Collaborative Action Research Approach Promoting Professional Development for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairment in Assistive Technology

This paper highlights the framework and discusses the results of an action research project which aimed to facilitate the adoption of assistive technology devices and specialized software by teachers of students with visual impairment via a digital educational game, developed specifically for this project. The persons involved in this collaborative scheme were general and special education teachers, experts in IT, researchers and students with and without visual impairment. The findings of the study indicated that the digital educational game constituted for teachers a fertile ground for consolidation of their knowledge in assistive technology and for collaboration with their students. It is also argued that such applications could prove very useful means for students with visual impairment, encouraging them to use assistive technology since the environment of these applications is designed to be simple, friendly and amusing.