In Ukraine, one of the most up-to-date and powerful sources of information for people with special needs is online information resources of state psychological and diagnostic facilities, called PMPK. The most popular online information resources for this category of users are the sites of PMPK and profiles-oriented pages on social networks. These resources were analyzed whether they provide complete information support of each stage of the inclusive education, as well as if their structure and presentation correspond to ergonomic needs and demands of the users with special needs. Both the sites` content presentation and accordance with the existing international ergonomic rules is insufficient. There is no systematic approach to the IT online support for inclusive education processes by means offered by and/or available to PMPK specialists. To became an institution of professional care of integrated IT support, PMPK system in Ukraine the should involve the specialists of information and communication technologies, methods and means of Big Data analysis. To create the platform of IT support of education of people with special needs at the national level, one should use of a wide range of mobile IT services of prompt and convenient online access to results of psychophysical diagnosis, personal learning trajectories, etc. with full-fledged protection and confidentiality (as an option, the blockchain technology was proposed). As the creation and management of own computing infrastructures in PMPC facilities seem to be ineffective and expensive, it is expedient to use technologies and services based on cloud computing models.
In January 2018, the European Commission adopted new initiatives aimed at
improving the key and digital competences of European citizens, promoting common
values and inclusion. Specialists of the European Commission have been approved a
number of documents that reflect the vision of the European Union's future ways of
society development: “Council recommendation on Digital Education Action Plan”,
“Council Recommendation on promoting common values, inclusive education, and
the European dimension of teaching”, “Council recommendation on Key
Competences for Lifelong Learning” and others. The recommendations to Member
Countries of the European Union (from January 2018) emphasize the need to support
the right to quality and inclusive education and lifelong learning by providing
opportunities through the development of key competences and basic skills for all,
and the special attention must be paid to disadvantaged students [
The key competences, promoted by the European Commission, are [
The importance of the inclusive society is also declared in the European Union's
Horizon2020 Program. This science and innovation funding program aims to become
a key tool for resolving high-priority tasks for Europe. Promoting an inclusive
society, Horizon2020 supports measures to overcome social inequality. The program
emphasizes the need for innovative approaches to support individuals facing social
and digital exclusion, such as older people, the unemployed and poorly educated,
migrants, people in need of care, living in remote or poor areas, people with special
needs and homeless [
The problems of the European Union countries are relevant also for Ukraine. The need for the socialization of people with special needs, settlers, gifted children are the challenges of a nowadays. The authors payed attention to the inclusion of persons with special needs in Ukraine in the part that deals with the support of such education with information technologies.
The inclusive education is the comprehensive process of ensuring equal access to quality
education for persons with peculiarities of psychophysical development, by organizing
their studies in general educational institutions with the use of personality-oriented
teaching methods, taking into account the individual peculiarities of educational and
cognitive activity of such persons and the proper medical, social, psychological,
pedagogical, organizational and technological support, in the conditions of mass
educational establishments in the place of residence [
Stage 2. Personalization of the educational aims.
Stage 3. Formation of the personalized education trajectory.
Stage 4. The analysis of the realized education trajectory.
The development and implementation of modern comprehensive information
technology support for all stages of inclusive education, taking into account the
national specifics of such a process, will contribute to more complete and better
access to education and social integration of people with special needs, what perfectly
complies with the provisions of the framework program [
During the study of the support of the education of people with special needs in Ukraine, it was established that the primary institution to which the parents of the child refer, is the diagnostic and correctional institutions – psychological, medical and pedagogical consultations (PMPK). One of the functions of the PMPK, as defined in the Law of Ukraine, is advisory, when the PMPK acts as a source of information. The specialists of such an institution can and should provide advice to participants in the inclusive education process – those with special needs, their parents, inclusive school specialist, administration of the inclusive educational institution, etc. In some cases, the reference component of the operation of the PMPK is implemented, in particular, with the use of information technology.
In general, information technology support for the education of people with special needs varies by a number of factors, that determine the scope of their application. The main groups of this kind of information technology are 1) general-purpose technology, 2) special-purpose technology, 3) technology of communication support and 4) information and technological means of access. To the latter, include online learning management systems and multimedia learning environments, information technologies focused on the needs of the mass school and applicable to the education of people with special needs, mobile applications, and online reference resources. And exactly these online reference resources are the means of the PMPK`s advisory role. 3.
In Ukraine, the legally fixed structure of PMPK includes central PMPK, republican (AR Crimea), region, Kyiv and Sevastopol city, district (city) PMPKs. There are 618 psychological and medical-pedagogical consultations in Ukraine, of which 27 are regional, including 1 republican, 2 city – Kyiv and Sevastopol) and 591 region (city). The concept of this structure is presented in the form structured tree (Fig. 1). 4.
An important task in developing of a complex system of informational and technological support for inclusive education is the compliance with the requirements of availability, completeness, and connection between components of such a system, as well as the ergonomics of its components (in this study, the ergonomic is considered from the angle of perception convenience). Reference online resources of PMPK are an integral part of information and technology support for inclusive education. To assess the relationship between online resources, it is necessary to consider the links between such resources in two directions. According to the concept of the structure of PMPK from Fig. 1, in the horizontal direction there are PMPKs of the same level – for example, the republican PMPK – 24 regional PMPK – Kyiv city PMPK – Sevastopol city PMPK (level 1). In the vertical direction there are PMPKs of different levels, for example, the central PMPK – Vinnytsia Region PMPK – Bershadsky district PMPK.
We shall evaluate the availability of online reference resources to users using the following search criteria: 1. We use search service Google. 2. We use word-for-word information requests in Ukrainian language (for example, “центральна психолого-медико-педагогічна консультація (central psychological-medical-pedagogical consultation)", "Калинівська районна психолого-медико-педагогічна консультація (Kalinovsky district psychological-medical-pedagogical consultation)", etc.). 3. We will analyze the links on the first page of the search results offered by the search service (no more than 10 links).
Taking into account the above requirements, we will evaluate the availability and interconnections between such online resources using algorithm at Fig. 2.
According to the proposed algorithm, 17 facilities with their own sites were found (PMPKs from levels 0 and 1, according to Figure 1), including 16 regional PMPKs and central PMPK, more than 60% of PMPKs do not have their own online reference resource. Even if such sites exist, their search for the average user is difficult. That is, the sites searching, according to the algorithm proposed in Fig. 2, testified the availability of online reference resources for slightly more than half of PMPKs, conceptually located at levels 0 and 1 (fig. 1). 6.
Analysis of statistical indicators of regional PMPK`s sites
The analysis of the statistical indicators of the attraction of users of PMPK sites was
carried out using the SimilarWeb Platform [
For example, for a group of sites created during 2009-2012 (these are the sites of the Central PMPK, as well as Odesa, Kherson, Rivne and Chernivtsi region PMPK) the platform SimilarWeb gave the following estimates (Fig. 3-6): For example, for a group of sites created during 2009-2012 (these are the sites of the Central PMPK, as well as Odesa, Kherson, Rivne and Chernivtsi region PMPK) the platform SimilarWeb gave the following estimates (Fig. 3-6): Fig. 4. The assets of the sites` country rank according to the traffic use (by SimilarWeb)
The assets of online reference resources for PMPK (level 0-1, fig.1) are summarized in Table 1. From the results, presented in Table 1, it can be drawn the following conclusions. Most sites (13 out of 17), at mid-January 2018, content was updated over the past year, with three sites having updated content in 2018. For the most sites, created in 2016 and later, it was not possible to establish a global rank in the world and Ukrainian ratings for traffic usage (for OctoberDecember 2017). Most PMPK sites were not categorized (by SocialWorks), and among classified, there are Internet and telecommunications, Business and industry, News and media, social science categories.
Number of sites visitors – an average is 32,000 people, with the largest number By the algorithm at Fig. 2, the search for the sites of district (city) PMPKs (level 2 at fig. 1) was performed. Such sites exist in eight regions of Ukraine. The characteristics of the sites of district PMPKs (according to the platform of the SimilarWeb) are presented in Table 2.
From the results presented in Table 2, we can draw the following conclusions. The own online reference resources were found for 0.03% of district PMPKs. Four regions of Ukraine have one site of the district PMPK. The leader in a number of online reference resources is the Kirovograd region, in which 5 of the six regional PMPKs have their own sites (see Fig. 8). For most sites, its ranking in the world and Ukrainian traffic usage ratings (for
October-December 2017) was not set. The average number of visits to the site - 15 thousand visitors, and for the four district PMPK this indicator is zero. The biggest activity in creating sites was in 2013-2014, in 2017 no new sites of the district PMPKs were created (fig. 9).
The investigated online resources were assessed according to graphic and responsive
design demands [
U1 – general composite rules for web sites creation, that are basic for UI / UX (modular content positioning system Modular Grid pattern, Golden Section rule and Fibonacci proportion), which allows to focus on the main and contributes to the perception of content;
U2 – infographic (information graphics) filling of peculiar sections of the site with graphical visual representation of information, data or knowledge intended for the quick and accurate display of complex information;
U3 – the presence of interactive animation and video content;
U4 – a harmonious combination of color schemes (color schemes & palette) that must be presented so as not to violate the basic patterns of color influence on the psychological response of the user;
U5 – responsive web design, that provides optimal mapping and interaction with the user regardless of the resolution and format of the device, the page is viewed at (tablet, smartphone, etc.);
U6 – availability of convenient and intuitive forms of feedback, support for thematic forums.
Estimation of the available online reference resources by ergonomic indicators is
given in Table 3 (the sign "+" means that the ergonomic characteristic was
implemented, "-" its absence, "+/-" denotes the partial implementation of the
characteristic). Graphic presentation of the results is at Fig. 10. The resources were
also checked, using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 [
The number of known and potential problems, according to WCAG 2.0, evaluated for each site, shows that site developers in six regions were aware of the web content accessibility demands. In view of the results, the authors consider it advisable to propose the development of a Wireframe for users with special needs (a general representation of the information structures of the site), followed by its prototyping. This will allow to get a highly distributed representation of the desired website (while taking into account general compositional techniques and modular content positioning), it is crucial to test the interaction of the user with the interface of the final product. The authors plan to develop and implement an adaptive site template based on HTML/CSS/JS with the ability to fill the content for the demands of people with special needs. It will be possible to choose harmonious color schemes, corresponding typographic styles. The developed technology will be adjusted to WCAG 2.0.
On the sample of the regional PMPK sites, the authors performed the evaluation of the completeness of the support of inclusive education process – from the definition of the features of the psychophysical development of the person, the personalization of the purpose of teaching the person, taking into account the correctional component of the training, the formation of the personal trajectory of education, to the analysis of the outcomes of the implemented educational trajectory.
For each of the stages of the inclusive education, was identified the content of the
PMPK website, which is needed to support the education of people with special needs
[
Estimation of the available online reference resources by the presence of the content of the inclusive education support is given in Table 5 (the "+" sign means the presence of content on the site, "-" its absence). In the future, such evaluation will be provided using linguistic variables for natural language assessment for further application in computing systems.
From the analysis of the results, presented in Table 5, authors can draw the following conclusions about the functioning of the online reference resources of the PMPK in Ukraine: Existing websites contain disconnected, not unified information; the content is given at the subjective taste of website`s creator. There is no regional PMPK website, that would provide comprehensive background support for each stage of inclusive education; Almost all sites have no characteristics of information platforms – i.e. they do not support the ability to contact PMPK specialists and site authors; The common features of such sites are the availability of information about the timetable for the work of the PMPK, its specialists, as well as the contacts and variants of available transport links with the institution; There are no links between the sites in the horizontal direction, that is, the sites of regional PMPK do not contain links to sites of other regional PMPKs. There are no links between the sites in the horizontal direction, that is, the sites of regional PMPK do not contain links to sites of other regional PMPKs. About one-third of available PMPK websites have links to top-level PMP sites (vertical direction). Although the central PMPK declares contact with regional PMPKs, however, it is only a reference to non-existent pages or to websites, where the PMPK and its activities are mentioned in passing; All of the above findings indicate a lack of a system-wide national approach to the information support system of the PMPK - as an integral part of IT support for education of people with special needs.
Creating of unified PMPK web-portals, which would provide full content to support the education of people with special needs and meet requirements, mentioned in the article, is an integral part of the development of a comprehensive nationwide system of information and technology support for inclusive education. It should also be taken into account that the components of information content can be divided into two groups. The first group include the stable, rarely changed components for the inclusive education process in Ukraine – i.e., this information should be identically presented in all PMPKs` websites: road map of peculiarities of person's psychophysical development e.g. by nosology, for specialists and non-specialists (w14), reference information about existing education formats (w15), legislative support for the education of people with special needs (w17), typical curricula (w21). The second group includes all other components of the information content of the PMPK sites, which are individual for each PMPK – its address, contacts, news, etc. Such features of the content of PMPK sites, due to the peculiarities of information support for the education of persons in the format of inclusion, should be taken into account when improving the information resources of PMPK.
The reform of PMPK in Ukraine and its transformation to a level of institution, that
would professionally care of information technology support of the education of persons
with special needs, provides for the involvement of professionals with a wide range of
knowledge, particularly in the field of information and communication technologies,
methods and tools of Big Data analysis, as mentioned, in particular, in [
Currently, the authors are actively researching the possibilities of building the architecture of such a comprehensive information and technology platform of national scale, and are working out possible ways to create software and algorithmic tools for its effective implementation. 10.
One of the most up-to-date and powerful sources of information for people with special needs in Ukraine are online reference resources of state psychological and diagnostic facilities – psychological, medical and pedagogical consultations (PMPK). The PMPK`s sites are to be the most available online information resource for this category of users.
The results of the conducted research suggest that in the procedures of information and technology support of the education of people with special needs by means offered and/or available to PMPK specialists, there is no systematic approach to the implementation of the functions of informational and technological online support for inclusive education processes. Being disparate, the available IT support is realized with paying almost no attention to the existing ergonomic rules for the content presentation for people with special needs.
More than 60% of regional PMPK facilities have their own website, and it is less than half the percent of regional PMPKs, that have their website. Authors came into conclusion, that the development of such websites requires centralized management of to unify the information, important for the education of people with special needs. It also makes it possible, in a certain way, to simplify the process of developing online resources for PMPKs of all levels, and especially for smaller facilities, less than a percent of which has such a site by now.
The proposed study on the availability, completeness, integrity, content availability and ergonomics of PMPK online information resources should be conducted periodically to track the dynamics of changes in the characteristics of support of education of people with special needs by information technologies.
Prospects for future research are the development of requirements for the creation of a system of online reference resources of correctional facilities, taking into account the WCAG 2.0 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. To extend the completeness of the analysis of online PMPK resources, it is advisable to introduce additional characteristics of sites to determine the features of developing such resources. It is expedient to process the obtained empirical data, for example, by methods of data analysis or descriptive statistics. The use of cloud technologies for centralized accumulation, processing of information with next processing such Big Data can be a convenient approach for organizing and maintaining a complex system of holistic information and technology complex supporting of the processes of inclusive.