Network Technology and Homebound Inclusive Education

There are students who, because of a wide range of impediments (disability, long-term illness, temporary or permanent home care, particular syndromes such as 'multiple chemical sensitivity') are confined to their homes or other physical environments (hospitals, provisional homes, etc.) and consequently find difficulty in regularly attending education and training programs. While national laws on the right to education do protect such situations, the in-presence support offered to students and families is actually not always adequate for real, effective socio-educational inclusion. This is why great hopes are now being placed in the opportunities offered by the new network and mobile technologies (NMTs), given their massive personal and home diffusion. NMTs have already shown themselves to be invaluable in favoring both the individual and collaborative online learning of homebound students, and the distance support of study activities by teachers. The aim of this book is to reach beyond the strictly pedagogical aspects linked to NMT educational use, analyzing how these technologies are able to potentiate educational inclusion processes for homebound students by focusing on and amplifying the online social interaction of all those who are directly and indirectly involved in the specific problem (i.e. students, educators, families, clinics, associations, local authorities, etc.). By gathering together important contributions from leading international experts in the field, the book tackles the theme of inclusive education from 4 different, though closely complementary, viewpoints: (1) the homebound student; (2) the educators; (3) the network of social relations at whose intersection disadvantaged students find themselves; (4) the technologies which will most effectively advance the specific process of homebound inclusive education. The book is divided into three parts. The first part introduces the context and also suggests conceptual frameworks both for homebound students' special instruction and for the training of teachers involved in hospital and home education. In the second part, three specific projects which support socio-educational inclusion of students with serious illnesses are presented. The third part describes a series of experiences and good practices in the use of NMTs to support the learning processes of hospitalized and/or homebound children.