Fostering inclusion via EdTech: Fostering preservice teachers’ competence through virtual labs, hackathons, and immersive technologies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46502/issn.1856-7576/2026.20.02.23Keywords:
digital competence of students, digital inclusive environment, digital platforms, services and virtual environments, online laboratories, virtual hackathons, VR/AR technologiesAbstract
The article examines the content of inclusive digital learning and identifies the key principles for organizing educational activities in digitally inclusive environments. Particular attention is paid to developing students’ digital competence to create accessible learning conditions for children with disabilities. The study analyzes digital platforms, online services, virtual environments, online laboratories, virtual hackathons, and VR/AR technologies used in preparing future specialists for work in inclusive digital education. To assess future specialists’ readiness to work in digitally inclusive environments, an ascertainment experiment was conducted. The results demonstrated comparable readiness levels in the control and experimental groups, with low and average levels predominating. A formative experiment was subsequently implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed pedagogical conditions and training system. The reliability of the obtained results was verified using Pearson’s χ² test. The findings revealed substantial improvements among participants in the experimental group. Following the intervention, 49.9% of students achieved a high level of readiness according to the motivational criterion, 47.7% according to the content criterion, and 54.2% according to the activity criterion. At the same time, the proportion of students demonstrating low readiness decreased to 9.1%, 8.2%, and 7.6%, respectively. These changes indicate a marked increase in students’ motivation, professional knowledge, practical skills, and ability to apply digital technologies in inclusive educational settings. In contrast, the control group showed only minor changes and did not demonstrate comparable progress. The results confirm the effectiveness of the developed pedagogical system and the pedagogical conditions for preparing future specialists to work in digitally inclusive educational environments.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Tetyana Koycheva, Nataliia Hrytsai, Nataliia Hrytsai, Svitlana Yakymenko, Valeriia Sukhetska, Lesya Matsenko
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