A descriptive case study of writing standards-based individualized education plan goals via problem-based learning in a virtual worl

The goal of this study was to examine the professional development experiences of two contrastive participants while they were creating standards-based individualized education plan (IEP) goals using a virtual world called TeacherSim. Two specific focuses of the study were on how special educators engaged with the task of creating standards-based IEP goals using TeacherSim and how TeacherSim supported or hindered this process. TeacherSim enabled new social considerations impacting participation and engagement during the professional development activities. This research used a descriptive case study selecting two participants who demonstrated different intensities of the user experience from the larger data set of seven participants. The data was analyzed using qualitative coding which compared the observed experiences with the case propositions. Both participants' actions in their groups were similar in that they both contributed to their teams as they reflected on and attempted to utilize the Utah Core Standards in their goal creation. These two participants were also similar in their rating on items in Lombard, Ditton, and Weinstein's (2009) Temple Presence Inventory (TPI), a measure of physical and social presence, but different in how these feelings impacted their participation and engagement in TeacherSim. This case study also demonstrated that special education professionals can work at a distance to learn the process of creating standards-based IEP goals while using the technology of a virtual world. Similarly, the use of virtual world technology appeared to facilitate feelings of physical and social presence, which aided in online collaborative activities.