Inclusive Virtual Worlds for Differentiating Programming Language Syntax: An Action Research Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v21i02.61361Keywords:
virtual worlds, inclusive education, Mexican Sign Language, programming language syntaxAbstract
Teaching programming language syntax across multiple languages presents a significant cognitive challenge for undergraduate students, compounded by the absence of inclusive pedagogical strategies for deaf learners. Reported here is an action research study conducted at Universidad Politécnica de Santa Rosa Jáuregui (UPSRJ), Querétaro, México, in which a didactic strategy mediated by an inclusive virtual world was co-designed and implemented with programming instructors and students at the TRAMVET Laboratory. Developed on the Sansar platform, the virtual environment integrates Mexican Sign Language (LSM) representations through three-dimensional avatar animations, Universal Design for Learning principles in spatial and iconographic organization, and an immersive syntax-differentiation activity that provides immediate visual feedback. Grounded in the sociocritical paradigm and action research methodology, the investigation followed iterative cycles of diagnosis, planning, action, observation, and reflection. Combining multimodal affordances of 3D immersive digital environments with deliberately inclusive spatial design strengthens students’ capacity to distinguish syntactic structures across Python, Java, C, and JavaScript, while simultaneously reducing communicative barriers for deaf participants. Contributing an empirically grounded didactic model, this paper identifies design principles transferable to comparable institutional contexts.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Martín Joaquín Aguilar Muñoz, Christian Jonathan Ángel Rueda, Alexandro Escudero-Nahón, Sandra Luz Canchola Magdaleno, Francisco Antonio Torres-Espriú, Ricardo Chaparro-Sánchez
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
