Rishik Rangaraju

1/12/24
11-2

Toyokawa, Y., Horikoshi, I., Majumdar, R. et al. Challenges and opportunities of AI in inclusive education: a
case study of data-enhanced active reading in Japan. Smart Learn. Environ. 10, 67 (2023).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-023-00286-2

The article intends to promote inclusive education to all children, regardless of their disabilities or
limitations. The authors provide insights into the challenges of such a learning environment where the disabled
and non-disabled are learning the content together; the disabled students are at a disadvantage as they cannot
process the information at the same speed and to the same depth of understanding as the others. They use a
study conducted in Japan using a learning framework called LEAF (Learning and Evidence Analysis
Framework). The core aspect of this framework was "learning analytics," which uses the logs to analyze the
strengths and weaknesses of the special needs kids. However, the authors call out the limitations of the LEAF
framework and suggest integrating AI technology with LA to drive the larger objectives of inclusive education
for special needs children. As part of the study, the authors provide the background that the number of students
with developmental disabilities (DD) has considerably increased from 600,000 to 800,000 in a span of 10 years.
In the current context, for students with DD as a resource room is the only extended support that offers
additional support after school hours. The resource rooms are part of the special education catering to the
tailored support that individual special needs children would require based on the type of focus area, such as
behavioral, social, or functional needs. While the infrastructure to provide such focused learning was rolled out,
there was a shortage of instructions for this initiative. In the context of the Japan study, the authors point out the
limitations in utilizing the learning log data and AI for the stated purpose. The technique employed by LA
(Learning Analytics) includes analyzing the logs and drawing a parallel to the learning activities, looking for
patterns through hand-writing and other techniques, and, in another scenario, detecting the reading difficulties
that lead to profiling the cognitive skills of the special needs children. The advent of AI provides the
opportunity to enhance analytical capabilities with improved predictions, allowing for customized contextual
study plans. Despite the power of AI, its use is still in the early stages as the diversity element of the target
population is still not part of the dataset, which is an input or a feeder into the AI system. The research focused
on the "Active Reading" of the population of research subjects and helped understand the complexity of the
learning situations for special needs children. The LEAF framework provides an active reading environment
with an e-learning tool called BookRoll. The research study included collecting data on behaviors such as page
flipping, writing and erasing patterns, and highlighting actions, etc.; some of these features that were analyzed
included OPEN, MEMO, HANDWRITING MEMO, MARKER, NAVIGATION, TIMER, BOOKMARK, etc.
The experiment was conducted for two boys; where Boy 1 was in a resource room with social communication
training for 6 years, and Boy 2 was also in the resource room for six years but received special support. The
study of logs through learning analytics showed that boy 2 took three times the time taken by boy 1 to write the
summary after active reading. The research team solicited feedback from the resource room teacher and the
parents to validate the utilization of the analytical data to provide a glimpse into the learning capabilities and
outcomes of the special needs kids. The researchers noted that AI can help as it uses information such as visual
and auditory aids to help learners create an image of what they are about to read before (or even while) reading.
For students who are struggling with reading, AI has the ability to automatically measure the time required, the
length, and the difficulty of a text and integrates it with information from the accumulated learner's data such as
their reading speed, weakness, and preferences, and assists them in the reading process. This is one of the major
milestones of integrating AI with the existing learning frameworks. For example, for students who have
difficulty imagining textual information, AI generates and provides visual information to make visualization
easier. For learners who have difficulty following the order of learning activities, AI can aid learners with audio
or textual guides or ask them what they want next to guide their learning. Overall, the article makes the point
that these decision-making capabilities and the adaptive and predictive skills of AI make it a unique tool to
enhance the overall learning experience of special needs children.
The authors, Yuko Toyokawa, Izumi Horikoshi, Rwitajit Majumdar & Hiroaki Ogata, are qualified to
Rishik Rangaraju
1/12/24
11-2

discuss the challenges and opportunities of AI in inclusive education because their credentials include
publishing programming startups in multiple languages such as JavaScript and working as assistant professors
in multiple universities, including Kumamoto University and Kyoto University. Their contact information,
including email addresses and phone numbers, is included in the article. Written 1 year ago, this source is
current on the topic of data-enhanced active reading in Japan and the challenges/opportunities of AI in inclusive
education. The authors of this article thoroughly evaluated all sides of the issue. For example, they acknowledge
that AI performance analytics might undermine the fundamentals of education and then address that opposing
viewpoint by saying that teachers can provide oversight on lessons and data produced by AI to give a
performance review that is better and more understandable to parents and staff. This inclusion shows that the
article’s authors acknowledge alternative viewpoints because rather than trying to convince that AI should
replace teachers entirely, they provide a specific example of how teachers are necessary to make better sense of
data analytics provided by AI to improve the learning experience for students. The information contained in the
source can be verified elsewhere. For example, the authors state that the LEAF system (an LA-enhanced AR
learning environment) is sometimes used in case studies to explore the challenges and opportunities of
implementing AI in special education, which Sruti Mallik and Ahana Gangopadhyay can corroborate in their
publication, “Proactive and Reactive Engagement of Artificial Intelligence Methods for Education: A Review,”
where they state that recent developments in predicting student attrition propose the use of data have been
acquired from disparate sources in addition to more sophisticated algorithms such as deep feed-forward neural
networks and the hybrid logit leaf model. The purpose of this article is to describe the current status of special
education in Japan in the context of inclusive education and also discuss the potential applications and
implications of AI and learning analytics in improving educational support for learners with developmental
disabilities. The audience includes educators/teachers, researchers, and policymakers. The article is appropriate
for this purpose and audience because it provides insights into the inclusive education system in Japan and the
exploration of AI learning analytics, and a specific case study is presented with findings and data. For example,
the authors discuss how, in Japan, a resource room or pullout program is available for learners with relatively
mild disabilities, providing extra support outside regular classes upon request.