The effects of technology might be extremely democratic, affecting anyone's life who comes to make use of it. At least in a traditional classroom, as technology grows so are the struggles educators deal with to avoid students' distraction. But the point is how to find a way to such democracy to be used and adapted to the different needs and levels of comprehension one can identify inside a heterogeneous classroom?

The idea of differentiated learning corresponds to the goal of applying teaching (or even evaluation) strategies according to students' performance. Even though e-learning ecologies might strengthen that process, the pedagogy must come first.  

Researchers in the educational area have suggested several reasons for students' lack of interest inclusive considering the course's dropout. Heterogeneity is one of them (Tahiri et al, 2017). The authors also identified the diversification of approaches and pedagogies adopted by teachers as another reason for students to drop out. They proposed the management of heterogeneity and learners' diversity in MOOC on two levels:

• individually - each learner's individual need was taken into account;
• collaboratively - the cooperation through groups of learners was endorsed. 

The information and communication technologies (ICT) promote considerable advantages mainly for differentiated learning scenarios, but it is worth mentioning the challenges students with learning disabilities (LD) might find. Berkeley and Larsen (2018) identified that "students with LD can be taught strategies that help them understand more of what they read, but that these students fail to continue using these strategies independently after instruction ends." Such a point might be even more challenging in social studies where reading comprehension is crucial for successful social studies (Ciullo and Dimino, 2017).
Also in terms of technology Obradocic (2015) says ICT tools must organized and used in a creative way to promote student participation and cooperative learning with and without LD. It's strongly correlated with multimodal learning.

Accessible PDF word cloud. Author: ACstudent (Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Accessible-pdf-word-cloud-640x480.jpg)

The Masters in Special Education Program Guide website points out five examples of assistive technology in the Classroom (https://www.masters-in-special-education.com/lists/5-examples-of-assistive-technology-in-the-classroom/):

1. Electronic Worksheets. Students with dyslexia, for instance, might be helped by electronic worksheets lining up words and equations;
2. Phonetic Spelling SOftware. Reading and writing might be challenging for students with LD. Phonetic spelling software might support the student's typing.
3. Talking Calculators. the gadget may help students on checking assignments, read numbers, and perform calculations.
4. Variable Speed Recorders. This one is highly-related to the differentiated learning students present. Once the class is recorded, one can speed up or slow down the content afterward.
5. Videotaped Social Skills. Social interactions may be an issue for students with ADS (Autism Spectrum Disorder). Videotaped social interactions can support that audience and teach them without accidentally offending someone.

One can also check out more about assistive technology on the following Youtube links:

• overview of Assistive technology for kids with LD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbkQW4j9VgE
• Assistive technology - Unlocking the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7n2bGoYLLw

 Teaching is a challenge in all its ways, but the journey is always filled with mutual growth. As a personal experience, I used to teach a blind student at college. I remember that as being the moment I needed to give one more step up onto the teaching ladder. The class' subject used to involve diagrams, figures, and the different teaching approach I used consisted of testing different tools until finding embossed printing as the best solution to him. Even using a specific machine to do so, I realized that the learning process might be strongly supported by technologies, but employing differentiated learning, it has not always been about 0's and 1's.

References:

Tahiri, J., Bennani, S. and Khalidi Idrissi, M., 2017. diffMOOC: Differentiated Learning Paths Through the Use of Differentiated Instruction within MOOC. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 12(03), p.197.

Ciullo, S. and Dimino, J., 2017. The Strategic Use of Scaffolded Instruction in Social Studies Interventions for Students with Learning Disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 32(3), pp.155-165.

Obradović, S., Bjekić, D. and Zlatić, L., 2015. Creative Teaching with ICT Support for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 203, pp.291-296.

Berkeley, S. and Larsen, A., 2018. Fostering Self-Regulation of Students with Learning Disabilities: Insights from 30 Years of Reading Comprehension Intervention Research. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 33(2), pp.75-86.