Overview
This 60-minute session will be interactive and informative. This session will provide participants with the first look at a group experimental design to understand the effects different levels of virtual reality have on social skill acquisition for students in middle school with ASD. The positive results of the study will spark a discussion with participants where we will understand the uses of VR in the classroom and the ease at which practitioners can implement a VR intervention or initiative. Participants will leave with a vast number of resources regarding information, hardware, software, implementation, and data collection.
Content Disclosure: This session is focused on a group experimental design to understand the effects different levels of virtual reality have on social skill acquisition for students in middle school with ASD. There will be limited or no information provided about similar research projects or case studies.
Learning Objectives
- Distinguish one or more differences between immersive and non-immersive VR.
- Discuss two or more ways in which VR can be implemented into the educational environment in the next month.
- Identify one or more reasons non-immersive VR is a suitable solution in the educational environment for the foreseeable future.
Primary & Secondary Strands
Education & Learning: Early Intervention – 12/Higher Education; Research
Target Audience
- Administrators
- AT Specialists
- Curriculum and Instruction
- Faculty/Instructors - Higher Education
- Instructional Technologist
- Special Education Educators
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Transition Coordinator
Experience Level
Intermediate
Primary Life Cycle Addressed
Elementary - Secondary (K-12)
Session Delivery Format
In-person presentation with recording
Course Schedule
This course was given at the ATIA 2022 Conference on Friday, Jan 28: 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM (EST)
Continuing Education Credits
For Satisfactory Completion and Continuing Education information, please visit: ATIA Learning Center CEUs
This course is offered for the following CE Provider Credits:
ACVREP; AOTA; IACET
For: 0.10 CEU Units or 1.0 CEU Hours.
This course was approved by CRCC for CRC CEUs and was included in the ATIA CRC AT in Education & Higher Education Series (2023-2024). This series offering was available from March 7, 2023, through March 6, 2024.
Speaker/s:
Adam Carreon, PhD
Assistant Professor of Special Education
Biography
Carreon is an assistant professor of Special Education in the Department of Elementary and Special Education. Carreon’s research focuses on the use of immersive and innovative technology to support students with disabilities, teacher professional development for the implementation and use of immersive technologies, and how immersive technologies can impact social skill learning for students with autism spectrum disorder.
Relevant Financial Relationship: Yes
Salary from employment
Relevant Non-Financial Relationship: No
Sean Smith, PhD
Associate Professor University of Kansas
Biography
Smith is a past-President of the technology division for the Council for Exceptional Children, Innovations in Special Education Technology (ISET), and member of the Board for the National Down syndrome Congress. His research interests focus on innovations and technology solutions to support struggling learners and those with disabilities, particularly interventions aligned with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Framework. Smith is the father of four children, one having Down syndrome.
Relevant Financial Relationship: Yes
Salary from employment with KU School of Education
Relevant Non-Financial Relationship: Yes
Member of the Board for the National Down syndrome Congress. Smith is the father of four children, one having Down syndrome.
Amber Rowland, PhD
The University of Kansas, Co-Principle Investigator for OSEP Project VOISS
Biography
Amber Rowland, Ph.D. is an Instructional Coach in the Olathe Kansas School District, as well as an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Kansas. She specializes in collaborative, practical and engaging adult professional learning with an emphasis on current instructional practices and the powerful integration of technology. She is particularly interested in the power of conversation in teacher learning and is constantly pursuing methods for tapping into the collaborative capacity of educators and students. She is currently the Project Director for a Department of Education grant supporting the research and development of a teacher dashboard system designed to support middle school teachers and students in writing. She is also a Co-Principle Investigator on a National Science Foundation grant where her team in analyzing the ways that social media can support teacher professional learning and the student practice of scientific argumentation. Her experiences range from Kindergarten to the college classroom where she has taught at multiple levels, both face-to-face and online. She has served as a technology integration specialist, project manager for the Technology Rich Classroom, Title IID initiative in Kansas, and an instructor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas. Dr. Rowland travels to local, state and national venues and conferences including ISTE, CEC, NSDC and SITE, working with teachers on digital-age instruction, Project Based Learning, distance education, and the general integration of technology. In 2008, Amber was recognized as one of the 20 emerging leaders in education technology by the National School Boards Association “20 to Watch” initiative and in 2016, she was recognized as a Kansas University, Woman of Distinction.
Relevant Financial Relationship: Yes
Amber Rowland received a grant from the Office of Special Education and Policy and received salary from grant funds in relation to this virtual reality work.
Relevant Non-Financial Relationship: No
Maggie Mosher, MSSL
Biography
Maggie Mosher M.S.S.L. is a Doctoral Fellow in the Special Education Department at the University of Kansas and an adjunct Professor at Baker University and Louisiana State University Shreveport. She specializes in social skill instruction, assistive technology, multisensory instructional methods, tiered systems of supports, and Universal Design for Learning. Passionate about fully including all learners in a variety of school systems, Mosher worked as a special education teacher for six years in the public-school system and seven years in the private school system before becoming a school administrator for three years. Mosher went on to become the Executive Director of a nonprofit she co-founded called EMBRACE, which provides free special education staff and related service providers for private schools in the state of Kansas. She has worked on the implementation of programs such as Reach Out and Read in NM, the Dreams Program in OH, and Inclusive Playgrounds in KS. Maggie is a member of the American Educational Research Association, Council for Exceptional Children, Kansas Exemplary Educators Network, National Education Association, and Learning Disabilities Association. In 2005, Mosher was named the Horizon Award Recipient for the State of Kansas, in 2010 she was awarded the Kansas Intervention Specialist of the Year, in 2013 she became the recipient of TASN’s Special Educator Award, in 2019 was awarded the University of Kansas Chancellor’s Fellowship, and in 2021 was the recipient of the Grace M. Phinney Scholarship. Mosher enjoys working with educators and students as the Social Skill Content Strategist of Virtual-Reality Opportunities to Implement Social Skills (VOISS) and completing research on social assessment and development for students with high incidence disabilities.
Relevant Financial Relationship: Yes
Maggie Mosher is a Doctoral Fellow and Social Skill Content Strategist for VOISS a development, implementation, and research project through the University of Kansas, Special Education Department, and the Center for Research on Learning.
Relevant Non-Financial Relationship: Yes
Mosher went on to become the Executive Director of a nonprofit she co-founded called EMBRACE, which provides free special education staff and related service providers for private schools in the state of Kansas. Maggie is a member of the American Educational Research Association, Council for Exceptional Children, Kansas Exemplary Educators Network, National Education Association, and Learning Disabilities Association.