Social Virtual Reality enabled Learning to Empower Special Education Students in Gaining Competence to Join the Future Technology Workforce

This project aims to enhance STEM education and workforce development for transition-aged adults with a variety of cognitive conditions including autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and dyslexia. It is aimed at fostering STEM identity and promoting STEM pathways for individuals with neurodevelopmental and learning disabilities, who have often been overlooked in STEM education and outreach. This project leverages advancements in virtual reality (VR), intelligent pedagogical agents, and asynchronous learning technologies to create an accessible, inclusive approach to STEM education. Upon completion, the project will provide a highly accessible cybersecurity curriculum using the latest VR technologies, available as a free, open educational resource under a Creative Commons license. By reducing barriers to participation in STEM fields, the project will open pathways to STEM careers for this traditionally underserved population. The project framework is based on three pillars: a STEM curriculum centered on computational thinking (CT) using cybersecurity scenarios to encourage collaborative learning, immersive learning in a game-like VR platform with attack impact analysis and defense solutions, and accessibility and usability through learner-centered, inclusive approaches. The curriculum follows a three-phase pedagogy: learning foundational concepts, applying concepts to problem scenarios, and creating novel solutions to open-ended problems. Learners will engage in a series of units to explore a range of cybersecurity scenarios involving attacker-defender games, encompassing software engineering, data analysis, and teamwork within a social competencies framework. CT practices will be organized under four dimensions: data, modeling & simulation, computational problem solving, and systems thinking. Research will also be conducted to develop intelligent pedagogical agent techniques to enable self-paced and high-scale deployment of training. The project will openly disseminate outcomes, including new theory, software elements for social VR environments, and special education content data sets. Programs that serve neurodivergent learners will be partnered with to assist in recruiting neurodiverse co-designers and to ensure the sustainability of the project efforts. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.