The choice and use of enabling technologies in educational environments: research findings and case report

This chapter is informed by the work of researchers that report research outcomes and case studies regarding the adoption of AT solutions in educational environments. The aim is to provide school staff and other professionals in the field of education an insight of state of art research and related practice innovation including different examples of technologies for the empowerment of learners with disabilities are presented. A detailed description of six case studies is provided by their respective authors, each of whom has highlighted specific aspects of the AT practices and experiences implemented. The common feature of these case studies consists of enabling learners to achieve a major sense of autonomy, independence, belonging to the community as well as to overcome some cultural and social barriers through the use of innovative solutions. In detail, case studies are structured in a way that captures the general description of the setting, the persons involved, the main barriers, needs and opportunities identified. Also, case studies reported in this chapter highlight how technology was made helpful and effective in addressing the needs and opportunities, what were the outcomes of the use of technology, and what conditions have to be met in order to make a similar experience possible and replicable on the base of lessons learned and authors’ recommendations. These experiences come from different sources. Four of the cases consist research studies developed in the framework of the ASSISTID Programme. The first one explores the challenges faced in using virtual reality in special education, the second ASSISTID case report is on adapting the Irish Matching Person with Technology tool through a Universal Design approach, the third one on assistive technology for reading and comprehension for learners with autism and intellectual disability and the fourth one of this programme is on assistive technology for inclusive learning in non classroom settings. In addition, the fifth case report of this chapter concerns the use of a digital solution for helping people with cognitive disabilities to learn new skills and achieve independence, and the last one reports the experience of robot-based activities for creating an inclusive learning scenario developed by the Assistive Technology Center ofAIAS Bologna Onlus.