

Face To Face ◽

Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽

The Face

This article reviews literature on the use of virtual learning environments by highlighting their potential and the challenges of introducing the same in Tanzania. It introduces the concept of virtual learning environments by demonstrating their applications to support teaching and learning. The article discusses the use of virtual learning environments in teaching information literacy courses by highlighting the success of using such tools in facilitating the teaching of information literacy courses to library users. In this review, special emphasis is placed on attempts by Tanzanian institutions of higher learning to introduce web-based teaching of information literacy and the challenges faced. The review reveals the need for Tanzanian institutions of higher learning to develop virtual learning environments to facilitate the teaching of information literacy courses to students and faculty so as to reach many of those who may not manage to attend the face-to-face information literacy sessions that are offered by librarians on a regular basis.

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