지체장애 학생을 위한 메타버스의 교육적 활용에 대한 인식 분석과 사용성 향상 방안

Abstract

Objectives This study analyzed special teachers and developers' awareness of the use of Metaverse by students with physical disabilities, improved usability, and support measures.
 Methods A special education teacher with at least 3 years of experience using the Metaverse and a developer with 10 years or more of development experience were deliberately sampled and in-depth interviews were conducted with 8 interview participants. Interview data were analyzed using continuous comparative analysis.
 Results 3 core themes and 8 sub-topics for awareness of the educational use of the Metaverse for students with physical disabilities, improvement in usability and support measures were found. The key contents were 1) Metaverse like both sides of the coin, 2) usability of the Metaverse and meaningful participation of students with physical disabilities, and 3) support measures for students with physical disabilities to expand their experiences. According to the research participants, in order to have a meaningful experience in the Metaverse, students with physical disabilities must have positive experiences, multi-sensory interactions must be developed, and the ability to recognize avatars must be considered in order to participate meaningfully. In addition, it was said that a strategy supporting interaction between users needs to be applied. Finally, it was found that the development of contents related to subjects and daily life, the development of health management related services, and digital ethics education must be preceded.
 Conclusions Based on these results, discussions were conducted focusing on the awareness of the educational use of the Metaverse, how to improve the usability of the Metaverse for students with physical disabilities, how to develop the Metaverse, and how to educate digital ethics.