Evaluation of learning with digital objects in population with and without special educational needs

Abstract

Panamanian schools have been incorporating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT, TIC for its acronym in Spanish) in innovative classrooms; however, they require digital resources to support teachers and strengthen pedagogical processes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate learning at the basic education level, using the digital objects of the PODA portal, and its impact as an innovative didactic resource, both for the population of students with special educational needs, as well as for the population that does not present any condition. For the evaluation, a rubric was used as an instrument, designed for the learning objects of the subjects of Spanish and mathematics, a resource that allows the evaluator to assign a score to each student, according to certain indicators that measure the achievement of specific learning competencies. Additionally, the behaviors observed in the students during their interaction with the learning objects and the evaluation process are described. For validation, innovation classrooms with resources such as computers and interactive boards were used; this study was conducted from 2019 to 2022. In both Spanish and mathematics objects, we observe, in general, a good performance of the students and a slight difference in the group diagnosed with some condition; the results in mathematics are lower. The digital objects allow us to confirm the potential of technologies to improve the processes of attention and motivation, as well as the learning of curriculum content and its usefulness in students with or without a diagnosis.