Introducing a New Technology Quality Indicator for Intervention Design in Special Education

There’s significant value in following a systematic methodology in educational research, not only to gain valid and reliable empirical data, but also to determine which interventions meet quality indicators and consistently generate expected results. Looking at Special Education, and in line with the necessity for methodological rigor, specific quality indicators to ensure evidence in educational empirical study designs have been developed. In this sense, digital technologies, and recently, immersive technologies are increasingly being used in educational interventions due to the positive learning outcomes seen in cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Nevertheless, the affordances of the technology used in such interventions are hardly considered indicating a research gap worth investigating further. Single subject design seems to support effective instructional interventions because of the unique characteristics of every student with a specific disability. This work introduces Augmented Reality, among other quality indicators, to measure the extent of which the structure of matter is understood by students with Intellectual Disabilities. The empirical study set forth in this paper satisfactorily met all existing quality indicators, in addition to the newly introduced AR technology indicator. Findings showed that the research design of the enriched set of quality indicators increased student motivation and their understanding of abstract Physics concepts. The students with ID acquired targeted physics concepts, as well as inquiry skills thanks to their involvement in a vivid experience. These results point to the contribution of AR technology through its affordances as a new quality indicator among the existing set.