Motivational role of assistive technologies in school material acquisition

Cilj ovog rada je ispitati učinkovitost primjene komunikatora u obrazovanju učenika s višestrukim teškoćama, odnosno procjena usvojenosti i razumijevanja novih pojmova iz područja hrvatskog jezika. Također, uzeta je u obzir perspektiva edukacijskog rehabilitatora kao ključne osobe u uvođenju i načinu korištenja komunikatora u obrazovnom sustavu. Uvažavanje perspektive rehabilitatora pomaže osviještavanju pozitivnih strana koje asistivna tehnologija ima u svojoj primjeni u obrazovnom sustavu, ali isto tako i nedostataka te preporuka za uklanjanje prepreka i za kvalitetniju implementaciju komunikatora u školskom sustavu. Sudionik istraživanja je dječak s višestrukim teškoćama u dobi od 14 godina i 9 mjeseci koji pohađa redovnu osnovnu školu u posebnom razrednom odjelu. Za potrebe istraživanja kreirane su tri evaluacijske liste za tri književna djela te je svaka provedena u dvije vremenske točke u razmaku od tjedan dana. U skladu s tim postavljena je hipoteza da će se na drugom testiranju, u drugoj vremenskoj točki, pokazati napredak u usvajanju i razumijevanju novih pojmova iz hrvatskog jezika kod učenika s višestrukim teškoćama u razvoju. Također, proveden je intervju sa edukacijskom rehabilitatoricom kako bi se dobila njezina perspektiva o ulozi komunikatora u školskom sustavu. Rezultati istraživanja su obrađeni kvantitativnom i kvalitativnom metodologijom. Rezultati su potrdili hipotezu te su dobiveni načini korištenja komunikatora u usvajanju školskog gradiva, prednosti i nedostaci primjene komunikatora iz perspektive edukacijskog rehabilitatora te preporuke za kvalitetniju implementaciju komunikatora u obrazovni sustav.The purpose of this paper is to examine the efficiency of the communicator involved in the education of a student with multiple disabilities, in other words, evaluate the acquisition and understanding of new concepts in the field of Croatian language. Also, it was taken into account the perspective of the educational rehabilitator as a key person in introducing and using the communicators in the educational system. Taking into consideration the perspective of the rehabilitator helps raising the awareness of the positive aspects that assistive technology has in its application in the education system, but also the shortcomings and recommendations for removing obstacles and for better implementation of communicators in the school system. The participant of the research is a boy with multiple disabilities aged 14 years and 9 months who is attending a regular elementary school in a special class unit. For the purpose of the research, three evaluation lists were created, each accorded to a literary work and each of them was carried out at two time points, a week apart. According to that, it has been hypothesized that the second test, at another time point, will show progress in the acquisition and understanding of new concepts from the Croatian language for students with multiple disabilities. Also, an interview with an educational rehabilitator was conducted to get her perspective on the role of the communicator in the school system. The results of the research were analyzed by quantitative and qualitative methodology. The results confirmed the hypothesis and helped to understand ways in wich the communicator can be used in the adoption of school materials. Further on, advantages and disadvantages of using the communicator from the perspective of an educational rehabilitator were discovered wich made possible creating some recommendations for a better implementation of the communicator in the educational system