Review Article
Elham Hussein, Ashraf Kan’an, Abeer Rasheed, Yousef Alrashed, Malek Jdaitawi, Ahmed Abas, Sherin Mabrouk, Mona Abdelmoneim
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 3, Article No: ep443
ABSTRACT
Special education settings have experienced technological innovation that have advanced the development of various skills. Gamification is increasingly used to enhance the skills of individuals with special needs. There have been some studies and limited systematic reviews of gamification in general and special needs settings in particular, however, gamification design applied to special needs lacks a comprehensive systematic review. This article conducts a Literature review of gamification in special needs settings to investigate the effect of gamification in special needs as well as to identify gamification domains, groups and trends for individuals with special needs. Valuable data has been highlighted concerning the technology techniques used in enhancing the skills of individuals with a disability. However, further studies are still needed to examine areas, where research is lacking in the gamification field. The preferred reporting items for literature reviews and meta-analysis PRISMA standard was adopted for inclusion and exclusion criteria’ in this study such as including, eligibility, screening, dentification, and inclusion and exclusion steps. The results revealed that gamification design facilitates the development of various skills among individuals with special needs. Additionally, gamification design was mostly used to enhance the learning skills of individuals with a disability.
Keywords: special needs, gamification, literature review, outcomes
Review Article
Malek Turki Jdaitawi, Ashraf F Kan'an
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 14, Issue 1, Article No: ep332
ABSTRACT
In higher education settings, students are required to use their own devices to record attendance interact with classes through online systems and other learning-teaching sources such as timetables, virtual learning environment. Real opportunity to use digital technology such as augmented reality AR technology have been used in several fields, uncovering diverse benefits regarding its usage. However, further research is needed to understand exactly how the AR enhance students learning. Focusing on individuals with special needs, AR is being used in higher education for the last few years to enhance physical, cognitive, personal, and social abilities. This systematic review presented an overview of the usage of AR technology in the special needs area in higher education literature published between 2011 and 2020 and focused on research indexed in 8 international databases. 36 studies were included for review. The results indicate that the majority of research showed positive outcomes as the AR technology proved to be effective with students with disabilities. The results also showed that AR technology was mostly used in intellectual disability setting. Finally, the result evidenced that AR assists students in enhancing their social skills, social relationships and their engagement. The results from this systematic review provide valuable information regarding to enhance individual with special needs. Future empirical research should ensure that all research is included, including settings, level of students and data collection methods such as quantitative and qualitative.
Keywords: special needs, disability, augmented reality, systematic review
Research Article
Sunagul Sani-Bozkurt, Sezgin Vuran, Yavuz Akbulut
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 1-25
ABSTRACT
The current study aimed to design technology-supported interactive social stories to teach
social skills to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A design-based research was
implemented with children with ASD along with the participation of their mothers, teachers,
peers and field experts. An iterative remediation process was followed through the
feedback of participants. The data collection process was further supported through
researcher notes, interviews, video-recorded observations and log files. Three cycles of
remediation were employed to improve the interactive materials, which lead them to be
perceived as pleasant, interesting, engaging and user-friendly. It was observed that children
gained useful non-target skills as well as the target behaviors. Interactive stories were
particularly helpful in raising satisfaction as they provided children with the opportunity to
make their own learning decisions.
Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, multimedia learning, interactive social stories, instructional design for special education, learners with special needs