The Impact of Distance Learning Necessitated by Pandemic: An Exploration of Distance Vocational Education for Students with Intellectual Disabilities and New Opportunities in Design Domains

The relationship between emerging technologies and users has been raised as a notable area in design domains. The rapid changes in the educational environment triggered by COVID-19 have shown the importance of distance vocational education for students with intellectual disabilities (ID). In this context, this paper aims to propose design opportunities to improve the relationship between emerging technologies for distance learning and students with ID. This paper, firstly, identified emerging technologies for distance learning. Secondly, it discovered educational situations after COVID-19 through observations and questionnaires. Lastly, it explored opportunities for a relationship between emerging technologies and students with ID through workshops, one of the participatory design methods. As a result, this paper suggests three opportunities in design domains. The results of this paper can be used as fundamental data for research in design to improve the relationship between technologies and users and increase distance learning efficiency for students with disabilities.